Well OK, most have left by now, but all the PI's came at the beginning of the week to hold a couple days of big meetings and presentations and whatnot. Monday morning before the meetings started at noon, Candice and I went to finish netting at a site. We caught 10 birds! ... And one was a bunting. Damn bycatch. We had a towhee, a few warblers, a few sparrows, a wren, and a goldfinch. Most were somewhat annoying, but I kinda liked the goldfinch. Striking appearance, very cute, and he didn't struggle much. My favorite kind.
Then began the 1st annual Corridor Project meeting. Even though the project has been around over a decade. It started off with lots of people in the room while the big important PI's talked about the Corridor Project in general, and then people not on the project slowly left as the talks got more specific and didn't involve them anymore. Once just Corridor folks were left we circled up and began discussing some of the larger studies going on. Mostly plant stuff that didn't mean much to me since the only involvement I've had in them is the one day of watering I did. But I sat quietly, contributing nothing to the discussion, trying not to fall asleep, but also learning a bit, so the time wasn't an entire waste. I think that took the majority of the afternoon and then there was a BBQ at Lars's house. It was BYOBBQ so I brought eggplant. Yum! I stayed to long and regretted it when I had to get up earlier the next day.
Presentations were schedule to start at 8, but plants needed watering and birds needed catching. Candice and I were the only ones without watering cans I think. More bycatch, no buntings, so we took down the nets. We got back to station around 9, but we weren't too late comparatively. So we started down and alphabetical list of students/techs working on or wanting to start projects. It was mostly an informal, "here's what I'm doing or here's what I'm thinking about," that everyone else could give feedback and suggestions on. But we had a fancy shmancy powerpoint. Because Julian told us to. Or really, I made a powerpoint because Julian told me to. And I explained it to Candice. And we presented it and it went really well and got good feedback. Several suggestions weren't actually things we could do in our limited time period, but might make a good continuation project... Anyway, after the discussions were done, everyone went out to one of the sites to discuss a bit more, while Candice and I reasoned (slightly guiltily) that they didn't need us there, so we slipped out and went home.
Matt arrived home about when my tacos were done and informed me that everyone was going to the Pizza Joint. So we ate the tacos, planning not to eat pizza, but having that plan thwarted (it looked so delicious). I went to bed too late and then couldn't sleep because there was a crazy thunderstorm and I live in a trailer.
Wednesday was another bycatch day, but with slightly better ratios. 4 out of 14 were buntings. We quickly began setting up nets and Ipods and when I returned to check mine, 7 birds! One bunting, 4 brown birds (probably sparrows, phoebes, etc), a female cardinal, and a great crested flycatcher. The flycatcher was definitely the coolest out of the bunch, and rather snappish. In some of the other patches we caught a chat and some more nondescript brown birds and warblers.
Dr. Levey and Julian came out with us on Thursday to observe, help, experiment, advise, etc. We concentrated on two patches, moving nets around a bunch and trying new techniques, such as putting a male in a cage by the net to attract others. Not sure if this actually did anything or if the Ipod was responsible for the other birds caught. We now have a real taxidermied decoy, which also helps. Julian and Dr. Levey left around noon after discussing some specifics of the project with us, and Candice and I moved the nets to the next site.
Woo Friday! We managed to catch one bird in every patch, and we didn't really hear any more singing, but we didn't want to call the patch done in just a day, so we left the nets. But Julian decided we should just move on, so he offered to take down and move some nets this weekend while he's going to be working anyway. How nice. Candice wasn't too enthused, but I offered my help if he needed it, mostly so I wouldn't feel so guilty about the big favor he's doing, but also because I can't think of much else to do this weekend. I'll probably check out the gardens or something. We'll see. Time to wash dishes now.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Thursday, June 5, 2008
my whole week, hopefully condensed into a reasonable length
So here's an abbreviated update of my last week or so. I may post additions later or something...
Saturday:
Matt and I wanted to go climbing in North Carolina for the day, but the forecast called for rain in the afternoon. So we went to the climbing gym in Columbia instead. It was probably better for me that way anyway, because I'm soooo out of shape climbing-wise. My hands and arms were like "Heeey Camille, you know we haven't climbed in a year and a half, right? Yea, just thought we'd let you know, hence the weakness and pain." They continued to tell me this for the next few days. But I'll show them. I'll go back to that gym soon, or maybe even to North Carolina or someplace cool, and I'll open up a can of pwnage on those walls that were kicking my butt. That'll teach those arms.
Sunday: Matt had previously found a local organic grocery store downtown so we went there to shop. It was pretty cool, some things cheap and some things ridiculous, like the dairy section. I liked how they had all the grains, granola, dried fruit, etc in barrels or sacks with a big scooper. It looked old-fashioned or something. I was sadly disappointed with their blueberry granola, however. It wasn't crunchy and it just didn't taste as good as the stuff Beck and I would get at Ward's in Gainesville. I'll probably go back to Old Aiken Market, but my overall impression was that I still haven't found a store as cool as Ward's.
