Life on a mountain: Week 1
It's been a week..a week and it feels like I've always been here, but at the same time just got here. My typical day starts at 6:00 am, just as the sun is waking up. Dressed in all the layers and with binoculars in hand I either assist my grad student injecting females or search for nests. These birds, dark-eyed juncos, are songbirds that nest on the ground. Yep, on the ground so they are predated a lot . This means that majority of nests fail (so sad) and we are constantly looking for more new nests or re-nests. When I found my first nest, you should have seen my face. It was the week's highlight. That's in the morning. In the afternoon is nest checks, where we check up on nests and/or take measurements/blood samples from the nestlings/parents. These birds are so goshdarn cute. Today I held day 0 (just hatched) nestlings. Nature is incredible. Hands down. Incredible. These little guys are so dang small, so tiny. You can see their hearts beating. Sta