I made it back safely yesterday! It was a long day in planes and airports. Neil and I were on the same flight to Atlanta, which was nice. A few more hours of inside jokes, talking science and reminiscing about the course. We lost each other on the way through customs; I hope he found pizza. :)
Matt met me by the baggage claim in Detroit. It was great! He took me back to his apartment to see cat, fed me, and put me to bed. I slept 10 hours.
It is strange to be back, but it feels good. It is cold and quiet here, with a few inches of snow left on the ground. I am spending the day picking up the threads of my life. Tomorrow Violet (the cat) and I will head back to western Michigan and plunge into the new/old routine. I guess this is the end of the Costa Rica blog, for now; maybe I'll start it up again in July!
Oh, and for the birders out there, I saw 46 new species since my last update! (Not counting mist-netted birds). That brings the total for the trip up to 241. Most of them new to me. I can't wait for spring migration to get swinging up here!
Monday, March 24, 2008
3/22 Panama City
The taxi that picked us up from the ferry in Gamboa dropped us at the bus station where we originally arrived in Panama City. Half of the group is getting back on a Tica Bus to San Jose at 11 pm. I'm glad to not be one of them, I don't fancy another 18-hour bus ride just yet.
We all said our goodbyes and the Margaret, Becky and I took a cab to the hostel (Hostal Panama) where Becky and I will be staying tonight. Margaret has to catch the bus, but decided to spend the day with us. After dropping our bags, we stopped by the grocery store for breakfast and stocking up, and then caught a cab to Casco Viejo, the picturesque old city. It's full of buildings that are 2 or 3 centuries old, in various states of repair. People are interested in restoration, but there's only so much money, so immaculately repaired and finished buildings sit right next to derelict houses and ones that are halfway in between, gutted and surrounded by scaffolding. It's hopeful, but you can tell it's also slow-moving. A fun place to spend a couple of hours walking around. We ran into another group of OTSers, had a sandwich, and then headed back to the hostel for much-needed naps.
Becky got me up at 4:30 so we could head out for an early dinner. We went to a stupendous italian place and had pizza with garlic bread and sangria. Becky left early to pick her husband Peter up at the airport (they're spending a vacation together in Panama), and Margaret and I lingered over our food and drink until it was dark outside. Then we caught a cab back to the hostel, Margaret got her back, and we said goodbye. She headed back to the bus station.
I unpacked and repacked by bags one last time, keeping the fragiles in my carry-on and the liquids out of it, and wondered what it would be like to not be in the tropics any more. The hostel owner is taking me to the airport tomorrow morning at 5 am.
We all said our goodbyes and the Margaret, Becky and I took a cab to the hostel (Hostal Panama) where Becky and I will be staying tonight. Margaret has to catch the bus, but decided to spend the day with us. After dropping our bags, we stopped by the grocery store for breakfast and stocking up, and then caught a cab to Casco Viejo, the picturesque old city. It's full of buildings that are 2 or 3 centuries old, in various states of repair. People are interested in restoration, but there's only so much money, so immaculately repaired and finished buildings sit right next to derelict houses and ones that are halfway in between, gutted and surrounded by scaffolding. It's hopeful, but you can tell it's also slow-moving. A fun place to spend a couple of hours walking around. We ran into another group of OTSers, had a sandwich, and then headed back to the hostel for much-needed naps.
Becky got me up at 4:30 so we could head out for an early dinner. We went to a stupendous italian place and had pizza with garlic bread and sangria. Becky left early to pick her husband Peter up at the airport (they're spending a vacation together in Panama), and Margaret and I lingered over our food and drink until it was dark outside. Then we caught a cab back to the hostel, Margaret got her back, and we said goodbye. She headed back to the bus station.
I unpacked and repacked by bags one last time, keeping the fragiles in my carry-on and the liquids out of it, and wondered what it would be like to not be in the tropics any more. The hostel owner is taking me to the airport tomorrow morning at 5 am.
3/21 Pipeline Road
It's amazing how much easier it has been to get up early on this trip. First of all, it's warm, so you don't have to worry about cold feet. Second, something exciting is going to happen as soon as you get up, which is very motivating. Third, the howler monkeys are screaming their heads off.
