A little more info on Rusties

(This photo is from the Fish and Wildlife Service.)

Below is a link to an article written by my boss. It should give you a good idea of what it will be like for me to track Rusties.

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/ConservationAndScience/MigratoryBirds/Science_Article/default.cfm?id=25

So far my experience has been pretty positive. I came down here via Nashville on Monday, and have spent the last few days getting to know the rest of the team and training. Turns out the other field tech, Megan, was on OTS South Africa in the spring of '07, the semester after I was there! The world certainly seems smaller.

Yazoo is a very beautiful refuge, established in 1936. It is also very remote, and there are only 2 other people in the refuge! I had a chance to take a walk yesterday afternoon, and there is plenty of wildlife around. This week we've seen deer, alligators, a whole lot of birds, and my boss even spotted a bobcat the other night. There is a lot of hunting in the area (a whole other story), but we've been pretty safe in our orange.

I hope to get the chance to update this blog about once a week, but there's no internet nearby to where we live so forgive me if my posts are few and far between! I'm headed back home for a few days for Christmas and will post some more information then when I have more time with internet access.

Yazoo- ooooooooo!

I like to say "Yazoo" like those old Yahoo search engine commercials. It makes my next place of residency and employment sound even more fun than wearing hunter orange so I don't get shot (another perk of my upcoming job).

This winter I'll be working in the Theodore Roosevelt National Wildlife Refuge Complex (quite the mouthful!) on a winter demography study of Rusty Blackbirds. Rusty Blackbirds spend their winters in Mississippi, so that's where I'm headed in a few weeks. Specifically, I'll be living in the Yazoo National Wildlife Refuge. My favorite part thus far is that the satellite view from Google makes the area look like a quilt- shout out to Elvira and Margaret of the CQC here : )



So what will I be doing besides wearing hunter orange and trying not to get shot? Following birds! In Thailand it was monkeys who weren't individually marked. In Mississippi it will be rusties tagged with radio transmitters. We'll catch birds and then follow them around. Clearly I have a sweet job.

There'll be other aspects of the job as well. In terms of winter demography, we want to know not only where these birds go (i.e. habitat) which we'll get from the telemetry and GPS locations, but also information on what food is around. So I'll be insect collecting and sorting as well.

I leave in two weeks so watch the blog for more info!

PS New address on the left side bar. I heart mail . . .