I also played ultimate Sunday, which was pretty fun. A decent 5 on 5 game, though some of the playing was pretty unimpressive. I wasn't terribly impressive myself, either, as I discovered running used (and hurt) muscles I never associated with running. My throwing was also affected by my still weak arms. But I'll try to redeem myself next Sunday.
Monday: Candice and I made the mistake of trusting the weather forecast, so we got to work later than usual, without realizing that Julian was planning to meet us at the usual 5:30 time. So he had already been in the field a while when we got there and we felt really guilty. We also only caught one bird, despite spending the rest of the morning moving nets and Ipods around. Then I honestly can't remember what happened because I think I'm blurring Monday and Tuesday together.
So I'm gonna throw in Tuesday now and hope it's about right: Eventually, with a total of 2 buntings in 4? days, we just decided we were sick of site 52, so then we had to take allll the nets down that we had worked so hard to put up in the rock hard soil. Then we moved all 8 of them (Dr. Levey mailed more) to the next site down the road. After the 6th, we decided that a 12-hour day was a bit too much, and left the last 2 nets for the next morning. I could hardly stay awake to put my feet in a bucket of ice water.
Wednesday: A record success day! 8 Indigo Buntings! 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8! It was ridiculous. I set an Ipod in patch A, while Julian and Candice did the same in B and D, and then we planned to meet in Patch C to set up a net. I turned around, walked to the matrix, looked back at the net, and a male had just hopped right in. So I took him out, hung him in a pillowcase, and went to patch C. When I returned to A, a female had been caught, and while I was getting her out, Candice appears from the corridor to tell me she has 3 in her net. I radio Julian and tell him to go help her. I get my girl in a pillowcase and and discover there's now another male in my net. Finally I've got 3 flapping pillowcases hanging from a tree, as does Candice, and somewhere in the meantime, Julian had caught one in D and another in C. Patch A actually had 5 birds, but 2 were bycatches, a prairie warbler and something else. Patch E had a yellow-breasted chat bycatch.
Anyway, we eventually got to processing the buntings. One in A already had bands from a different study, including a pretty silver Forest Service band with numbers on it. Bird bling, essentially. We didn't have to bother putting our own bands on it. After A, we went to B and in our hurry, Candice and I stepped within about a foot of a snake! Luckily not a venomous one - we're pretty sure it was a coachwhip, and Caleb, who knows a ton about herps, agreed - but it was somewhat defensive. It had a hole/burrow nearby, and it probably smelled the birds in pillowcases. It was also about to molt. We kept an eye on it while we processed.
Julian left for something else, Candice and I finished processing, we took down the nets from A and B, and we drove to the next site to put them up. The end.
Thursday: One bunting in C. Male and female cardinal bycatches in D. Too damn many horseflies. If someone was watching us who wasn't aware of how annoying they are, they'd probably think we had Tourette's. Seriously, we must look ridiculous cursing and flailing and slapping ourselves. Anywho, we took down the rest of the nets and put them up at the next site.
Friday: This was a good and bad day as far as buntings go. We set up in A, C, and D, then met at E to put up another net. Upon returning to D, I had 3 males. And no one to help me. But I got them all out pretty fast, hung them up, and went to check on Candice. In the time it had taken me to get 3 out, she had gotten one and was just starting on a prairie warbler bycatch. After that, all we got was another warbler, so we started processing and took down the nets in D. Brenda, who was watering, radioed me to check C. I got excited and thought we had another. We did, but here's the bad part of the day: she was dead. We shouldn't have left the net up when it was that hot unless we were constantly watching it. She probably died from the heat, or perhaps strangulation. We named her Deddy (Dead-y, I thought of it) and buried her.
We decided it was lunch time and meanwhile Julian had arrived to do ant stuff. I think almost everyone on the project was in that one site: Me, Candice, Julian, Lars, Brenda, Nash, Becky, Lauren, Nadia. Only Matt, Melissa, Caleb, and Dirk were missing. Feeling guilty, we told Julian about Deddy. He asked where she was so we could pluck her feathers and put them on a decoy. Oops. Didn't think about that. I would've felt wrong desecrating her dead body anyway, since I felt partially at fault for her death. Rest in peace, Deddy.
Candice came home with me to get ready for the potluck that night, where we were supposed to dress up like our radio call-in name. I'm Mike, she's Tango, needless to say her outfit (which was actually mine) was way better. I tried to pass off as a microphone by wearing all black and a black hat. Didn't work that well. But the potluck was fun, especially when 13Kilo came looking like a drug dealer. 13Alpha had helium nuclei (alpha particles) all over his shirt (super nerd), 13Charlie looked like a classic hick, 2Golf and 13Golf looked spectacular, and 13Hotel was in a short pink bathrobe under which he wasn't wearing much else. Other people were boring and not dressed up, but it was a delicious and fun party.
