Hard Day’s Night

27 June 2016

Almost a week of bird catching & I’m starting to get the hang of things. We left the 1st site I was at to start banding at the next location. This one is a little bit more treacherous as far as the trail goes & placing the nets along the cliff edges (it didn’t take long for me to trip over some vines & fall face first down the trail). But the camp is on a completely flat surface this time – woo hoo, no incline! – & so far it’s a little warmer with no pounding rain (fingers crossed).

The days don’t differ much, so there’s not really much to tell. My back is doing a number on me sitting on the ground for 12 hours a day. I would say this research group needs a bigger tent (so it can fit camping chairs!) so that it can more comfortably fit the 4 bodies, but then there’s really not that much room in the forest to set up anything bigger. The 4th person to join the group, Maria Fernanda (Mafer), an undergraduate at the university doing her thesis on hummingbirds, joined us today. It makes for a tight working space with very little leg room & somewhat awkward conversation – or rather the lack thereof on my part – as the 3 of them have all worked together before & have a rapport, inside jokes, people they know (oh yeah, & it’s all in rapid Spanish), so I’m very much the odd man out. I try to follow the conversations as best I can but my comprehension is somewhat lacking.

The field crew

My new roommate, Mafer, seems very nice & she won me over by bringing us a few requested supplies. Since the other researchers get reception on their cell phones, they are able to communicate to the outside world. Thank goodness for WhatsApp! (Screw Skype & Apple-Only-FaceTime, why the hell don’t more Americans use WhatsApp?!) It’s enabled me to send messages to Nick (which was a HUGE feel good moment – being this isolated, from that which is familiar as well as from being able to communicate freely, is somewhat of a mental mind fuck. I would not make a good monk.) & enabled us to contact Mafer before she got here. So I asked for a Spanish-English dictionary & a mosquito net for my bed, as I have become a veritable mosquito pin cushion, in some very unpleasant places. I have two huge bites on my stomach – not sure they’re mosquito-related actually – that are so large & swollen it looks like I’ve sprouted 2 new nipples on my belly. I can’t see any air holes, so hopefully I’m just having a bad reaction & nothing’s living in there. But I guess I’ll find out in the next couple weeks if anything hatches – stay tuned!! Mafer also brought some more food (squeaky cheese!) & a butt load more candy (these guys have a sweet tooth the likes of which I cannot keep up with).

Cramped quarters in the field camp