This week started out with a bang – literally. Chelsea
and I headed out into the field on Sunday knowing that it was going to be
overcast with 20% chance of thunderstorms all day. We weren’t out an hour
before it started sprinkling, and not 5 minutes later it was full on pouring
with lightning moving in fast. I was by the car, so I ran to it and started
driving over to where Chelsea was. Those 5 minutes of rain completely soaked
the roads, so I was sliding through all kinds of mud while still trying to get
to her quickly (the lightning was striking within a couple miles – thunder and
lightning were simultaneous). Chelsea and I couldn’t hear each other over the
radio because of how loud the rain and thunder were, so we just kept updating
our locations every minute and readjusting our courses. When we finally got to
each other, we just hung out in the car for 10 minutes waiting for the storm to
pass, but Marisa called us from home and told us to come back because it looked
like it would last a while. That was kind of nice because we were able to throw
our clothes in the dryer while getting caught up on data entry at home, and
after a few hours we went back out to finish our territories.
 |
| Oh hey, poison ivy. |
Monday I stood on another fire ant hill, so that kind of
tells you how that day went. It was also REALLY hot and there were tons of
mosquitoes (had to do the mosquito dance anytime I was standing still, which
involves flailing your arms and spinning in circles – not easy to fill out a
data sheet at the same time). I did find a BCVI fledgling that was pretty young
and still learning to fly. They are really cute when they’re learning because
they make so much noise flapping around and often miss the branches that they
are aiming for. You just want to stand there are cheer them on because they are
trying so hard! I also saw the cows at Hickory Ridge again – two of the calves
were playing around and butting heads, so that was a pretty adorable way to end
the day. But when I got home I saw all of the new chigger, mosquito, and fire
ant bites on my legs – that was not adorable. At all. I think I’m going to get
marks from each of my field jobs, which is kind of neat (scar on my right hand
from when an angry scarlet macaw bit the heck out of me for stealing her baby
(to be fair, I was returning it when she bit me)), but in the case of this
field job, it’s just disgusting – chigger bite scars covering both of my ankles…
not as badass as the macaw.
Tuesday was pretty normal… I checked some BCVI nests, followed
some fledglings, found a scorpion in our kitchen sink, and – oh yeah – BOUGHT A
TICKET TO PERU!! I’ve been looking at jobs for the fall for a while (Side note:
That’s one slightly annoying aspect of this type of work – I am *constantly*
applying for jobs for the upcoming season. Yes, it means I get to work on many
different projects in different locations, but I always have to be on the
look-out and planning for what’s next.) The project in Peru sounds pretty awesome
– it’s studying the biotic and abiotic factors that influence elevation ranges
of different bird species in Manu National Park (there are >1000 species in
total!). There are three field stations at different elevations – 400m (lowland
jungle, similar to where I was last fall), 1400m (lower montane forest), and 2900m
(upper cloud forest). My first choice was the middle station (wanted a new experience
other than jungle, but I am TERRIBLE at adjusting to high altitude). I actually
got assigned to that station which is awesome because apparently a number of
people wanted this one but didn’t get it. It looks like there will be 11 people
at that station, including myself. It won’t be as comfy as my last project in
Peru – we will be sleeping in tents on a covered platform for four months – but
it will be colder and less humid, so that will be a nice change. Now I’m
figuring out my gear situation and getting ready for another season abroad! I’m
pretty excited :) (By the way, there is nothing quite like buying a 4-month
trip to Peru to put you in a good mood – I was seriously giggling in Starbucks.