Saturday: I was bored all day and did virtually nothing. Finally I decided to go to a show at the USCA planetarium. I learned how to find constellations, nebulae, double stars, and a few other things, most of which I forgot. But I was reasonably entertained, and at some parts, totally entranced like a little kid. Space is pretty sweet. After the show we went up to the telescope and the fat guy up there showed us some stuff. Unfortunately the heat and the light made some things hard to see, but I had never looked through a telescope like this before. The moon was pretty cool up close, and it was pretty sweet to see the different colors of the double stars of Alberio (one is blue and the other is yellow). The best sight was definitely Saturn because you could actually see the rings! It looked like a tiny photograph, minus the colors because it's so far away. But I could see 4 moons and even the shadow the rings make on the planet. I'm definitely going back there, maybe next month to see some more stuff, and maybe the trippy laser show.
Sunday: Equally boring. I washed dishes and wasted time on the computer while I should have been working on my presentation for tomorrow. It's almost done, just needs a little extra. The only exciting thing was talking to Beck when he got back from his weekend in Amsterdam. I can't wait to go. I'm not even sure if I'll play ultimate today, as it's 100 degrees outside. I'm not lying. 100 degrees. Blah. Time to waste more time.
Saturday:
Matt and I wanted to go climbing in North Carolina for the day, but the forecast called for rain in the afternoon. So we went to the climbing gym in Columbia instead. It was probably better for me that way anyway, because I'm soooo out of shape climbing-wise. My hands and arms were like "Heeey Camille, you know we haven't climbed in a year and a half, right? Yea, just thought we'd let you know, hence the weakness and pain." They continued to tell me this for the next few days. But I'll show them. I'll go back to that gym soon, or maybe even to North Carolina or someplace cool, and I'll open up a can of pwnage on those walls that were kicking my butt. That'll teach those arms.
Sunday: Matt had previously found a local organic grocery store downtown so we went there to shop. It was pretty cool, some things cheap and some things ridiculous, like the dairy section. I liked how they had all the grains, granola, dried fruit, etc in barrels or sacks with a big scooper. It looked old-fashioned or something. I was sadly disappointed with their blueberry granola, however. It wasn't crunchy and it just didn't taste as good as the stuff Beck and I would get at Ward's in Gainesville. I'll probably go back to Old Aiken Market, but my overall impression was that I still haven't found a store as cool as Ward's.
I also played ultimate Sunday, which was pretty fun. A decent 5 on 5 game, though some of the playing was pretty unimpressive. I wasn't terribly impressive myself, either, as I discovered running used (and hurt) muscles I never associated with running. My throwing was also affected by my still weak arms. But I'll try to redeem myself next Sunday.
Monday: Candice and I made the mistake of trusting the weather forecast, so we got to work later than usual, without realizing that Julian was planning to meet us at the usual 5:30 time. So he had already been in the field a while when we got there and we felt really guilty. We also only caught one bird, despite spending the rest of the morning moving nets and Ipods around. Then I honestly can't remember what happened because I think I'm blurring Monday and Tuesday together.
So I'm gonna throw in Tuesday now and hope it's about right: Eventually, with a total of 2 buntings in 4? days, we just decided we were sick of site 52, so then we had to take allll the nets down that we had worked so hard to put up in the rock hard soil. Then we moved all 8 of them (Dr. Levey mailed more) to the next site down the road. After the 6th, we decided that a 12-hour day was a bit too much, and left the last 2 nets for the next morning. I could hardly stay awake to put my feet in a bucket of ice water.
Wednesday: A record success day! 8 Indigo Buntings! 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8! It was ridiculous. I set an Ipod in patch A, while Julian and Candice did the same in B and D, and then we planned to meet in Patch C to set up a net. I turned around, walked to the matrix, looked back at the net, and a male had just hopped right in. So I took him out, hung him in a pillowcase, and went to patch C. When I returned to A, a female had been caught, and while I was getting her out, Candice appears from the corridor to tell me she has 3 in her net. I radio Julian and tell him to go help her. I get my girl in a pillowcase and and discover there's now another male in my net. Finally I've got 3 flapping pillowcases hanging from a tree, as does Candice, and somewhere in the meantime, Julian had caught one in D and another in C. Patch A actually had 5 birds, but 2 were bycatches, a prairie warbler and something else. Patch E had a yellow-breasted chat bycatch.
Anyway, we eventually got to processing the buntings. One in A already had bands from a different study, including a pretty silver Forest Service band with numbers on it. Bird bling, essentially. We didn't have to bother putting our own bands on it. After A, we went to B and in our hurry, Candice and I stepped within about a foot of a snake! Luckily not a venomous one - we're pretty sure it was a coachwhip, and Caleb, who knows a ton about herps, agreed - but it was somewhat defensive. It had a hole/burrow nearby, and it probably smelled the birds in pillowcases. It was also about to molt. We kept an eye on it while we processed.
