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I am switching things up here. First of all, I'm ditching the name Maya ."Maya" was an old friend of mine from college - a dancer. We haven't had contact for several years now.

But a classmate of mine has, for some reason, taken to calling me Emma. Which is eerie, because that's my late grandma's name. I don't want to take Grandma's name so I may take Emmie or Ellie instead.

Seeing a name close to that of my Grandma's will help me get through this holiday and will be of great honor to her, because she was the first person to ever teach me bird songs and bird identification.

I hope you guys understand my reasons. I needed a change. This whole blog is long overdue for a crazy switch - I'm gonna mix things up!  :)

 

Now onto SWANS! Although the great swan migration is technically ending this week, many places are announcing huge flocks being seen all over the North.

The USGS has implanted 50 tundra swans with sattelite transmitters and are tracking their daily flights. The coolest thing is that they are posting the results on the web through Google Earth, so we can all follow the swans!!

Okay, to a swan geek like me, this is big news!! You have to be in the swan / geek club to get it. Are you with me? It's fun to be part of the swan club.

 

Here is the link to the Alaska Science Center / USGS satellite data. I will post more as I learn about the project.

IVES SAYS....

....Are you done typing the natural resource inventory for that forest, mom? How about now? How about now? How about now? It's been ten hours, mom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you were this fish, I would bite you like so.

It's bloody cold here in New England, and I'm up to my eyeballs in graduate papers.

I need.....

 

Hot chocolate.....

 

 

 

                               

                      .....Colorful slippers

 

       Colorful art...............

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And some sleep!

 

 

Cozy, right? Just in time for winter.

I've now changed into my happy winter pjamas.

 

 

So once again, I worry that if I post a blog about blogging on Vox, it could tear a hole in the universe. However, I want to apologize for not being around. I've got a lot of graduate work to catch up on from my ferret trip, it's that simple.

So here's a funny 'tales from the bush' story about the 'hazards' of field work. We had a great wildlife management trip to a state forest in New Hampshire - we learned about managing forests for the New England cottontail, very endangered in the east and about to be considered for listing on the Federal Endangered Species list. Let's hope it gets there!

 

 

I was chewing gum, mostly because it was 4 pm and we had been on field trips since 8 am, not conducive to feeling or smelling clean. (We do what we can). We were about to drive home and I did not want to throw my gum on the ground, since I'm not a jerk. I got in my car and realized that my empty coffee mug was the only place to put it. I had done this before and I just dump the mug out when I get home - no problem. Mind you, this is my favorite Starbucks mug - totally spillproof and keeps beverages hot for hours.

After a two hour drive, I'm home and very tired. I mindlessly take my coffee mug to the sink to wash it. Interesting fact: hot water melts gum almost instanly. Also interesting: melted gum loves to spiral itself around the threads at the top of the mug, making it nearly impossible to put the lid on properly. Dishwashing liquid is useless for getting it off. It took a ton of scrubbing, but the gum eventually came off - mostly.

So here's what I learned in grad school that day: New England cottontails need to be written into new management plans, and never try to unpack your field trip items after a 14 hour day. Get some good sleep and be obsessive about cleaning and neatening the next day instead.  ;) 

Yeeeeeeeeeee haaaaaaaaa!

Thank freaking goodness that went so well!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Congratulations everyone.

WELL DONE!!!!

Okay, here's my official photo essay for the ferret research! Here you can see the sun rise over the prairie. We're in for a long night - we worked from 5:30 pm to 9:30 am. See why I'm so far behind?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Right: Sign for BFF research area. BFFs eat prairie dogs and live in their burrows. There is also a big problem with the prairie dogs contracting plague and spreading it around, so it's a complicated project, very controversial! Soon I will post more about the cool issues around this ecosystem and the ferrets - but for now, enjoy the photos!