So I didn't have any trouble catching the 6:30 ferry this morning. We were a few minutes late just because we were waiting for the kitchen to finish our lunches. We each got two bags of food, and I started eating breakfast on the ferry. That's when we discovered the sandwiches. Four for each of us, For the vegetarians, peanut butter and jelly and cheese; for the meat eater, peanut butter and jelly and cheese and ham. All on one sandwich. Why is this? There are a few theories. It could be that the cooks were tired, and got confused halfway through. It could be that they hate us. Or maybe they just think gringos like peanut butter on everything, not impossible. Anyway, it wasn't too bad without the ham.
Hiking Pipeline was the perfect way to spend my last day in the rainforest. We saw ~60 species of birds, 16 new to me. There were also some new plants, including the fattest, hairiest spiral ginger I've ever seen. A tamandua (little anteater) was chomping away a few feet off the road. Possibly the biggest treat was seeing a tarantula hawk (an enormous wasp, at least 3" long) dragging its still-twitching prey (an orange-kneed tarantula, perhaps?) across the road. We were tired and happy when we made it back to the ferry at 5 pm.
Dinner and packing was followed by a last night of hanging out as a group. Jess left last night and Sara left this morning, so we're diminished, but we still count 16. Tomorrow morning we'll all pile on the 6:30 ferry with all of our luggage, head into Panama City, and disperse.
So I didn't have any trouble catching the 6:30 ferry this morning. We were a few minutes late just because we were waiting for the kitchen to finish our lunches. We each got two bags of food, and I started eating breakfast on the ferry. That's when we discovered the sandwiches. Four for each of us, For the vegetarians, peanut butter and jelly and cheese; for the meat eater, peanut butter and jelly and cheese and ham. All on one sandwich. Why is this? There are a few theories. It could be that the cooks were tired, and got confused halfway through. It could be that they hate us. Or maybe they just think gringos like peanut butter on everything, not impossible. Anyway, it wasn't too bad without the ham.
Hiking Pipeline was the perfect way to spend my last day in the rainforest. We saw ~60 species of birds, 16 new to me. There were also some new plants, including the fattest, hairiest spiral ginger I've ever seen. A tamandua (little anteater) was chomping away a few feet off the road. Possibly the biggest treat was seeing a tarantula hawk (an enormous wasp, at least 3" long) dragging its still-twitching prey (an orange-kneed tarantula, perhaps?) across the road. We were tired and happy when we made it back to the ferry at 5 pm.
Dinner and packing was followed by a last night of hanging out as a group. Jess left last night and Sara left this morning, so we're diminished, but we still count 16. Tomorrow morning we'll all pile on the 6:30 ferry with all of our luggage, head into Panama City, and disperse.
3/20 first alert day at BCI
I opted out of the morning hike with Egbert Leigh (resident scientist who gave us our intro lecture last night covering the history of ecological research at BCI) in favor of birding with Neil and Becky. Egbert felt 18 people was too many for a reasonable hike, so we had his blessing.
The forest here is thick and palmy. The dry season is more distinct than at La Selva, but it's still a rainforest. So very green, but with a thick layer of crunchy fallen leaves. The island was formed ~1914 when the river was flooded to form Gatun Lake, the central part of the Panama Canal. Biologists previously working in the area teamed up with entomologists associated with the canal (studying malarial mosquitoes) to make the island into a preserve for research. When it was first flooded, 1/3 to 1/2 was deforested for wood and agriculture. The forest has recovered admirably; your average person would never guess it had been pasture less than 100 years ago. But there are practically no big trees, and still some residual early successional species in high abundance (like free-standing, i.e. non-strangler, figs).
At any rate, I hadn't seen that many palms and ant-birds since La Selva, or that many ticks since Corcovado. I don't know what makes good tick habitat, but I must have picked 200 off of my clothes over the course of the walk. And I stayed on trail. Neil was seduced into the woods by the call of the elusive Northern Bentbill. He found his bird, but came back with thousands of tiny ticks -- he must have walked into a few balls of seed ticks in the woods. Being a stoic biologist, he continued on the hike, turning back only when it was time for lunch. After we ate, he stripped off most of his clothes and 4 of us took duct tape and tweezers to every bare surface of his skin. It was an excellent demonstration of primate grooming behavior. Kellie got pictures. After seeing that, the only thing that will motivate me to leave the trail is an aggressive puma.
We had a series of seminars in the afternoon from different grad students based at BCI. A couple were on the fig-fig wasp system (which I LOVE), one looking at whether figs punish wasps that don't pollinate, and one one the physiological differences between strangler and free-standing figs. There are 16 species of figs on BCI! We also heard about BCI's awesome automated radio telemetry system, which gives locations for collared animals every 4 minutes. They've even put them on euglossine (orchid) bees, and rodent-dispersed seeds. Then there was a hydrogeology talk, and one on ant behavior. After dinner we heard a STRI postdoc practice his job talk on gene dispersal in tropical trees. Overall, I was impressed with the advantages of doing research in a place as intensively studied as BCI.