Julian left for something else, Candice and I finished processing, we took down the nets from A and B, and we drove to the next site to put them up. The end.
Thursday: One bunting in C. Male and female cardinal bycatches in D. Too damn many horseflies. If someone was watching us who wasn't aware of how annoying they are, they'd probably think we had Tourette's. Seriously, we must look ridiculous cursing and flailing and slapping ourselves. Anywho, we took down the rest of the nets and put them up at the next site.
Friday: This was a good and bad day as far as buntings go. We set up in A, C, and D, then met at E to put up another net. Upon returning to D, I had 3 males. And no one to help me. But I got them all out pretty fast, hung them up, and went to check on Candice. In the time it had taken me to get 3 out, she had gotten one and was just starting on a prairie warbler bycatch. After that, all we got was another warbler, so we started processing and took down the nets in D. Brenda, who was watering, radioed me to check C. I got excited and thought we had another. We did, but here's the bad part of the day: she was dead. We shouldn't have left the net up when it was that hot unless we were constantly watching it. She probably died from the heat, or perhaps strangulation. We named her Deddy (Dead-y, I thought of it) and buried her.
We decided it was lunch time and meanwhile Julian had arrived to do ant stuff. I think almost everyone on the project was in that one site: Me, Candice, Julian, Lars, Brenda, Nash, Becky, Lauren, Nadia. Only Matt, Melissa, Caleb, and Dirk were missing. Feeling guilty, we told Julian about Deddy. He asked where she was so we could pluck her feathers and put them on a decoy. Oops. Didn't think about that. I would've felt wrong desecrating her dead body anyway, since I felt partially at fault for her death. Rest in peace, Deddy.
Candice came home with me to get ready for the potluck that night, where we were supposed to dress up like our radio call-in name. I'm Mike, she's Tango, needless to say her outfit (which was actually mine) was way better. I tried to pass off as a microphone by wearing all black and a black hat. Didn't work that well. But the potluck was fun, especially when 13Kilo came looking like a drug dealer. 13Alpha had helium nuclei (alpha particles) all over his shirt (super nerd), 13Charlie looked like a classic hick, 2Golf and 13Golf looked spectacular, and 13Hotel was in a short pink bathrobe under which he wasn't wearing much else. Other people were boring and not dressed up, but it was a delicious and fun party.
Saturday: I was bored all day and did virtually nothing. Finally I decided to go to a show at the USCA planetarium. I learned how to find constellations, nebulae, double stars, and a few other things, most of which I forgot. But I was reasonably entertained, and at some parts, totally entranced like a little kid. Space is pretty sweet. After the show we went up to the telescope and the fat guy up there showed us some stuff. Unfortunately the heat and the light made some things hard to see, but I had never looked through a telescope like this before. The moon was pretty cool up close, and it was pretty sweet to see the different colors of the double stars of Alberio (one is blue and the other is yellow). The best sight was definitely Saturn because you could actually see the rings! It looked like a tiny photograph, minus the colors because it's so far away. But I could see 4 moons and even the shadow the rings make on the planet. I'm definitely going back there, maybe next month to see some more stuff, and maybe the trippy laser show.
Sunday: Equally boring. I washed dishes and wasted time on the computer while I should have been working on my presentation for tomorrow. It's almost done, just needs a little extra. The only exciting thing was talking to Beck when he got back from his weekend in Amsterdam. I can't wait to go. I'm not even sure if I'll play ultimate today, as it's 100 degrees outside. I'm not lying. 100 degrees. Blah. Time to waste more time.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
I'll get around to it...
This is just to say I haven't died and I haven't been doing nothing, in fact the problem is that I've been doing a lot. Hence, no post in five days, but that's better than Beck's blog. =) Anyway, someday this week I'll update my adventures in climbing, shopping, birding, hurting, thinking, eating, sleeping, breathing, existing, etc. But not today because it's past my bedtime.
Friday, May 30, 2008
birds don't like rain clouds
After Julian netted one bird on Wednesday, Candice and I moved the nets to another site, seeing as we now had caught a bird in every patch of the current site. Which is good enough for us. We tied the poles to my roof rack, threw the everything else in the back, and set off down the gravel and dirt roads. I can't wait til I get my temporary license to drive the Forest Service trucks.
Setting up nets is a pain in the ass. No matter how neat and tidy you put them back in the bag, they will tie themselves in a knot somehow. Same with the strings on the stakes. Then you have to stand there in the hot sun and figure out what the hell is going on without dropping the net on the ground, because then it gets caught on every plant or stick within reach and it won't let go. On top of that, half the time you can't even get the pole in the ground. Either the dirt is just too damn hard, or it's all dry, loose sand and won't hold the weight up. Every now and then you hit a magic spot and the pole goes super deep. Did that sound dirty? Anyway you just gotta poke around til something gives. Aw yeah, that's how you do it.
