Your trash is my treasure!

"What are you doing?" -Tobagan on the street
"I am looking for bird nests. I am a student and I study their parasites."-Me
"There are no birds down here, you need to go to the rainforest." -Tobagan

This is typically the conversation that Jordan (my field assistant) and I have with local Tobagans.  We are working on the effects of Philornis nest flies on black-faced grassquits and tropical mockingbirds in Tobago.  These birds nest primarily in the lowlands of Tobago (on the western side of the island).

The conversation above represents the perception that most people have about birds in the lowlands. Because the birds are not extravagant in color, they are "trash" birds (as we call them in the states).  All parks in Tobago have groomed bushes (see picture). Unfortunately, the birds nest in these bushes.

We have already lost at least 20 nests from both species of birds from people disturbing or pulling out the nests. One key piece to studying birds here has been to talk with locals about the importance of their lowland birds. Hopefully they will take this with them....

Tobago > Trinidad

I decided to revive my blog because 1) life has been interesting lately, 2) I hate writing things down in a journal, and 3) I have a terrible memory for details.

About a month ago, I flew down to Trinidad to start field work with birds and their parasites.  My former blogs will explain more what I'm doing, but if you're feeling lazy, here is the short version:

Philornis nest parasites were recently introduced to the Galapagos Islands.
The parasites kill nestling Darwin's finches (endemic and endangered birds). 
We don't know what the parasite does to birds in the native range (e.g. Trinidad and Tobago) so I am trying to figure this out.  
Studying the parasite in its native range may also tell us why it is so bad for birds in the Galapagos.  

...So when I arrived to Trinidad, I stayed at Pax Guest House where I was hosted by Gerard and Oda.  If you're ever traveling to Trinidad, this is the place to stay. The guest house is as charming as its owners.

After Jordan, my field assistant, arrived, we moved to the Manuel Congo area.  When we told people that we were moving down there, we mostly received horrified or distasteful looks.  In my opinion the area was peaceful and safe.  However, our house was not finished. We rarely had water, which meant we bathed from buckets.  The house was under construction so everything was dirty and a mess.  I'm sure that the house will be wonderful when completed, but we were less than impressed while there.

Moving to and working in Trinidad has been a challenge to say the least.  One of the most challenging things that I have had to do in my life is set up this field season.  I have sent hundreds of e-mail asking for logistical support.  Some people were very helpful and some not so helpful.  The bird species that we're here to study hasn't been very conspicuous.  One day, after returning from the field, I decided that we needed to ship off to Tobago to see if we could find the parasite and nesting grassquits (similar to Darwin's finches).  I was in Tobago with my friend Chris in December but I wasn't able to find any parasites then; hence, why we tried our luck in Trinidad, where the fly was first found in the 1950s.  After a couple hours, we found 11 nests from the black-faced grassquit and 3 nests with Philornis pupal cases!  Within a day, we decided to move over the Tobago.

Now you're generally caught up with my life these past few weeks.  I have some specific stories of my time in Trinidad, which include "how to walk your bird" and "running red lights."

-Sarah Knutie

Rain... glorious rain!! (Galapagos)

The following blog was written over a few days...

The food is quite delicious but expensive. I had my first caipirhina, which includes sugar cane liquor, lime, and sugar. Boy my first drink here was strong. We stumbled back to the station giggling the entire way.

WE GOT RAIN!! Rain means food and food means breeding birds. The rain gauge estimated 1.5 inches in the past few days. This is fantastic for both Jen and my projects. The first day of rain we spent 2.5 hours under a tarp with Team Pinzon entertaining ourselves with Jaime’s iphone applications and photos. This was not our first day of rain. The other day we went up to Los

Gemelos (The Twins) to catch birds of the highlands. This is where I saw my first woodpecker finch and warbler finch – both incredibly gorgeous brown birds. Los Gemelos was named after craters near the top of the “mountain.” We were soaked. I took out the hardest bird ever from a mist net (and I’ve mist netted well over 10,000 birds).

The most exciting social event we have had was last Friday night. We first went to dinner at the “Sabrosa”. It is one 10-15 kiosks on this tiny road. Fantastic food – I had the encocado de camaron (shrimp in coconut sauce) + fried sweet plantains over rice. After sharing a cervesa (there is only 1 kind of beer in the Galapagos: Pilsner from Ecuador) we headed down the street for $0.75 ice cream cones then to Bongo for a game of pool. After a few beers and caipirhinas, dancing came natural. Luis (part of team pinzon) likes to dance salsa so we all tried to keep up with him. At midnight we strolled home but not before stopping for a round of karaoke. Luis and I sang “La Bamba” then I grabbed one of 20 English songs on the list. I hopped onto a bench and gave my best go at “Gangsta’s Paradise”. I’m really surprised at how many words I remember.

Today I spent my 3 day in the ocean. There are beautiful crabs, marine iguanas swimming by, blue footed boobies diving near by, sea cucumbers, bluish-green water. The only problem is getting into the water. The beaches are surrounded by lava rock. When the tide is low, you are safe. But if you swim later in the day, be prepared to walk down jagged rocks to get to your destination!!

So I have finally rid myself of my parasite(s). For 3 weeks I had the worst (let me be blunt) gas of my life. My flatulence was coupled with horrible stomach pains each morning and evening. I thought it was the food, but after 3 weeks… it’s probably a parasite. I was told I had an amoeba and sure enough, after medication my suffering ceased.

