Currently location: Ft. Lauderdale airport, FL. Here 7am to 3pm ( Read more... )

My difficulty is not writer's block... more like writer's clog. I get too hung up on chronology and writing about the "Big-moments-of-life." I assume I can't post about now because I haven't written about the Wildlife Society conference in Snowbird, UT (I gave a talk and made a Mormon joke and it was awesome) but I can't write about that until I ( Read more... )

June: The plan was to go back-packing for a week in the Trinity Alps, but a few roadblocks delayed our departure. There were supplies to obtain. Something came up at work. Only two trails were even open because the rest were still under snow. There was a goose-catching event.* And I had doubts that the rental car place would be willing to hand over ( Read more... )

Way back when I vented about having to stop my jay experiments due to potential conflict with another student. People were refreshingly supportive, and I figure I should make some mention of how it all turned out ( Read more... )

Dawn on a dock of Monterey Bay, and a crowd of parka-ed persons with binoculars filed onto a small boat. At the time I was busy watching a sea otter swimming with her pup right next to the pier. I was delighted to see the mother smack a bivalve against a rock balanced on her belly. Wow, they really do that! The shell cracked and she fed the bits to ( Read more... )

In September I went to the national Wildlife Society Conference. I went because of peer pressure (all the cool grad students were going) and I wanted to experience a real-life conference before having to deal with presenting at one. Plus it was in relatively close Monterey, housing and transportation were provided... all I had to do was cough up ( Read more... )

Tis the eve before my last weekend trip down to San Francisco, and I realized I never reported on the trip over the Fourth of July weekend. That shall be quickly be amended. In general, I am very grateful that my pen job and jay chasing have been malleable enough to permit me several jaunts down to the Bay over the course of the summer ( Read more... )

Nearly every day I spend some time with two kids. As a rule, the boy gets all snappy and defensive every time I walk into his room. I'm still struggling a bit to form a personal connection with the guy (he thinks he's so tough), but I guess we're progressing in the form of grumpy tolerance. It's something. The girl is a bit easier to interact with ( Read more... )

Last Saturday heralded the end of my behavioral experiments... at least for year one. It ended more with a mumble of victory rather than a shout, as sometimes occurs. The last jay pair I tested were highly suspicious of the raccoon mount I set out. They responded by sitting in a tree during the whole trial, eying me as if to say "Um, would you ( Read more... )

*"best" being a consistent feeling of wheeeee on a per hour basis and "week" being Jan 6-13 ( Read more... )