The chicks have been hatching. That is our busiest time of year. We continue to area search for new nests. We have to do multiple checks on HUGO nests to catch the chicks often on both plots every day. And we start following the chicks and broods around. All this on top of our normal nest and environmental monitoring. It adds up quick.
Since my permits only allow Garrett and I to band birds - the bulk of the workload falls on us. We have to catch all the chicks and train the rest of the crew on the new tasks they’ll be starting.
Chick hatch is over now (hence the blog post), and so our area searching is done as well. Now we focus on taking data on the habitat the nests are in and following chicks and broods to look at survival and departure dates. This is the stage when the field season begins to feel like it’s wrapping up. We have one month left (and plenty of work to do in it), but it’s sad to say goodbye to the adults and chicks. Soon there will be very few HUGOs in the bog and I’ll have to fly south to see them.
Speaking of which, I received some good news. A proposal I had submitted to collaborate with a Chilean researcher on the HUGO project during the non-breeding season was approved. Looks like I may get to spend some more time this year with the HUGOs after all!
Since my permits only allow Garrett and I to band birds - the bulk of the workload falls on us. We have to catch all the chicks and train the rest of the crew on the new tasks they’ll be starting.
Chick hatch is over now (hence the blog post), and so our area searching is done as well. Now we focus on taking data on the habitat the nests are in and following chicks and broods to look at survival and departure dates. This is the stage when the field season begins to feel like it’s wrapping up. We have one month left (and plenty of work to do in it), but it’s sad to say goodbye to the adults and chicks. Soon there will be very few HUGOs in the bog and I’ll have to fly south to see them.
Speaking of which, I received some good news. A proposal I had submitted to collaborate with a Chilean researcher on the HUGO project during the non-breeding season was approved. Looks like I may get to spend some more time this year with the HUGOs after all!