We were supposed to put up 4 nets, but we were tired and it was thundering, so we left the 4th for the morning. Good thing, too, because the sky just went crazy. I love thunderstorms, but not when I'm in a trailer that wouldn't stand a chance against a tornado. The scary stuff stopped, but it was raining when I went to bed.
It was overcast and almost cold all the next day, with a bit of rain here and there. Candice and I decided birds don't like that, because they wouldn't come out of the matrix. They're stuck in this computer generated world, believing they're in 1999, when in reality, it's 2199 and machines control the world. Right. The matrix is just what we call the forest (mostly loblolly pine) between the patches, which are savanna-like. And the birds seemed content to hang out there and not venture out in the the patches much. Lazy birds.
They were still lazy Friday morning, as it was still overcast and cool. At about 10 or so, we decided to move some nets to other patches, and meanwhile a female finally flew into mine. She was not a happy camper. She struggled and made a lot more noise than any others so far. She also bit pretty hard, but luckily not enough to break the skin. We processed her and let her go, then called it a day because we thought Candice had safety training at 1. But she didn't so we went home. Did the usual routine with Skyping and all.
I think I'm going climbing in North Carolina tomorrow, so that'll be something a bit more exciting to write about. I realize the bird thing is getting a bit old, since it's essentially the same news most days. Maybe I'll include more personal thoughts and musings from now on, or anecdotes of past happenings. Whatever. I like to think of myself as entertaining (don't know if anyone agrees, though), so I'll attempt to make this blog reflect that. And add some pictures.
Setting up nets is a pain in the ass. No matter how neat and tidy you put them back in the bag, they will tie themselves in a knot somehow. Same with the strings on the stakes. Then you have to stand there in the hot sun and figure out what the hell is going on without dropping the net on the ground, because then it gets caught on every plant or stick within reach and it won't let go. On top of that, half the time you can't even get the pole in the ground. Either the dirt is just too damn hard, or it's all dry, loose sand and won't hold the weight up. Every now and then you hit a magic spot and the pole goes super deep. Did that sound dirty? Anyway you just gotta poke around til something gives. Aw yeah, that's how you do it.
We were supposed to put up 4 nets, but we were tired and it was thundering, so we left the 4th for the morning. Good thing, too, because the sky just went crazy. I love thunderstorms, but not when I'm in a trailer that wouldn't stand a chance against a tornado. The scary stuff stopped, but it was raining when I went to bed.
It was overcast and almost cold all the next day, with a bit of rain here and there. Candice and I decided birds don't like that, because they wouldn't come out of the matrix. They're stuck in this computer generated world, believing they're in 1999, when in reality, it's 2199 and machines control the world. Right. The matrix is just what we call the forest (mostly loblolly pine) between the patches, which are savanna-like. And the birds seemed content to hang out there and not venture out in the the patches much. Lazy birds.
They were still lazy Friday morning, as it was still overcast and cool. At about 10 or so, we decided to move some nets to other patches, and meanwhile a female finally flew into mine. She was not a happy camper. She struggled and made a lot more noise than any others so far. She also bit pretty hard, but luckily not enough to break the skin. We processed her and let her go, then called it a day because we thought Candice had safety training at 1. But she didn't so we went home. Did the usual routine with Skyping and all.
I think I'm going climbing in North Carolina tomorrow, so that'll be something a bit more exciting to write about. I realize the bird thing is getting a bit old, since it's essentially the same news most days. Maybe I'll include more personal thoughts and musings from now on, or anecdotes of past happenings. Whatever. I like to think of myself as entertaining (don't know if anyone agrees, though), so I'll attempt to make this blog reflect that. And add some pictures.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
I worked 13 hours on Memorial Day
That should be, like, a federal crime or something. I figured, "Well it's not like I have anything else interesting to do on Monday, I'll just go in and work a half day to get a little head start, right?" Wrong. And what do I have to show for those 13 hours? One bird.
Julian and I went out to net, but we got a late start because nothing was really ready to go and we kept forgetting stuff. Probably because it was so damn early and we hadn't woken up yet. Anywho, we decided to start netting in the patches so we can pull 2 tail feathers out of the birds we catch, measure, and band them. Then when we catch them again, this time to collect blood, we'll have 2 new feathers to analyze and we'll know which ones they are. We caught a male pretty fast and processed it, but it became light too quickly, so the birds could see the net and avoid it. Frustrating. You find yourself whispering, "Yea, that's right bird, just fly into the net. You're so close. Come on, come on... son of a bitch!" This happened for a while.
Finally we decided to move some nets, maybe try again in the afternoon when there's more shade, and take a lunch break so Julian could run into town and pick up some stuff. I pretty much fell asleep in the office waiting for him. Back in the field we positioned some nets for the morning. Then we moved a few into some shade to make them hard to see and tried afternoon netting. Very unsuccessfully. Maybe we could net around 8 PM, but I'm not willing to stay that long. So we moved those nets for the morning.