Tomorrow I think I'm going to catch the 6:30 ferry and spend the day hiking on Pipeline Road with Becky and Neil. It's a road that the US government cut straight through the rainforest in WW2 as an alternate route (mostly for oil transport) in case the canal was bombed. Now it's basically just used by ecotourists, mostly birders; the world record for most birds seen in one day was made here. Something like 530 birds. We'll see how we do.
The forest here is thick and palmy. The dry season is more distinct than at La Selva, but it's still a rainforest. So very green, but with a thick layer of crunchy fallen leaves. The island was formed ~1914 when the river was flooded to form Gatun Lake, the central part of the Panama Canal. Biologists previously working in the area teamed up with entomologists associated with the canal (studying malarial mosquitoes) to make the island into a preserve for research. When it was first flooded, 1/3 to 1/2 was deforested for wood and agriculture. The forest has recovered admirably; your average person would never guess it had been pasture less than 100 years ago. But there are practically no big trees, and still some residual early successional species in high abundance (like free-standing, i.e. non-strangler, figs).
At any rate, I hadn't seen that many palms and ant-birds since La Selva, or that many ticks since Corcovado. I don't know what makes good tick habitat, but I must have picked 200 off of my clothes over the course of the walk. And I stayed on trail. Neil was seduced into the woods by the call of the elusive Northern Bentbill. He found his bird, but came back with thousands of tiny ticks -- he must have walked into a few balls of seed ticks in the woods. Being a stoic biologist, he continued on the hike, turning back only when it was time for lunch. After we ate, he stripped off most of his clothes and 4 of us took duct tape and tweezers to every bare surface of his skin. It was an excellent demonstration of primate grooming behavior. Kellie got pictures. After seeing that, the only thing that will motivate me to leave the trail is an aggressive puma.
We had a series of seminars in the afternoon from different grad students based at BCI. A couple were on the fig-fig wasp system (which I LOVE), one looking at whether figs punish wasps that don't pollinate, and one one the physiological differences between strangler and free-standing figs. There are 16 species of figs on BCI! We also heard about BCI's awesome automated radio telemetry system, which gives locations for collared animals every 4 minutes. They've even put them on euglossine (orchid) bees, and rodent-dispersed seeds. Then there was a hydrogeology talk, and one on ant behavior. After dinner we heard a STRI postdoc practice his job talk on gene dispersal in tropical trees. Overall, I was impressed with the advantages of doing research in a place as intensively studied as BCI.
Tomorrow I think I'm going to catch the 6:30 ferry and spend the day hiking on Pipeline Road with Becky and Neil. It's a road that the US government cut straight through the rainforest in WW2 as an alternate route (mostly for oil transport) in case the canal was bombed. Now it's basically just used by ecotourists, mostly birders; the world record for most birds seen in one day was made here. Something like 530 birds. We'll see how we do.
3/19 arrival at Barro Colorado Island
Yesterday we had our first parting; the last course meal had been the night before. Erika, Katja, Edwin, Anna, Amanda, Derik, and Nate went their separate ways. The rest of us left Hotel City One in San Jose at 10 am for the Tica Bus Station (everyone but Derik was there for the farewells). We got to the station early, happily, and had about an hour to wait before we got on the bus; it rolled out just after 12pm. Our course took up a little less than half of the bus. We were subdued. The driver put on a motorcycle-and-fast-car movie with no plot (“Torque” – never heard of it.) After that there were a couple of Westerns.
It was about 7 hours to the Panama border. I’m not sure what time we got there exactly, but I was asleep and it was pitch dark outside. Everyone in the bus had to get out and go through a line to exit Costa Rica. Then we walked ~500 meters over the border. It was a strange walk… there were no sidewalks, so we were on the edge of the road. There were vehicles parked on the side, a few people standing around. Not much light. As we got close to the border, there was almost a carnival atmosphere, with food and duty-free shops. On the Panama side we had to go to three different places to get tourist cards, special stickers, entry stamps in our passports, and finally to get our bags inspected (the bus had driven ahead of us to across the border and unloaded our checked bags there). I was grateful to be in a big group with a few good Spanish speakers; confusion was minimal and we watched out for each other. Still, I think it took a couple of hours to get across.
