So Long and Thanks for All the Birds

Goodbyes are the worst. Especially when you don’t know if you’ll ever see each other again. This weekend was rife with them. Field Ornithology was in the home stretch and while the students worked on finishing up their independent projects, Dave and I set out to do nest-checks on Saturday morning. Sarah was with us…

The Girl with the Tripod Microphone and Other Stories

Sarah returned, all graduated and grown up, on Monday and I was promptly “fired” as a TA. “Fired” so I could spend some time recording gull alarm calls. So Tuesday morning, as the class boarded the Heiser and set off for a day of birding on the mainland, I hoisted my newly outfitted microphone on…

Smuttynose, an “Eggs-periment”, more Birds and some Gull ‘terning

Thursday was Smuttynose day. The weather radar looked iffy but we decided to go anyway because time is of essence in a two-week long class and Smuttynose is the best of the Isles of Shoals. The goal was to GPS every gull nest on the island to map onto landcover maps that Sarah had created…

The Island’s a-hoppin’

There cannot be a better class to TA your first time than Field Ornithology at Shoals. At the bottom of the syllabus, in size 10 font, it says, “Please be prepared to be flexible. We may change the schedule depending upon the weather, availability of boats, the whims of the instructor, etc.” So, presumably, the…

Of Gulls and Gannets

You know how they always say that things will get better, that everything is going to be okay? Today I have come to believe in that saying on every level. The day started out cold and misty. We couldn’t even see the wind turbine on the north end of the island from Kiggins Commons. After…

The Appledore Giggles

They’re back. The Appledore Giggles. For those not in the know, it seems that I am afflicted with a peculiar phenomenon of paralyzing laughter that seems to manifest itself only when I am at Shoals. Today, I was struck with them thrice. After a whole morning of marking out Great Black-Backed Gull nests, we decided…

And so it begins.

It’s been a couple of days since I turned in my last final exam an hour and a half early because I was too excited to go home, pack and finally begin my summer to care about getting a good grade on Biochemistry. A decision I have had no cause to regret so far, and…