4:30 am: Alarm. Shower and grab the pack loaded the night before: binoculars, two liters of water, bird chart. As a bonus, the stars are still out.
5:00 am: Shuffle to breakfast, pack lunch for the field of hummus pita wrap, carrots, and cookies.
5:30 am: Meet up with Megan, the expedition leader, who is conducting her own avian research this summer. Drive to the day's research site in Earthwatch van. Savvy novices take this chance to grab an experienced birding partner. I find a gem in Glen, a retired math teacher from Darien, IL. This man knows birds.
6:15 am: Using a handheld GPS, we find our plot. Begin moving through the woods near sunrise. It's cool out, and early for the birds, too. Pause by trees emitting promising 'cheeps!"
7:15 am: Glen follows the sound of a song sparrow. I shuffle ten feet behind him. Maddeningly, the sparrow flits around. This makes it hard to hone in on the prize data: the presence and color of any bands on his legs.
7:30 am: The song sparrow flits up to the highest branch of a cottonwood. Victory! He's banded. Red over orange on the right leg, blue over silver on the left. I record the data in our log.
7:30-9:30am: We stalk yellow warblers, (unbanded) see an osprey, and follow a few robins. But they're too common to be interesting.
9:30 am: It's getting warmer, and the birds are quieting down. We chart all our data and head to check another research station, to meet biologists conduction season-long research there.
5:00 am: Shuffle to breakfast, pack lunch for the field of hummus pita wrap, carrots, and cookies.
5:30 am: Meet up with Megan, the expedition leader, who is conducting her own avian research this summer. Drive to the day's research site in Earthwatch van. Savvy novices take this chance to grab an experienced birding partner. I find a gem in Glen, a retired math teacher from Darien, IL. This man knows birds.
6:15 am: Using a handheld GPS, we find our plot. Begin moving through the woods near sunrise. It's cool out, and early for the birds, too. Pause by trees emitting promising 'cheeps!"
7:15 am: Glen follows the sound of a song sparrow. I shuffle ten feet behind him. Maddeningly, the sparrow flits around. This makes it hard to hone in on the prize data: the presence and color of any bands on his legs.
7:30 am: The song sparrow flits up to the highest branch of a cottonwood. Victory! He's banded. Red over orange on the right leg, blue over silver on the left. I record the data in our log.
7:30-9:30am: We stalk yellow warblers, (unbanded) see an osprey, and follow a few robins. But they're too common to be interesting.
9:30 am: It's getting warmer, and the birds are quieting down. We chart all our data and head to check another research station, to meet biologists conduction season-long research there.
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