"Stuck" in SF

I was one of the thousands stranded across the country when I attempted to return home from Florida on thursday. I shoulda known better than to fly ATA, but I'm still functioning on an intern's budget. So, I got to LA on Delta before finding out that ATA no longer existed, and my plane ticket was worthless. Hearing all the horror stories, I was actually one of the lucky ones. I got a quick flight up to SF on Virgin America (wow, nice airlines, and totally different socio-economic bracket) and from there to Honolulu the next day. I was able to stay with a family friend and actually went birding in SF on Friday. Picked up Eared Grebe on my life list in a little marina. Surprisingly, there was also a Horned Grebe about 50m further down. It was nice to see the two so close and therefore immediately comparable. Also saw a CALT in the parking lot which lifted my spirits immensely. It was nice to be back in the bay area, even unexpectedly. Wish I had had more time to organize a stop-over visit at Palo.

Now, I'm back in the islands jet-lagged and a little depressed about the Northern Cardinals, Red-crested Cardinals, Bulbuls, Mynahs, Nutmeg Manakins, MODOs, Zebra Doves, Japanese White-eyes, and feral cats around. But the waves at the beach yesterday helped. Can't wait to get over to the Big Island where they Akis await me. I'll be working with a postdoc from Stanford who is studying kipuka size for restoration. We'll be banding, resighting and doing veg surveys (no p-oak!) for the spring. Still looking for something for this summer and beyond.

By the way, those beard pictures are awesome but would scare small children.

Central Valley is the "cool" place to be!

Today I arrived in an exotic village called "Modest-O"...where I will be spending my summer looking for nests - and shade. (I am missing the ocean already...)
I must say, though - it's not as awful as most people have described it. It's no Bolinas or Stinson, but it's a heck of a lot better than East Hartford, CT. And although I have been warned not to look the locals in the eye or piss them off...I'm not scared.
We've also got a pretty sweet pad with furniture and everything! Thanks to the Dettler for finding the place. We don't have a pool, but I think we can get one of those kiddie pools in the front yard and soak our butts in it while drinking beer and smoking cigarettes (just kidding about the cigarettes part...not about the soaking butts in the kiddie pools...).
Tomorrow I get to check out the sites and the birds with Mr. D. Should be fun!
Hope everyone is well.
Kokes

Gouldii Headed For the Central Valley

Hey all, I will be headed to Redding California in the next week to start nest searching on the Clear Creek Project. I will definitely miss Palo and the Ocean, but I am looking forward to working woth some cool birds. I hope everyone is doing well and best of luck to you all in your future endeavors.

Midwestern is back in the Midwest!

Hey everybody! Well, to update - after living in DC for a few months, I up and moved to Forsyth Missouri... yeah, I know what you're thinking, 'gosh Jessica, was it a good idea to move to southern Missouri at the beginning of tornado season?'. I was asking myself that very question a couple of nights ago as I was listening to the emergency broadcast system tell me that a tornado was headed directly for me at 30mph... Luckily the surrounding hilly landscape broke it up and all we got hit with was some hail (and not the tennis ball sized stuff they were getting a little further north). Another natural disaster narrowly averted! Ha ha!
So I moved down here to work at Chase Studio making natural history museum exhibits. I've only been working there for a month now, so I'm still doing mostly odd jobs to help other people out - making trees and ferns, sculpting rocks out of plaster, painting plants to look dead. I've also been helping out with the installation of a new exhibit at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History in Norman, OK. I get to work with Terry Chase - founder of the company - putting together dioramas. This man is really really ridiculously good at what he does. Really. Learning this stuff from the best guy in the business makes up for the fact that I'm living in middle of nowhere in southern Missouri... and that's saying a lot (I'm living near Branson people... Branson).
So that's what I've been up to as of late.
As far as birds, I've continued my tradition of being the lazy birder (side note: one of my proudest lazy birder moments recently was in Kauai when I spotted my first Great Frigatebird while lying on the beach absent-mindedly staring at the sky) so at this point the bulk of my bird list consists of sightings from my apartment window or outside at the studio - although I'm sure that will change since there's a lot of wilderness around here and when I go on exploratory excursions I'm always packin' glass. Also, I will admit that I actually got up at sunrise one morning last weekend and walked around for the sole purpose of birding. Score one bird dork point for midwestern!

Also, Koko, I had a bloody mary yesterday and thought of you :)

Beards are fun

I thought I'd share my beard enjoyment with ya'll. I agree with Sus that everyone needs to update their whereabouts. Mr. D. is in the Central Valley for another summer of PCs and nest searching.

Movin' On

My time here on Sanibel draws short. I will miss the Anhinga and the Rosies, but I'll be banding Akiapola'au while listening to Apapane, so I guess I can't complain. I'm heading over to the big Island for a couple months to help a Stanford postdoc on her project studying habitat needs of native Hawaiian honeycreepers, also doing plant surveys in the friendly hawaiian vegetation. There's a bit of outreach component to the job too, teaching some tour guides how to read color bands. I'm also thinking that it will introduce me to some key people in the hawaii bird conservation scene! In any case, it will be incredibly nice to be back in the misty forest islands called "kipuka" situated on vast expanses of black lava.

Just to make you all jealous of me, here are some pictures of a few of the lifers I've seen since I've been down here in Florida. Last week, the 2 bio interns and I went to a really cool spot (that was unfortunately next to a shooting range, but in Florida you can't be picky about land set aside) where we didn't see Red-Cockaded Woodpeckers, but did see Swallow-tailed Kite, Brown-headed Nuthatch, female Ring-necked Duck, and heard a Bobwhite, and of course also saw Wood Storks and Pine Warblers. But these pix are from Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, an amazing bit of land managed by the Audubon Society. Purple Gallinule and Palm Warbler. I also picked up Ovenbird (I love them!), male and female Painted Bunting, and Brown Thrasher. For more (and better) recent photos of Florida birds, go to http://picasaweb.google.com/susan.culliney

All of you who have not posted recently, let me know where you are and what you are up to!

Kranz, I just finished a trilogy about climate change by Kim Stanley Robinson (Forty Days of Rain, Fifty Degrees Below, Sixty Days and Counting). To all who have not read this author, please try him out. He wrote the Mars trilogy (Red Mars, Blue Mars, Green Mars) as well as this more recent trilogy about what happens to our society in the next few decades with our current problems. He's very optimistic, and I wish I could vote for the President in the 3rd book. There are so many great ideas and it's very hopeful. He's a very realistic and scientific fiction writer!

Everyone needs to update their whereabouts and current activities!

Mines Road Date Set

Hello there everybody (though I'm not sure how many people are still checking the blog),
Just wanted to tell you that the dates for this year's Mines Road trip have been set for April 30 to May 1. All former interns are always invited. So take some time off, fly out if you have to. Hope everyone is doing well. Take care.