What are you seeing out there?

We are once again on a rain delay. This one is going to be longer than the last since the rain came in sooner than expected, there is a ton more of it, and our area is in a flash flood watch. Lovely.

So, we are back in Nacogdoches for at least a few days. Luckily we are ahead of schedule. All of our pitfalls and foggings are finished and we only have 24 surveys left. If we can't get out till Monday and still do two surveys a day, then we will still be finished by the 12th which is 2 days earlier than projected. I'm going to think positive thoughts. It's almost over, so I want it to finish out well and not in a scramble. 

Another positive note is we don't have zeros on the eucalyptus stands data sheets as I was warned might have been the case. Brittany was even able to get a few good pictures of some of the birds we have seen. 

Immature painted bunting

Another shot of the immature painted bunting. Females look similar to this fella. The main difference is males sing while females will chirp or call. When this little guy matures he will look like this:

Image courtesy of allaboutbirds.org

I've only been lucky enough to see one mature male this season. Trying to get eyes on birds while in a stand full of 8-10 feet tall eucalyptus trees is easier said than done. 

In an earlier post I mentioned we went  driving around trying to find roadrunners. We were finally able to get close enough to take a photo. Again, this is Brittany's capture (gotta give cred where it's due!)

In true cartoon fashion, the roadrunner most folks are familiar with looks nothing like the real thing. 

Photo cred: boomeranghq.net (google search) 

And they don't make the meep-meep sound. Here is a better photo I found:

Check out that crest on its head! These are awesome birds! They not only eat bugs and insects but snakes! They are also super lightening fast runners. At least the cartoon version was correct in one aspect. 

Another really nifty bird I have previously mentioned that we have heard and seen is the orchard oriole. When we first heard an immature call we were both stumped. For those who are familiar with bird songs, it kinda sounded like a blue grosbeak and an indigo bunting had a love child. Luckily Brittany was able to get eyes on it when it started moving around. I lost a part of my bino straps while transferring them from one set to another thus I have barely used my binos at all. Ugh, I digress. Not only do the immatures sound nothing like the adults, but they look nothing like them either. 

Photos from Merlin bird ID app. 

Crazy, right?? Trying to identify birds like the orchard oriole make birding both fun and frustrating. Age groups and sexes of the same species can be so different that you can get frustrated trying to figure out just what they are. But I assure you, once  you figure it out you will never forget. I hadn't heard an immature orhard oriole in over a week and as soon as it started singing I knew what it was. 

Now that I've bored you all to death with bird knowledge, I'll leave you with some recent pictures from the season. Blessed be. 

Enjoying the shade when it's found while waiting on the insecticide to do its magic. 

Raccoon hind foot print

Baby praying mantis!!!

 

Week 4? Recap

It really doesn't seem like it's only been 4 weeks since we started doing field work, but it has. It seems like an eternity has gone by. Days run together, nights are never long enough, and the humidity and higher temperatures are rolling in. I think I may be loosing what is left of my mind. 

Last week I mentioned we were going to a local truck stop called Three Flags in Bon Wier, TX. If you are ever that way, definitely stop by! Holy cow at the food! I got a small seafood platter and couldn't finish it all. I tried, believe me, and I paid for it later. But it was soo good. 

Today is another "binge" day and I couldn't be happier! I know I'm just exhausted. We've been getting up at 5 AM doing 2-3 surveys, coming back to our motel at about 930-10ish, changing out of nasty sweaty muddy clothes, relaxing till 330-4ish, then getting back out in the heat till 730-8ish, eating dinner, showering, then going right to bed to do it all over again. 

I will not lie. It has not been all sunshine and rainbows. Even today I was nearing a melt down until I found a hole with my ankle and fell. It's hard wiping invisible spider webs from your face and watching where you step at the same time. Even right now as I type this I am sitting outside the motel room, drinking my coffee in clothes that are drenched from mainly sweat and dew. I haven't even made it inside yet. I don't have the energy and I know once I change I may not get up from the bed. At one point this week I even said "I hate being an adult trying to be a teenager". 

This has probably been the most difficult week since we are working every day in order to get done before Brittany has to go back to Georgia. I know I've been home sick, so she most definitely has to be as well. 

Sunday the sweetest puppy wandered up to us while we went to do laundry and decided we needed to be her people. 

We thought she belonged to some people who were staying in their RV, but were wrong. We tried to take her to the animal shelter in the nearest town, but the humane society in Jasper didn't take drop offs (unheard of!) and the animal shelter REFUSED to take her because she was not found in Jasper! I was so pissed! They had previous fall outs with people with missing animals in Newton before and would not take animals from there anymore. She suggested I complain to the county court, to which I explained we were not from here and would only be here another week! They just didn't get it. So we had to take her back to the motel. The next evening she was gone and I hope with all my heart someone found that sweet puppy and gave her a home. 

I also found out, the same day we were trying to find somewhere to take the puppy, that my grandmother has colon cancer. She didn't want to worry me before she had surgery and knew more since I'm so far away. So far they believe they removed all the cancer (a quarter sized tumor), but they also removed some lymph nodes for further testing. They should know more today, but I'm going to let her rest, recoup, and get home before I call again. 

