NYE2K!)

Went to Muddy Hollow with Lisa today for banding. We had a big day, with 37 total birds, 8 species. One of the net runs left us with 17 birds in one net, 16 of which were Myrtle's yellow-rumped warblers. It was a bit overwhelming at first, but they are big, hearty warblers, so none of them got stressed. The unfortunately thing was that my supervisor was not there. While I feel like I now have a better idea of the differences I can see between 16 MYWA's, I am still unsure of what specific features help me distinguish a hatch year male from an after half year female. I did see two birds that seemed to clearly be after hatch year males, but the rest were recorded as unknown unknown... There are so many details for each species and until you are taught what's actually important, as opposed to what the guide tells us, it is hard to feel confident about many grey areas of ageing and sexing.

Here are the bags with birds in them, waiting to be banded after our flock of warblers hit.


The backside of what looked to certainly be an AHY male (looking at the size of the black centers of the feathers between the yellow rump and tail..


AMRO


Hermit thrush with some weird growth defect.

Stinglet

Nice out today, but my back hurts.

Caught two birds that I'd been hoping to.

Golden crowned kinglet

Male




Stellar's Jay

WIWR

Winter wren (unknown unknown)


Givin' the stink eye

TOWA

Townsend's warbler (AHY male)

As I go

Might just do this as I go today.

Varied thrush (unknown age female).


Ruby crowned kinglet (unknown age female).




Brown creeper (unknown unknown).

xmas dinner

Salad, brussels sprouts, and some cow.

Missmas

At this point its just me here at the station. I have today and tomorrow off, but will be banding the day after Christmas, which is actually the day my family is doing Christmas, so I'm going to get up early to video chat with them and open a couple of presents!

Today I went for a lil solo hike on the Tomales Point trail, at the very north end of Point Reyes National Seashore. The trail runs through a very open, scrubby area and is in the center of the tule elk reserve up there. It was about a 10 mile round trip hike, and I may or may not have fallen asleep at the point once I got there, but it was fun.









Freak 'shroom










After the hike I took a side trek to the historic lighthouse on Point Reyes. I thought of my dad the whole time I was there, and despite not remembering any details of the significance of it, it was impressive. The worst part, however, was walking back up the stairs, which were each numbered and counted down from over 300 on your way up.





From inside the lighthouse.

Long day

Yesterday Joe, Diana and I went to Pine Gulch, the offsite by the lagoon, and had a successful day of banding. We got 21 birds and 11 species, one of which was a swamp sparrow, something that's only caught around here about once a year. This was the last of the banding until Sunday, but luckily I'm here, so it can happen! Kidding, I'd rather be home.

Wrentit




A hermit thrush in the net before extraction.


Bewick's wren.

Alamere Falls

Joe and I ducked out of the station right after the potter trapping was done for the day to make an excursion to Alamere Falls. It was about a 9.5 mile round trip and we ran most of the way there, but mostly walked the way back.

A lake w passed on the way.


The falls from above.




From the beach!


Joe for scale.

Ever heard of 'em?

My dinner:


Xtratuf, the most comfortable footwear possible:

Palo

Here a some pictures of where I'm actually living.

Bedroom. Just me for now, room for four.


Kitchen


Backside of the main building (with offices and the banding lab)


Frontside of the main building


The center room of the main building, with a library of any bird book you could need.


Our banding lab, which is within the same room as the visitor center area


Visitor center area.