Birds!

This week James, Amy, and I went to Kiptopeke. Apparently there was a storm that hit with some crazy winds because there was a lot of fallen debris we worked out way around along the trail. 

As always, it is larval season, so we got a lot of larvae. For each mass we hit, we attempt to get at least 100 larvae on the scotch tape, followed by using duct tape to clean a lot of the rest off our flags.

All the specs underneath the masking tape on the left are larvae, as well as the larvae on the duct tape on the right. 

The grass along the parking lot near the beach was full of Queen Anne's Lace plants that were dispersing seeds everywhere, including our flags or us. 

This is what ticks do not look like on a flag (thank goodness).

BIRDS!!!!! Well maybe not to the extent of a cheesy Alfred Hitchcock film, but with the return of professor Dr. Walters we began preparation of a mist-netting project. 

Wednesday night we prepared runways for mist nets at Stephens. 

Very hard to see, but this is a mist-net, the fact that it can't be seen is good because the birds won't see it either and hopefully they fly into our nets. 

 

We set up the nets like the one above bright and early Thursday Morning, and waited to see if anything flew into it. After a bird is captured and variety of measurements are taken, taking a bunch of data now to be analyzed later.

First bird of the day! Common Yellowthroat.

Second Bird: Gray Catbird.

I also got to hold an Eastern Towhee today! First bird I have ever held so it was a very momentous occasion.  

Final Bird of the Day: Eastern Towhee

 Friday I sorted ticks, well no 'real' ticks just larvae...14 pools of larvae to be exact.

We use a razor blade to scrape larval ticks of the tape.

This is my last weekend in Norfolk. So why not go to a ball game?! I love baseball. It was quite a lot of fun, and perfect way to end the week. 

One more week to go! 

Game on,

Lexi