Field Work

After we moved Matt and Katie into the refuge headquarters, I stayed at the cottage to edit and post videos, practice a Skype session, and keep Jonathan company after Charlie went site seeing with his mom. Katie, Matt, and Phil went to check the traps . . . without me. I am beginning to feel like an administrator instead of the field biologist who loves thrashing through the brush to set and check mongoose traps. Instead of scratches from the thorns of the various species of acacia, I think I'll end up with callouses on my fingers from spending too much time on my MacBook Pro!

The Skype session with Salim and Lynn worked without a problem. I showed them some of the scenery at Cottages By The Sea by walking around with my laptop and a webcam. It should be fun to do the Skype session with Mrs. Kanpik's kindergarten class on Thursday afternoon from the refuge headquarters. Mike Evans, Refuge Manager and Jen Valioulis, Wildlife Biologist with the Division of Fish and Wildlife of the VI Department of Parks and Natural Resources have agreed to speak with the kids about the refuge and the island natural history. They have DSL so I am hoping it will work just fine. We need to test it out first, however.

The field crew picked up seven mongoose on Monday. Even though I don't get to go with them, I still get to remove mongoose from the traps and tag them with the PIT tags. Although, soon I suppose I will have to relinquish that responsibility as well. Maybe that's just the way it has to be - I train them and they do all the fun stuff.