 

Spotlighting. We went out in big ol' SUVs and looked for glowing eyes out on the prairie. We were looking for ferrets, but we saw lots of other glowing eyes too!! My favorite moments - when we found badgers. Despite their reputation, they are the sweetest, most gentle animal I've ever met. I walked right up to them and they just cowered in their burrows.

Badgers have the cutest masks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here we are! This is what we're looking for - a tube-shaped critter with big glowing eyes. From far away they look like little cyclops because their two glowing eyes merge into one big glowing eye!

We would drive towards them and place humane traps in the tops of the burrows. When they were trapped we'd bring them back to the campsite and trailer to be vaccinated, checked for fleas, and other stuff that happens at the vet to keep animals healthy and safe.

 

 

 

They were anethetized right away so they would not suffer any more than was necessary.

  

 

So special - seeing these guys up close was a once in a lifetime opportunity!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we let them go back to their burrows!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Right: back from a long night of trapping - quite tired but happy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunrise over the Badlands - what a great way to begin the morning!

Hi again all!! I'm back from the Badlands, I probably have ten thousand emails and grad school messages but I wanted to make this my very first stop when I got home. Missed you all! Obviously I have a ton of Vox catching up so please forgive me!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had tons of fun doing the ferret research and I'll tell you all about it in a few days after I get caught up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ps I have some spectacular rattlesnake photos (almost got bitten walking by one in a parking lot - no joke. Thank goodness they warn first)! But I will tell everyone before I post them so anyone who does not care for snake photos will know beforehand.

Love y'all, here's a few Badlands photos!

Okay, all. I'm leaving for South Dakota this week. I'm not sure if I'll have internet access and I'm still setting the carpet on fire trying to get all my work done. But I'll be around Vox as much as possible.

I'm not sure my camera will work at night when we're conducting research but I'll get out and take nice bird and mammal photos during the day when hopefully we'll be hiking in the badlands!

 

 

 

 

This may be my last post before I leave, so ***kisses** and I'll see you on your blogs this week and when I get back from the prairies. Wishing you all a happy harvest and a nice warm October.

Okay, you caught me at a weak moment. I'm exhausted, left the house this morning at 5:30, just got back. I'm also considering a new thesis with tree swallows this time. They're sparkling and gorgeous but a lot of work.

I've been enjoying British Comedy DVDs. So I started thinking about The Young Ones. The most shocking thing about that show? Rik Mayall is freaking hot. So cute, I almost fell off my beanbag when I saw a real picture of him.

I wanted to lighten it up after the kind of sad gannet post. Actutally I find that kind of thing inspiring, but not everyone does. Reading Eye of the Albatross has got me dreaming about Hawaiian islands and seabird colonies. Made better by hot British men. Cross dressing optional.

 

 

 

So I apologize if I'm absent for a few hours, I will be home tonight and will try to catch up. I adore you guys. I rarely discuss my obsessions except when I'm deleriously exhausted. But this guy's smile just makes my day better. Anyway some of you may find it amusing that I have a raging crush on the guy whose character thought a tampon was a telescope. -^^-

Two gannets, on a rocky island. These dusty white beauties spend most of their lives at sea. They can dive down 72 feet under the water. Gannets can be found on large, remote islands. There are 6 gannet colonies in the world: three in Quebec and three in the North Atlantic off the coasts of Newfoundland and Britain.

They're in the same order as pelicans.Their family is Sulidae, large seabirds with webbed toes. This means that they are related to the famous blue footed boobies of the Galapagos islands.

 

 

  

 

Gannets are one of my favorite birds, so I was quite unhappy when I saw this on the Conservation of Wildllife group: a gannet who died from getting tangled up in a plastic bag. Really, is there a good reason for using these any more? At the time I saw this, I had not given up plastic bags 100 percent. Now I have. I use my favorite tote bags and my Stop and Shop bags for food, and Chico Bags for clothes shopping. Chico also turns their used bags into rugs!

 

 

 

Paper bags, by the way, are no better unless we think that deforestation is a good way to save birds. Okay, lecture's over. Here's a reward for your time You'll love this video!!