Back in the bus, the driver started on a Steven Seagal spree that lasted until we got to Panama City. Some people found it hard to sleep with the sound of gunshots and snapping bones as Mr. Seagal fought his way through innumerable B-movie scenarios, but not me! I curled up in my seat next to Becky, grateful again to be such a small person, and slept most of the night away. We arrived an hour earlier than planned, 4am, after 17 hours on the bus. Another bus from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) was supposed to meet us at 5am, so we asked around until we found the place where private buses generally meet their parties. We piled our bags and loitered until 5:40, when the STRI driver finally figured out where we were. 15 gringos with 2 months worth of luggage shouldn’t be that hard to spot, but maybe he was as tired as we were.
We were expecting, once on the bus, to be driven to a 7:15 ferry to Barro Colorado Island (BCI), STRI’s biological station on the Panama Canal. But it turned out that ferry was already completely booked, so the driver (Edwin) took us to a tourist buffet for breakfast and then dumped us on STRI’s main office back doorstep sometime before 7 am. The office didn’t open until 8 am. No one knew what would happen next; we knew the next ferry wasn’t until 4pm. I saw a new bird (silver-beaked tanager) and then took a nap on the sidewalk. Ellen R. and I snuck in behind an early arrival to the office to use the bathroom. Several people walked by and felt bad for us. Poor gringo bums sleeping on the sidewalk! But nobody knew what to do. It was a low point. I missed Erika and her miraculous problem-solving abilities.
Shortly after 8 someone with sufficient authority arrived and let us in the building. We went up to the third-floor courtyard where we could buy coffee and have chairs to sit on. 30 minutes later a second person came by to apologize for the mix-up and give us STRI brochures. In another 30 minutes or so she had arranged a special ferry for us. We got back in the bus with Edwin and drove to Gamboa, a small town about halfway along the canal. STRI has some facilities there, including labs, greenhouses, and a dock. There was a smallish boat there that took us to BCI, about a 40 minute ride.
By the time we arrived on BCI, the group was the grumpiest I have ever seen them. And that is saying something. Luckily it was clear to the person meeting us (whose name escapes me) could see that right away. She led us to our rooms and I think everyone fell asleep for an hour before lunch, and again for an hour after lunch. There is a seminar schedule for this evening, but luckily that’s it. We should have regained our alertness and good temper by tomorrow, when we have hikes in the morning and talks all afternoon. I know that some years BCI hasn’t planned much for the OTS courses coming to visit. Although it would have been fun to wander around, I’m glad we’re getting a more official introduction. It will be nice to meet people and hear about their work. This is basically a recruitment visit – BCI and STRI want the next generation of tropical biologists to be familiar with their facilities and have a favorable impression so we’ll consider working here in the future. But it’s obviously a great opportunity for us too. Now I’m going back to sleep so I can be in a condition to enjoy being here.
It was about 7 hours to the Panama border. I’m not sure what time we got there exactly, but I was asleep and it was pitch dark outside. Everyone in the bus had to get out and go through a line to exit Costa Rica. Then we walked ~500 meters over the border. It was a strange walk… there were no sidewalks, so we were on the edge of the road. There were vehicles parked on the side, a few people standing around. Not much light. As we got close to the border, there was almost a carnival atmosphere, with food and duty-free shops. On the Panama side we had to go to three different places to get tourist cards, special stickers, entry stamps in our passports, and finally to get our bags inspected (the bus had driven ahead of us to across the border and unloaded our checked bags there). I was grateful to be in a big group with a few good Spanish speakers; confusion was minimal and we watched out for each other. Still, I think it took a couple of hours to get across.
Back in the bus, the driver started on a Steven Seagal spree that lasted until we got to Panama City. Some people found it hard to sleep with the sound of gunshots and snapping bones as Mr. Seagal fought his way through innumerable B-movie scenarios, but not me! I curled up in my seat next to Becky, grateful again to be such a small person, and slept most of the night away. We arrived an hour earlier than planned, 4am, after 17 hours on the bus. Another bus from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) was supposed to meet us at 5am, so we asked around until we found the place where private buses generally meet their parties. We piled our bags and loitered until 5:40, when the STRI driver finally figured out where we were. 15 gringos with 2 months worth of luggage shouldn’t be that hard to spot, but maybe he was as tired as we were.