But I think I need to look into cheaper options for good moods from now on…)
Wednesday was exciting – remember how I mentioned that I
found a scorpion in our kitchen sink on Tuesday? (Probably not – it kind of got
lost before all that Peru talk) Well I thought, “you know, that’s the fourth
scorpion we’ve had in the house, it might be a good idea to start checking my
boots,” which could not have been timed better, because THERE WAS A SCORPION IN
MY BOOT. It was a little one, yes, but it still would have sucked to have stuck
my foot in there. Now I shake my boots out obsessively… and my towel… and my
clothes… and my sheets… and anything else that is remotely in the reach of
scorpions… which is pretty much everything. I’m starting to think that living
in the jungle for two months already was not enough preparation for living in
Texas. Sure, we had giant months, bats, cockroaches, grasshoppers, etc roaming
around in our living quarters, but none of that stuff will hurt you (I definitely
kept track of where the cockroaches were, that’s for sure). Plus our lodge had
no walls and was open to the jungle, so creatures were expected. But here in
Texas I live in a house with all of the proper walls, and yet there are
SCORPIONS inside. And as bad as the mosquitoes were in the jungle (huge and
everywhere everyday), the chiggers here are enough to make you crazy… or just
scratch open your bites on a regular basis. Come on, Texas, get it together.
That afternoon the bee guys finally came to get rid of
the hive growing inside our walls. (See my last post.) We still have a good
amount of honeycomb left, so I’ve been snacking on straight honey, or drizzling
it on things, like my Honey Nut Cheerios (you know, in case they didn’t have
enough honey already). About the process – they started by pulling out the
carpet and floorboards in Marisa’s bedroom and smoking the bees to keep them
calm. Unfortunately they also smoked me out in the process – it seemed like all
the smoke collected upstairs, so I had to open a window to avoid suffocating,
which then let in the 90 degree air. Not a fun trade-off. Then they started
vacuuming up the bees and collecting them in a bucket so they could take them
away afterward and transport them to a new hive. It was cool because they could
tell when they got the queen because the rest of the bees were crawling all
over the outside of the bucket instead of the hive. The guy said that this was
a small hive with *only* 10,000 bees. Only?? Oh, they also found a mummified
mouse near the hive! I forget what he said about how they do it, but somehow
the mouse was mummified – hadn’t rotted at all. You could even see his
whiskers! |
| The next day - still a couple hundred bees in the floor, but they should go away. |
 |
| Mummified mouse! |
Friday (yesterday) was a terrible day of work – lots of
chiggers, getting attacked by vegetation, and SUPER loud katydids which made it
nearly impossible to hear our birds. I don’t really care about that, though,
because that evening Chelsea and I went to the Burnet County Fair & Rodeo!
The fair was really small compared to the Bluebonnet Festival from April, but
the rodeo was awesome, and it was my first one! I was most excited to see
Mutton Bustin’, which is when little kids ride on the backs of sheep and hold on
as long as possible. It’s hilarious because they obviously want to win so they
won’t let go of the sheep, even when it’s dragging them through the dirt. One
kid fell off, didn’t let go, and ended up taking the sheep down with him! I
almost thing that this sport is more for the parents than for the kids, because
the last contestant in the first round was a 2-year-old. Fortunately the kid
didn’t compete (would have been terrifying to watch!). |
| Mutton Bustin'! |
There was also bull riding, calf roping, team roping,
steer wrestling, bareback riding, and a few others. Steer wrestling is one of
the craziest things I’ve ever seen – I was in the process of asking Chelsea
what steer wrestling was when all of a sudden a little steer was let out of the
chute with a guy on a horse in hot pursuit. Before I could even comprehend what
was going on, the guy had roped the steer by the horns, jumped off his horse, grabbed the steer, picked him up and flipped him to his side, sat on him and
tied three of his legs together, then jumped off and threw his hands in the
air. That all happened in about 10 seconds. That was almost as ridiculous as
mutton bustin’, but way more involved and without small children. Team roping
was another one that was pretty crazy, and takes a lot of skill – for that one
a steer is sent out of the chute with two riders in pursuit. The “header” has
to rope the steer by the horns, and then the “heeler” has to rope the back legs
by getting the rope up from below as the steer is running. No idea how they do
that, but awesome when they do! Rodeos are awesome, which is good because
Chelsea and I are going to another, bigger one in a different city next
weekend! Yee-haw!
Mutton Bustin':
Team Roping (not the best angle, but you get the idea):
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