They've also decided to do some prescribed burning near some of our areas. Granted, they are acres away, but it just adds haze to our areas. And it's kinda creepy when you roll into the woods to look beside you in the dark and see this:

So, week 4 has been crazy as you can tell. We are trying to make the best of it and it has been more laughter than grumpiness, I swear!  We still haven't heard a word about our field housing and our room runs out Tuesday. We have 23 more days of this season left, but we also have 60% chance of rain next weekend. Hopefully it'll hold off a little so we can get it all done. I really don't want to get stuck again. 

Super foggy sunrise

This is the sky all in one day. It changed so fast. 

It doesn't look like much other than a solitary dead tree, but a family of kestrels live here!!

As we were headed "home". 

Smoke from a prescribed burn. 

One of my favorite stands. Too bad it's not one we work in. 

The two different leaf types found on eucalyptus. This just happens to be the same tree. 

The last pitfall is placed!!!

Foggy mimosa microphylla. Looks like something from Dr. Suess's The Lorax. 

"There are people starving and they want you to look at birds."

A fellow patron at our motel actually said this to me after answering his questions about what we were studying and why. I explained that no one is aware of any possible side effects from changing wildlife habitat to a completely foreign species, to which he just shook his head. The pyramids weren't built in a day and not everyone worries about things that might not concern them in the long run. So, I take the fact he actually asked in the first place and listened to what I had to say as a small victory. 

So, we've settled in to our motel room in Newton. It's a really nice place. The rooms are super roomy and clean, the staff is super nice, there's a pool (even though it hasn't really been hot enough to put more than our feet in - but GOD did that feel good!), and we are only 15 minutes away from Merryville and our sites instead of 2 hrs away. 

We have also been sticking to a schedule! I know my brain just exploded! We were even able to get an extra stand in after our hell stand yesterday! 

The rain we got Monday and Tuesday has made everything a little slushy. So much in fact, we got stuck Thursday. 

Luckily we were able to reach Patrick (hi Patrick!!) who we unknowingly passed on the way in and who was able to pull us out of this giant mess. We were so close too! Also luckily we were trying to reach a third stand before survey time ran out. Just in case I haven't mentioned it, surveys are done from sunrise (615ish-630) till 3 hrs after. So at 930 we need to be done. We got stuck at 845. 

The cold front that came in after the rain has made it unseasonably cool in deep east Texas and southwest Louisiana. It has also made it TONS easier to do field work. 

Today is our weekly binge day were we only do surveys, rest and recoup for the remainder of the day, and eat a meal we didn't have to heat up in the microwave. These days were implemented so we wouldn't kill each other from hunger and to actually have something to look forward to. This morning I leisurely enjoyed my celebratory coffee an this afternoon we will try out the local truck stop resteraunt called Three Flags. We may even get in the pool if it warms up. 

We only have about 4 more weeks of this adventure left! Here's hoping we don't get anymore rain. 

Scissor-tailed flycatcher. They have awesome long tails that seem to help them hover while looking for food and impressing mates. 

Sunrise and fog over a recent clear cut. 

Sunrise in the eucs. 

Moon set in the pines. 

Sometimes you can find beauty in madness. 

More mud pics

Wise words found above the coffee pot in the main office. 

Field season week 2 recap

Week 2 started out with itchy poison ivy and runny noses, worked it's way to defeat by two stands that are hella thick, picked up by us catching up on Thursday and ended with us getting bumped from field housing. 

If I weren't so stubborn and hard headed I would have bawled my eyes out and threw in the towel. But, I didn't. We came back to Nac Thursday afternoon since a good rain system was headed towards Merryville and we would most likely be rained out the next morning. Not to mention Brittany really needed to get a shot in her ass. Her rashes had spread a little and she was just miserable. Also, since we were moved out of field housing we needed to find an alternative. 

The first two days we worked we drove back and forth. Merryville is 2 hrs away and to get there in time to do bird surveys we had to leave no later than 4 am. We did this trip Sunday and Monday of this week too. 5 hrs of just commuting in top of physical exertion is just cray. 

Luckily we were able to find a decently priced motel in Newton, TX which is only 15 min away from Merryville. Because of another large rain system we will go this afternoon and settle in and see what the damage is to our dirt roads. I'm hoping they are not that bad because tomorrow's high is 70 and we desperately need to catch up on bird surveys. I wanted to do three stands yesterday, but I was just so tired that I could barely lift my legs anymore. 

I know this recap is not as exciting as the last one and I apologize. This rain has made me terribly drowsy and I'm just so exhausted after one thing after another going crazy wrong. 

Enjoy what few pictures I have from this week and I'll try to make next weeks recap worth the read. 

Beautiful sunset just as we got out of the stand. 

Cinnamon loves my stinky nasty socks. 

No shade. 

Field work + lead navigating + shot gun traveling is hard work. 

Work ethic is sweating your ass off in this and hoping to all the gods it doesn't rain. 

Lightening from last nights storm.