I got home at 7:30 PM after leaving my house at 5:30 AM. I could barely shower, eat, and talk to my parents before falling asleep.
Tuesday involved learning more lessons about net position, but we caught 3 times more than Monday (3 birds, for those mathematically challenged). Even better, we've decided that now we know better what to do (position nets strategically, hang the birds up in pillowcases til we've caught them all, then process them), we can probably cover a whole site in 2 days. I hope our calculations are correct. (3 times 1 is 3, right?)
And even more betterer is that I got to go home around 2! Yay! So I did a bit of shopping, then began my (hopefully) usual afternoon routine: shower, Skype, check crap online, make/eat dinner, etc, til bedtime around 9 PM. Yes, 9 PM, just like I'm in elementary school again. Beck did always tell me I'm 5 years old...
Julian and I went out to net, but we got a late start because nothing was really ready to go and we kept forgetting stuff. Probably because it was so damn early and we hadn't woken up yet. Anywho, we decided to start netting in the patches so we can pull 2 tail feathers out of the birds we catch, measure, and band them. Then when we catch them again, this time to collect blood, we'll have 2 new feathers to analyze and we'll know which ones they are. We caught a male pretty fast and processed it, but it became light too quickly, so the birds could see the net and avoid it. Frustrating. You find yourself whispering, "Yea, that's right bird, just fly into the net. You're so close. Come on, come on... son of a bitch!" This happened for a while.
Finally we decided to move some nets, maybe try again in the afternoon when there's more shade, and take a lunch break so Julian could run into town and pick up some stuff. I pretty much fell asleep in the office waiting for him. Back in the field we positioned some nets for the morning. Then we moved a few into some shade to make them hard to see and tried afternoon netting. Very unsuccessfully. Maybe we could net around 8 PM, but I'm not willing to stay that long. So we moved those nets for the morning.
I got home at 7:30 PM after leaving my house at 5:30 AM. I could barely shower, eat, and talk to my parents before falling asleep.
Tuesday involved learning more lessons about net position, but we caught 3 times more than Monday (3 birds, for those mathematically challenged). Even better, we've decided that now we know better what to do (position nets strategically, hang the birds up in pillowcases til we've caught them all, then process them), we can probably cover a whole site in 2 days. I hope our calculations are correct. (3 times 1 is 3, right?)
And even more betterer is that I got to go home around 2! Yay! So I did a bit of shopping, then began my (hopefully) usual afternoon routine: shower, Skype, check crap online, make/eat dinner, etc, til bedtime around 9 PM. Yes, 9 PM, just like I'm in elementary school again. Beck did always tell me I'm 5 years old...
Sunday, May 25, 2008
I got a roomie
Friday was another early morning, 6 AM. Candice, Julian, and I drove out to a clear cut area (buntings like open, brushy habitats) and unfurled the nets we set up the previous afternoon. We caught a male and Julian showed us some more techniques, weighing and measuring and such. He poked the brachial vein and demonstrated how to hold and wiggle the capillary tube so it sucks up the blood. We sprinkled a bit of quick stop powder to make sure he clotted, then let him go. By then, Julian had to go on watering duty, so we drove back to station and Candice and I hopped in my car to drive back out and catch some more birds. We set up the Ipod at the other of the 2 nets and caught a male. We were having serious issues getting his wings untangled, so we had to snip the net a bit. I tried my hand at bleeding, and got a full capillary tube on the first try! Yay me! However, he wouldn't stop bleeding afterward, so we used the quick stop powder, which did the trick.
We headed back over to the first net with the Ipod, but decided the bunting that wouldn't quite fly into the net was the one we caught before and he got smart. So we played the prairie warbler song instead, since those might also be of interest, and we got one. He was a somewhat smaller and a little easier to remove, but quite feisty. Candice's turn to bleed, but when I was getting the needle out for her I bled myself instead. Oops. Fortunately it was before we stuck the bird, so I won't get bird AIDS or something. With a new needle, Candice wasn't terribly successful at the bleeding, probably for several reasons. The warbler was smaller, she didn't poke deep enough, and she held the capillary tube so the blood flowed right back out onto the bird. She'll learn, I hope.
Meanwhile, we were constantly hearing guns go off, since we were right next to an area where they test weapons. I sure hope they don't miscalculate their ranges. We returned to station, Candice drove home to GA to figure out car stuff, I hung around in the office a bit, went to the grocery store, then went home. Talked to Beck, and then who knows what I did until Matt arrived around 11. I was super tired so I went to bed instead of helping or socializing.
Woke up, made pancakes, and read or something til Matt woke up, then we had a more formal introduction. We talked awhile and I think we'll get along just fine this summer. A lot of the same interests, hobbies, etc. His personality is a bit more adventurous than mine, and sometimes the things he plans to do seem totally random to me. I almost feel boring. I probably am.