We were expecting, once on the bus, to be driven to a 7:15 ferry to Barro Colorado Island (BCI), STRI’s biological station on the Panama Canal. But it turned out that ferry was already completely booked, so the driver (Edwin) took us to a tourist buffet for breakfast and then dumped us on STRI’s main office back doorstep sometime before 7 am. The office didn’t open until 8 am. No one knew what would happen next; we knew the next ferry wasn’t until 4pm. I saw a new bird (silver-beaked tanager) and then took a nap on the sidewalk. Ellen R. and I snuck in behind an early arrival to the office to use the bathroom. Several people walked by and felt bad for us. Poor gringo bums sleeping on the sidewalk! But nobody knew what to do. It was a low point. I missed Erika and her miraculous problem-solving abilities.
Shortly after 8 someone with sufficient authority arrived and let us in the building. We went up to the third-floor courtyard where we could buy coffee and have chairs to sit on. 30 minutes later a second person came by to apologize for the mix-up and give us STRI brochures. In another 30 minutes or so she had arranged a special ferry for us. We got back in the bus with Edwin and drove to Gamboa, a small town about halfway along the canal. STRI has some facilities there, including labs, greenhouses, and a dock. There was a smallish boat there that took us to BCI, about a 40 minute ride.
By the time we arrived on BCI, the group was the grumpiest I have ever seen them. And that is saying something. Luckily it was clear to the person meeting us (whose name escapes me) could see that right away. She led us to our rooms and I think everyone fell asleep for an hour before lunch, and again for an hour after lunch. There is a seminar schedule for this evening, but luckily that’s it. We should have regained our alertness and good temper by tomorrow, when we have hikes in the morning and talks all afternoon. I know that some years BCI hasn’t planned much for the OTS courses coming to visit. Although it would have been fun to wander around, I’m glad we’re getting a more official introduction. It will be nice to meet people and hear about their work. This is basically a recruitment visit – BCI and STRI want the next generation of tropical biologists to be familiar with their facilities and have a favorable impression so we’ll consider working here in the future. But it’s obviously a great opportunity for us too. Now I’m going back to sleep so I can be in a condition to enjoy being here.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Panama!
We made it to Panama early this morning, and now we're at Barro Colorado Island. Our access to the internet is relatively limited here, but I'll try to update the blog properly tomorrow -- just wanted to let interested parties know that the trip went fine. Relatively. See tomorrow's post. :)
Sunday, March 16, 2008
wrapping up
the day we spent at Las Alturas was wonderful, a much-needed respite before coming back to Las Cruces to finish everything. Las Alturas is a tiny little station, just a few rooms and a big wrap-around porch, right on the edge of La Amistad National Park. It hasn't been used much in the last few years -- in fact, apparently no one has been there since the last OTS Fundamentals course a year ago. It was quiet and cozy, at least until we got there. Then it was loud and cozy. The first thing I did was take a nap, then a leisurely walk, then another nap. Amanda and I spent 30 minutes finishing up a paper; luckily it didn't take long, because there was no electricity to recharge the computer. In the evening we ran a generator for lights for a few hours, while we danced and sang and generally made merry. Everybody looked happier than they had in a long time -- no work hanging over our heads!
The next morning we got up, loaded into taxis, and drove back to Las Cruces. The work was waiting for us there. I spent a long day working on all four of my papers. But Erika (the coordinator) assured me that going out mist netting this morning should be a top priority, so I left my papers as they were and went to bed last night at 9pm.
One of the students here, Chris, has some kind of connection with Chase, the fellow who is currently coordinating the bird banding studies out of Las Cruces. Anyway, he managed to get an invitation for three of us to go along this morning, so Becky, Chris and I were out standing by the dining hall at 4:20 this morning. Chase came out to meet us with Federico, an expert bander and all-around local naturalist who speaks more English than he lets on. The four of us jumped in the car and headed down the road, where we picked up 5 more people. It was so Costa Rican, 9 people crammed into a normal-sized car, radio blasting, jokes flying in spanish. It felt great. Maybe if I had been under the pile of people instead of on top it would have been less great, you'd have to ask Becky about that.