The past few days have been brutal in the field. Today, the temperature was well over 105 degrees F and we checked 21 nests with our ladder, “Sancho”. Fortunately, Jen is a great person to be in the field with because she is extremely positive and does not complain. I think one of the worst things that you can do when times are tough, is complain. I’d rather be with someone who is a novice in the field than a complainer. Besides the heat, Sancho, cacti, and acacia, WE HAVE 21 ACTIVE NESTS already! This is a GREAT start to our season. Each day, after trudging around with sancho for 5 hours, we feel like we have been hit by a bus. However, it’s also a feeling of ac

complishment…. I guess this feeling shows that we are really working hard????

So we haven’t been eating out at the kiosko lately. Instead, we’ve been making lunch and dinner with whatever we have in our pantry/fridge. Regardless of the food item we always add salt, pepper, garlic powder, and curry. These 4 items can make anything (eg tuna, pasta, potatoes, etc.) taste good. A few weeks ago Jen and I made pizzas from scratch for Team Pinzon (Mom’s recipe – thanks Ma!). Since we have a small gas oven (horno) we are able to bake/cook a few items, which usually involves bread and cheese sandwiches or “far”. Far is a dish that Jen learned from our post doc, Celine, that includes an egg, milk, sugar, and flour. We’ve tried placing mango or bananas or sweet plantains on the top to switch things up a bit. The food we are able to purchase is unpredictable. Some days the tienda will have zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes, mangos, etc., and other days, the only thing that is fresh is bread (and even bread can be hit or miss).

Everything is going incredibly well. Nothing has gone too horribly wrong (except being stuck by a cactus) so I don’t have any wild adventures to tell you quite yet. Don’t worry, I will be here for 3 months J

Galapagos Arrival

Well, I’m here. It is still surreal. I would say that Jen (my labmate who I am down here with) described the field work perfectly… but I’ll get to that later.

We flew from SLC to Houston to Quito, spent the night in Quito, then flew to Santa Cruz, Galapagos the next day. Everything went surprisingly well besides ripping a huge hole in the crotch of my pants and Jen yelling out “the bomb made it!” at the Quito airport. Our dry shipper for our sample also receives many questions. I need to learn how to say samples in Spanish.

The first few days were spent figuring out our housing arrangements and speaking with all the park people. We landed a fantastic deal on a dorm at the Charles Darwin Research Station. We are well-equipped with a portable oven, coffee maker (coffee here is not good) and a balcony with a view of the partial ocean (more just the boats). Because Jen has been here for the past few seasons she brought a hammock.

After 3 days we decided to venture into the field. Our field site is near the beach on Santa Cruz in an arid zone. Needless to say it is HOT, dry, and full of cacti and other thorny plants.

We are working at the same field site as another crew and have self-titled ourselves “Team Pinzon” (Finch). Luis is just finishing his PhD at Montreal, Jaime just finished his PhD at UCLA and Joost is from Belgium and works on fish. All three of these guys make life here so much easier! Jen is my lab mate from Uni of Utah and there are few people that I would rather spend my time here with (in and out of the field).

Our taxi to the field site (a truck named “Conan”) picks us up at 5am and we arrive at our field site by 5:30. We blindly stumble through lava rock to get to our camp for the day (the sun rises at about 6). We set up nets or check nests for eggs or look for more nests and by 9am it’s between 90-100 degrees. Gnats swarm our heads and wounds from thorny scratches and head. Mosquitoes bite any exposed skin. I love field work!

This is a list of birds we’ve caught:

Medium ground finch (my study species)
Small ground finch
Large ground finch
Vegetarian ground finch
Warbler finch
Small tree finch
Cactus finch
Woodpecker finch
Galapagos mockingbird (everywhere)
Galapagos flycatcher
Wimbrel

Birds we’ve seen:

Galapagos rail
Magnificent frigatebird
Brown pelican
Blue-footed booby
Galapagos dove
Brown noddy
Greater flamingo
Black-necked stilt
Blue-winged teal

I haven’t had a lot of time to go birding, although the diversity isn’t very high. Therefore, we see most of the birds at some point.

There are lava lizards and marine iguanas everywhere.

Bees are the size of a quarter and sting… I know by experience.

The Itasca Experience (Minnesota)

Click below if you want to learn more about my research with purple finches at Itasca Biological Station through the University of Minnesota...

Explaining my experience at Itasca Bio Station

If you want to watch the whole video, Click here!

Mist-netting at the campground. (Photo by Chris)

Collecting swallow bugs (Oeciacus vicarius) near Grand Rapids

Pine siskin (Carduelis pinus) caught at Itasca Biological Station

Below are my two field assistants, Tatiana and Jesse, from the Smrekars Acres Tree Farm in Guthrie, MN. Picture from 2008 but they have hosted my field work for 2 years thus far. Great choose and cut farm with loads of wildlife!!

Tatiana holding an American goldfinch (Carduelis tristis)

Jesse holding a Harris' sparrow (Zonotrichia querula)

Extreme Mist-Netting (Nebraska)

This is a video of a few field assistants and me catching cliff swallows near Cedar Point Biological Station with Dr. Charles Brown last summer (2009). The primary goal of mist-netting these charismatic birds is to continue a long-term mark recapture study on the evolution of social behavior. I stopped through on my move to Utah.

Hey, Hey Baby! (Oklahoma)

I spent a majority of the day reminiscing.

This is how I spent my Sunday nights in Tulsa, Oklahoma (2007-09). No wonder my Monday productivity was low.

If you feel like dancing...