Anyway, he went on a run and I Skyped, then we went out shopping. We stopped at Goodwill, then searched for what we thought was going to be an organic grocery store, which part of it was, but it also had a bunch of random crap and a book section. Figures, with a name like "The Curiosity Shop." Highlight of the day: finding a can labeled "Spotted Dick." Not joking. It appeared to be some kind of sponge pudding?... right. We stopped at Kroeger, then went home.
I Skyped with Beck some more after he had watched Anchorman for the first time. And once again, I have no recollection of what I did besides dinner until I went to bed.
Sunday was kinda crappy. Matt went to check out the climbing gym in Columbia, but I didn't because I needed to work on a presentation of my project to show the other people on the Corridor Project. Think I got anything done? Not a thing. I did email I few people I needed to and checked out airfare to the Netherlands. Then I proceeded to Skype with Beck for roughly 4 hours. Half of that was us paying more attention to something online and making an occasional comment. We need to get better at this.
It was nearing ultimate frisbee time at 6, so I said goodbye and got ready. To find no one there. I somehow missed the memo that nobody was playing this weekend? Because I forgot to write about it like I said I would, last Sunday was fun. Only 3 on 3, but I layed out twice and felt pretty good about it all. This Sunday was totally lame. So I ran for about 15 minutes when I got home, just to get some negative energy out. Showered, blogged, ate gumbo (Matt likes to cook), and maybe I'll work on this presentation before I go to bed. Ha. I still got tomorrow...
We headed back over to the first net with the Ipod, but decided the bunting that wouldn't quite fly into the net was the one we caught before and he got smart. So we played the prairie warbler song instead, since those might also be of interest, and we got one. He was a somewhat smaller and a little easier to remove, but quite feisty. Candice's turn to bleed, but when I was getting the needle out for her I bled myself instead. Oops. Fortunately it was before we stuck the bird, so I won't get bird AIDS or something. With a new needle, Candice wasn't terribly successful at the bleeding, probably for several reasons. The warbler was smaller, she didn't poke deep enough, and she held the capillary tube so the blood flowed right back out onto the bird. She'll learn, I hope.
Meanwhile, we were constantly hearing guns go off, since we were right next to an area where they test weapons. I sure hope they don't miscalculate their ranges. We returned to station, Candice drove home to GA to figure out car stuff, I hung around in the office a bit, went to the grocery store, then went home. Talked to Beck, and then who knows what I did until Matt arrived around 11. I was super tired so I went to bed instead of helping or socializing.
Woke up, made pancakes, and read or something til Matt woke up, then we had a more formal introduction. We talked awhile and I think we'll get along just fine this summer. A lot of the same interests, hobbies, etc. His personality is a bit more adventurous than mine, and sometimes the things he plans to do seem totally random to me. I almost feel boring. I probably am.
Anyway, he went on a run and I Skyped, then we went out shopping. We stopped at Goodwill, then searched for what we thought was going to be an organic grocery store, which part of it was, but it also had a bunch of random crap and a book section. Figures, with a name like "The Curiosity Shop." Highlight of the day: finding a can labeled "Spotted Dick." Not joking. It appeared to be some kind of sponge pudding?... right. We stopped at Kroeger, then went home.
I Skyped with Beck some more after he had watched Anchorman for the first time. And once again, I have no recollection of what I did besides dinner until I went to bed.
Sunday was kinda crappy. Matt went to check out the climbing gym in Columbia, but I didn't because I needed to work on a presentation of my project to show the other people on the Corridor Project. Think I got anything done? Not a thing. I did email I few people I needed to and checked out airfare to the Netherlands. Then I proceeded to Skype with Beck for roughly 4 hours. Half of that was us paying more attention to something online and making an occasional comment. We need to get better at this.
It was nearing ultimate frisbee time at 6, so I said goodbye and got ready. To find no one there. I somehow missed the memo that nobody was playing this weekend? Because I forgot to write about it like I said I would, last Sunday was fun. Only 3 on 3, but I layed out twice and felt pretty good about it all. This Sunday was totally lame. So I ran for about 15 minutes when I got home, just to get some negative energy out. Showered, blogged, ate gumbo (Matt likes to cook), and maybe I'll work on this presentation before I go to bed. Ha. I still got tomorrow...
Thursday, May 22, 2008
I can catch birds!
As I will likely being doing often, I woke up before the sun, around 4:50 AM. I met Julian and Dr. Levey at 6 and we set out with our mist netting equipment. We was gonna get us a bird. We put the net up in a clear cut area, set up the Ipod, and before we got 10 feet away, we already had a male indigo bunting. Dr. Levey showed me how to safely remove a bird from the net, without damaging either entity. We plucked a tail feather so another one would grow, and the new one can be analyzed because it will reflect what the bird ate while it's here, not while it was migrating. Then Julian showed me how to collect blood, by poking a needle in the brachial vein beneath the wing. When we have capillary tubes, they'll just suck that blood right up as it comes out.
