a few random facts...

Here’s a few fun facts that I’ve learned while working on Archbold…

1. When riding on an ATV at approximately 30 mph, it hurts when a dragonfly (or any insect for that matter) collides with your face. A lot.
2. If someone comes back from the field looking like they’ve been in a fight with a plethora of black eyeliner pencils, they’ve been nest searching at a territory with burnt snags.
3. Scrub Palmetto likes to grow just tall enough to stab a person of my height up the nostril.
4. If you can ride out to nest search in the morning without a long sleeve shirt on, or some layer other than a t-shirt, it’s going to be a miserably hot day.
5. The best way to dry a pair of dew logged binoculars in the field is to hold them up in the sun while crashing through the scrub.
6. Gopher tortoises are the biggest road hazard on the station. (Although it is amusing when they trundle along in front of your ATV.)
7. Florida Scrub Jays are fascinated by human bodily functions. Sneeze, and they’re instantly more interested in you. Think you’re alone, and decide to take a leak… and suddenly they’re sitting right behind you, watching… and grunting.


That’s all I can think of right now. I’m sure I’ll have more later.

For a very brief while we thought that NHMP was going to be no more. First their nest was depredated, then the nest at TP54, which is the territory they budded off from as non-breeders, was also depredated. Travis found gobs of feathers, and three broken Scrub Jay egg shells… and no sign of the TP54 female.
The TP54 male was then seen courtship feeding the NHMP female like crazy… trying to take his son’s girl. But apparently she rejected him. One minute she was accepting his food, the next she’s only taking it from the NHMP male. And today I found the new NHMP nest.

It’s crazy to think that in less than a month I will be back in Sheldon again. I’ve begun to think about the trip out there… I’d like to save money by camping along the way. That would also be much nicer than staying in sketchy smoky motels… I’m going to try and stop at the highest point in elevation in Florida on the way out. Apparently it’s about 400 feet, 2 miles from the AL border. I’m also hoping to get some longer days in in the beginning so I can get out to CO and UT. See Kirsten and Jan. And maybe get some climbing in. Then it will be Badger Cabin time!