My Little Pumpkin :)

Happy happy news! My heat rash has subsided! It looks like my body has finally adjusted to the climate here! I have been able to band for 4 days straight with no problems! :) I have been wearing baggier clothes which helps significantly! As soon as I get back home from work I have to shower and get into a dress! I also got hiking boot replacements, although they didn't come easy and they're not exactly hiking boots. They're Nike's. And they're regular running shoes. But it's better than nothing! There really aren't any places on the island to get hiking boots....amazing eh? I asked three different people and went to three different stores, partly because I simply couldn't find a pair of any sneaker in my size!! The pair I ended up with is still a half size too big, but I figure with slightly thicker socks which I wear to work and some insoles, they'll fit perfectly. They're definitely better than my rubber boots and my hiking sandals!

My lonely boot!

Other good news! The kitten, who was originally named Halloween due to the date of her arrival at our apartment complex is NOT going to another family....she's staying with me! I've decided to adopt her and my mother has given me the green light to bring her home when I return. I renamed her Pumpkin, because Halloween had too many syllables and she wasn't able to learn her name. Pumpkin seems to be getting a better response :) Plus, it suits her better ;) Her transition into our house was so easy...she has really chosen to live with us! The second she saw the kitty litter box, she used it! No training required! It's official, I've got the best kitten in the world! She's young and curious about everything and is so affectionate! She loves sleeping and cuddling at home with me. We've spent the last 3 nights together :) She'll wake me up sometimes in the middle of the night rubbing her face under my chin and purring madly. I can't get mad at her for interrupting my precious sleep because she's too darn ADORABLE!

Yet more exciting news! After only a few days of banding out here I started to notice a difference in eye color of a particular species between the Hatch-Year individuals (babies) and the After Hatch-Year individuals (adults). I've discussed it with the head Biologist here and it's something that has not been noted before. He thinks we (my coworker and I) could publish a note on it and would like to help us out as a backseat author. We might include a couple of other age-related observations made by previous crews on another species. Even though previous crews passed on the information by word, the characteristics weren't thoroughly documented. All of this information will help us age individuals correctly, giving us an accurate picture of the population demographics and population productivity and survivorship of these endemic birds! How thrilling!! I'm so happy to be getting my feet wet in producing REAL research results that will impact the field of Avian Ecology, Conservation and Bird Banding here in Saipan!! I'll be talking with the Biologist out here more about it this week. If I'm miraculously able to get something published on this subject before next winter, I may just apply to a PhD program instead of going through a Master's degree program first...I have to ROCK the GRE though. ROCK IT!

Other fun banding news! Even though these last three days have brought us very few birds (at most, 12 in 6 hours), we caught 5 Collared Kingfishers!! THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL!!! And I really had the bird joo joo, as I like to call it, as they all ended up in the nets I was checking. Keep in mind they eat Hermit Crabs via breaking their shells open with their bills! So their bills are very sharp! And strong! They also break through them like a woodpecker hits a tree trunk, so you have to watch yourself when holding these birds or else they'll lunge at your eyes. 

Ah, yes, the flat tire I forgot to mention! Woo hoo!

Brent doing the grunt work. Getting that car 8 inches above where it was!!

The spare.

Woo hoo! He did it! Thanks Brent!

OBYA :)

Our lovely banding station :)

Our opening temperature (that's right folks, it's 85 degrees here at sunrise!)

LATA :)

Pretty spider web

The inside of the trunk of a Papaya tree

So gorgeous watching the sun come through the vegetation :)

Collared Kingfisher :)

Female :)

Male - note the difference in the color of the plumage between Male and Female?

The view on the drive out of LATA - the camera doesn't do it justice!

The reef :)

While banding we made two discoveries at two of our work sites. One is an unexploded ordnance (which, granted we were warned about from my friend who banded out here in the summer -- but the crew that was here July-Nov didn't know about it!! They walked by it three days each month!! AHH!!). Exciting and frightening, I know. The other discovery was the carcass of a large dead animal. It emitted such a putrid odor that we had to cover our faces with our bandanas when we'd walk past it...it was sadly unavoidable, right next to a net lane! The bandanas didn't do much either! I ended up just holding my breath and jogging past that part of the trail, unless I had birds on me, in which case...I just held my breath! hah!

It smells like death over here...

Oh hey, there's a wild pig carcass. Yay.

Don't kick it. Photo by: Matt

Brent and I are finally getting all moved into the downstairs apartment. It needs a big clean, but we're both really wanting to turn it into a home. We already bought dish towels (awww). It's been just about two weeks since I arrived and it's all felt like transition time! I think by the end of next week I'll feel completely moved in and settled!! 

Brent and I have the next week off before we start banding the next series of pulses. We've been invited to a Thanksgiving potluck dinner and hope to make some new friends :) We also plan on doing some serious exploring of the island :) Hopefully some panoramic pictures from the top of Mount Tapochao will be posted here by December 1st! I also hope to get to a Yoga class! Gasp!

And no, this week off isn't all fun and games. We have to review our data, all of our photo files, rename them all, fill out monthly progress reports and send it all out to the office. It's not that bad, but renaming the photo files could be really time consuming! As could putting them in Drop Box! Lot's of bandwidth required!

I hope all is well with you all!! Happy (almost) Thanksgiving! :)

Cheers,
Erin