Did I mention it is rainy season?
The alarm woke me up at 355am, which I fear is going to be the standard wake up time for us guacamayeros. Of course, when you go to bed at 8pm, it’s not so bad, but shouldn’t I get paid for doing this? In a confused slumber still, Jerome mumbled something about speaking French only when I entered his room to wake him. Finally becoming alert enough, he informed me that we would not be monitoring the colpa because of the rain. A work reprieve! On waking again around 630 or so I noticed that my zip-loc bag of Lara Bars and Clif Bars had been chewed upon a bit. Assuming rats or mice were the culprits, I double zip-locked them and set them up on a shelf.
The rain forced us to work indoors, and ascender training was apparently next on the agenda for me as Jerome fitted me with a harness and talked me through climbing a rope to the second story of the dormitory-cum- research office. Though a bit scary to put all my faith in a half inch rope and a crazy Frenchman I hardly knew, successful completion of the training gave me a bit of needed confidence.
Finally returning to my room before lunch, I was bewildered to find my stash of energy bars ripped apart. Cleaning up the mess left me with less than half my precious commodity, and on going to the lunch room I discovered who the likely perpetrator was: a “chico”, or one of the macaws that had been reintroduced in the early 1990’s! These birds visit the facility frequently, as it turns out, to the delight of the guests (save those who leave food around unguarded!).
The afternoon produced a dry spell, and Jerome and I started off on a foraging walk, recording all birds seen or heard along a predetermined path. As luck would have it, rain returned five minutes into the walk and rendered invalid the little data that we were able to collect under the conditions. We both paid the price for being in the rain with totally drenched clothing, including socks drowning in an inch of water inside our boots.
I can’t remember being so glad to be dry and in bed, in many years.
The rain forced us to work indoors, and ascender training was apparently next on the agenda for me as Jerome fitted me with a harness and talked me through climbing a rope to the second story of the dormitory-cum- research office. Though a bit scary to put all my faith in a half inch rope and a crazy Frenchman I hardly knew, successful completion of the training gave me a bit of needed confidence.
Finally returning to my room before lunch, I was bewildered to find my stash of energy bars ripped apart. Cleaning up the mess left me with less than half my precious commodity, and on going to the lunch room I discovered who the likely perpetrator was: a “chico”, or one of the macaws that had been reintroduced in the early 1990’s! These birds visit the facility frequently, as it turns out, to the delight of the guests (save those who leave food around unguarded!).
The afternoon produced a dry spell, and Jerome and I started off on a foraging walk, recording all birds seen or heard along a predetermined path. As luck would have it, rain returned five minutes into the walk and rendered invalid the little data that we were able to collect under the conditions. We both paid the price for being in the rain with totally drenched clothing, including socks drowning in an inch of water inside our boots.
I can’t remember being so glad to be dry and in bed, in many years.
posted by Christian Hellwig at 4:10 PM
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