The drive to today's field site took about 20 minutes. When we got there we all more or less rolled out of the car and took all the equipment out of the trunk and down the hill to where the banding station would be. This is the biggest bird-banding operation in Central America -- nearly every day of the week, they are at one of their sites with 20 mist nets open from ~5:20 to 11:20. They don't usually have 9 people; Chase said they'd never set up the nets so quickly before. We were in a pine plantation/forest fragment site, with pasture visible on both sides. The plantation is connected to a piece of primary forest. I helped a bit with setting up the nets, and got to take a hummingbird out, but mostly the three of us just sat back and watched the well-oiled machine collect and process the approximately 50 birds that landed in their nets over 6 hours. I saw some completely new birds and got a chance to look closely at several birds I had only seen from afar. I handled all the birds I wanted to; I even got my first hearty finch bite from a thick-billed finch (imagine slightly smaller cardinal bill, ouch!). It was entrancing. I learned a lot about molts, how to age a bird from feather condition, how to take blood and feather samples. They caught their first Kentucky Warbler ever (the study has been running for 9 years). My favorites were the scale-crested pygmy-tyrant and the green honeycreeper; i'll try to remember to post photos of them.
When we got back to Las Cruces at 12:30 it was back to the computer. I finished my last 3 papers and turned them in before dinner. Now we've got our final wrap-up slideshow, evaluations to fill out, and bags to pack. It's not quite the end -- we'll all have dinner together one last time tomorrow night -- but the class is really over today. It's been such a crazy, busy, magical time... it's hard to believe after 8 weeks that we're not just driving to a new site tomorrow where we'll unpack, get orientation walks, meet new faculty, and spring into another set of projects. Instead, we'll be heading our different ways after tomorrow night; most of us to Panama together for a few more days, but important people will be missing. And no more schedule, no more assignments... I'll start thinking about my own field work again, the plants and insects waiting for me in Michigan. Luckily I love home and the people there, so my sadness at the end of this adventure is mixed with excitement at returning.
The next morning we got up, loaded into taxis, and drove back to Las Cruces. The work was waiting for us there. I spent a long day working on all four of my papers. But Erika (the coordinator) assured me that going out mist netting this morning should be a top priority, so I left my papers as they were and went to bed last night at 9pm.
One of the students here, Chris, has some kind of connection with Chase, the fellow who is currently coordinating the bird banding studies out of Las Cruces. Anyway, he managed to get an invitation for three of us to go along this morning, so Becky, Chris and I were out standing by the dining hall at 4:20 this morning. Chase came out to meet us with Federico, an expert bander and all-around local naturalist who speaks more English than he lets on. The four of us jumped in the car and headed down the road, where we picked up 5 more people. It was so Costa Rican, 9 people crammed into a normal-sized car, radio blasting, jokes flying in spanish. It felt great. Maybe if I had been under the pile of people instead of on top it would have been less great, you'd have to ask Becky about that.
The drive to today's field site took about 20 minutes. When we got there we all more or less rolled out of the car and took all the equipment out of the trunk and down the hill to where the banding station would be. This is the biggest bird-banding operation in Central America -- nearly every day of the week, they are at one of their sites with 20 mist nets open from ~5:20 to 11:20. They don't usually have 9 people; Chase said they'd never set up the nets so quickly before. We were in a pine plantation/forest fragment site, with pasture visible on both sides. The plantation is connected to a piece of primary forest. I helped a bit with setting up the nets, and got to take a hummingbird out, but mostly the three of us just sat back and watched the well-oiled machine collect and process the approximately 50 birds that landed in their nets over 6 hours. I saw some completely new birds and got a chance to look closely at several birds I had only seen from afar. I handled all the birds I wanted to; I even got my first hearty finch bite from a thick-billed finch (imagine slightly smaller cardinal bill, ouch!). It was entrancing. I learned a lot about molts, how to age a bird from feather condition, how to take blood and feather samples. They caught their first Kentucky Warbler ever (the study has been running for 9 years). My favorites were the scale-crested pygmy-tyrant and the green honeycreeper; i'll try to remember to post photos of them.
When we got back to Las Cruces at 12:30 it was back to the computer. I finished my last 3 papers and turned them in before dinner. Now we've got our final wrap-up slideshow, evaluations to fill out, and bags to pack. It's not quite the end -- we'll all have dinner together one last time tomorrow night -- but the class is really over today. It's been such a crazy, busy, magical time... it's hard to believe after 8 weeks that we're not just driving to a new site tomorrow where we'll unpack, get orientation walks, meet new faculty, and spring into another set of projects. Instead, we'll be heading our different ways after tomorrow night; most of us to Panama together for a few more days, but important people will be missing. And no more schedule, no more assignments... I'll start thinking about my own field work again, the plants and insects waiting for me in Michigan. Luckily I love home and the people there, so my sadness at the end of this adventure is mixed with excitement at returning.
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