We let the little guy go, but we had left the Ipod on, so when we checked the net again we had snared his mate. She's not the beautiful deep turquoise blue like him, just tan, with a wee bit of blue on her wings. And I took her out of the net. I did! Me! My first bird! It was a special moment. We went through the motions again, Julian practicing bleeding on one wing, and me on the other. We also checked for a brood patch, when all the feathers fall off her breast so she can incubate eggs better. And she had one, which means she's nesting. So we let her go.
But disaster struck! She didn't fly away like her mate, she kinda hopped away, then just stood and wobbled. I was so scared I injured her and felt really bad, but we caught and checked her and everything looked good. Dr. Levey hypothesized that since it was early, her blood sugar might be low, and we'd just stressed her out. Normally, we should carry glucose solution for times like this, which are rare, but we didn't have any. BUT, I remembered I had a fruit cup in my lunch, which I left in the truck. I ran to get it, and Dr. Levey began to put drops of the juice on her beak so she could drink it. This went on for a while, and when her eyes opened a bit more (she shut them halfway, a sign of stress), we put her down. She continued to wobble a bit, but then she hopped on a branch and flapped, and a few minutes later she was flying. Hooray!
I saved a bird! Me! I sacrificed part of my lunch for her! I'm a hero!
After that ordeal, we just watched birds for a while while our binoculars, learning to identify them. Dr. Levey pointed out a Yellow-breasted Chat, which has a bright yellow breast (duh) and a wide range of songs. It's interesting because no one knows how to classify it. It's a warbler, but it's hardly like a warbler at all, way too big. Anyway, we decided to catch it, which was successful. No bleeding and stuff, but fun anyway.
After that, we looked for cuckoos and headed back to station. We hung out, then went to meet someone in the field, to talk, eat, and check for birds. Returned to station, Dr. Levey left, and Julian took Candice and I out to set up nets for the next morning. We can keep them twisted up over night, then spread them out in the morning without having to set up the poles again. Candice hadn't handled birds yet, so we caught a male bunting in one of the nets. We had a little trouble with an unsteady pole falling down, but I dealt with that while Julian taught her stuff. She called the bird "Bundt Cake." Cute.
It was later than I'd hoped, so I left pretty fast when we got to station. Skyped as usual, kept Beck up too long. Showered, made pasta, wrote blog, got tired, went bed, wake when no sun, Matt come tomorrow, need clean, birds. Ug.
We let the little guy go, but we had left the Ipod on, so when we checked the net again we had snared his mate. She's not the beautiful deep turquoise blue like him, just tan, with a wee bit of blue on her wings. And I took her out of the net. I did! Me! My first bird! It was a special moment. We went through the motions again, Julian practicing bleeding on one wing, and me on the other. We also checked for a brood patch, when all the feathers fall off her breast so she can incubate eggs better. And she had one, which means she's nesting. So we let her go.
But disaster struck! She didn't fly away like her mate, she kinda hopped away, then just stood and wobbled. I was so scared I injured her and felt really bad, but we caught and checked her and everything looked good. Dr. Levey hypothesized that since it was early, her blood sugar might be low, and we'd just stressed her out. Normally, we should carry glucose solution for times like this, which are rare, but we didn't have any. BUT, I remembered I had a fruit cup in my lunch, which I left in the truck. I ran to get it, and Dr. Levey began to put drops of the juice on her beak so she could drink it. This went on for a while, and when her eyes opened a bit more (she shut them halfway, a sign of stress), we put her down. She continued to wobble a bit, but then she hopped on a branch and flapped, and a few minutes later she was flying. Hooray!
I saved a bird! Me! I sacrificed part of my lunch for her! I'm a hero!
After that ordeal, we just watched birds for a while while our binoculars, learning to identify them. Dr. Levey pointed out a Yellow-breasted Chat, which has a bright yellow breast (duh) and a wide range of songs. It's interesting because no one knows how to classify it. It's a warbler, but it's hardly like a warbler at all, way too big. Anyway, we decided to catch it, which was successful. No bleeding and stuff, but fun anyway.
After that, we looked for cuckoos and headed back to station. We hung out, then went to meet someone in the field, to talk, eat, and check for birds. Returned to station, Dr. Levey left, and Julian took Candice and I out to set up nets for the next morning. We can keep them twisted up over night, then spread them out in the morning without having to set up the poles again. Candice hadn't handled birds yet, so we caught a male bunting in one of the nets. We had a little trouble with an unsteady pole falling down, but I dealt with that while Julian taught her stuff. She called the bird "Bundt Cake." Cute.
It was later than I'd hoped, so I left pretty fast when we got to station. Skyped as usual, kept Beck up too long. Showered, made pasta, wrote blog, got tired, went bed, wake when no sun, Matt come tomorrow, need clean, birds. Ug.
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