One of the many great things about working at a research station is everyone's fascination with dead things. I realize that might seem a slightly weird and perhaps grotesquely morbid sentiment to most, and I assure you that I'm no necrophiliac, but there is something remarkable about having the opportunity to get up close and personal with an organism that would otherwise be impossible to observe at such close quarters. As a resident bird researcher, I'm often presented with dead birds because, well, apparently every organismal scientist loves to have their dead study subjects in hand. Th [View Full Entry]

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I’m constantly on the lookout for snakes. Not because they frighten me (although, it’s undoubtedly a good idea to maintain a healthy respect for them), but because I want to see them. The majority of snakes that I’ve encountered on and around Mpala have been dead ones, killed by locals out of fear, hate, and superstition (some tribes believe it adds seven days onto one’s life). Most Africans believe the only good snake is a dead snake - judging by experience, it sadly seems that most cultures around the world readily agree. But me, I like snakes. I prefer [View Full Entry]

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With the second phase of the Brain Hormone Project behind me, and another couple weeks until we begin the third and final phase, I’m finally able to delve into my project - at least, the project I developed under Dustin’s supervision and with his help. To sum it up quickly, Dustin’s past research has shown that Superb Starling females show a higher rate of infidelity, based on extra-pair copulations (matings outside of a pair-bond, verified by DNA analysis of young), on territories of lower quality (based on vegetation cover and insect abundance). In other words, the freq [View Full Entry]

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There is something truly marvelous and unique about stumbling across wildlife in pastoral Kenya. I've visited a number of National Parks and reserves throughout Southern Africa and Kenya and, while sightings of charismatic megafauna are always exhilarating, it's a different experience when it's just part of day-to-day life. Maybe it's the fact that it's not as expected here, that the rarest animal in these parts of Africa is the mtalii (tourist). These are areas where people and animals are forced to truly coexist, living side by side and in one another's presence; if respect is not [View Full Entry]

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Well, we managed to squeak by with enough starling specimens to make Brain Hormone Project Phase 2 a success. It was looking grim there for a while - I was worried we wouldn't acquire an adequate number of samples, which would have potentially rendered the samples we had already collected up to this point (all the birds from the first phase) useless. Although, I suppose I shouldn't get too ahead of myself - they still need to be analyzed. Thankfully that's not my job, though! So now it's a day or two of rest, then the telemetry begins . . . [View Full Entry]

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Minutes past 0100, the night hangs heavily over the wilds of East Africa; the bewitching hour begins. A full moon bathes the bush in a dramatic glow, giving it an eerie personality, for it is the dead of the night yet shadows are strewn across the monochrome landscape like lost souls. Save for the confused chirp of a diurnal bird, all is quiet; all is calm. A female waterbuck relaxes in the stillness, sitting, with legs tucked under her, in the same patch of the Kenyan highlands she occupies most nights. Her shaggy pelage bears the hue of the bush in [View Full Entry]

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A extremely tragic thing happened to me this morning: in the process of trying to save a bird, I inadvertently killed it. Let me explain: While checking my e-mail in the office at approximately 0630, a Lesser Striped Swallow flew in through the wide-open door and couldn’t seem to find its way back out of the room. Remembering that there was a butterfly net in the corner, I grabbed it and tried to net the swallow as it flew in frantic circles above my head, inches beneath the ceiling. After a few unsuccessful attempts in which the bird gracefully dodged every [View Full Entry]

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Mike Rowe may not be impressed, but my job has been plenty dirty the past couple days. Allow me to elaborate, starting with a little background detail: The second phase of the Brain Hormone Project is proving a bit more difficult than anticipated. So far, in almost three weeks, we’ve only managed to catch five adult female starlings - four Superbs, and one Greater Blue-eared Glossy (hereafter simply referred to as "Glossy"). Ideally, Dustin would like us to get six of each within a three- or four-week timeframe. Five specimens is okay, four is doable, and three is probably not goi [View Full Entry]

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Ohmygod, I've got malaria . . . was the first thought that crossed my mind Friday morning, as I sat beneath a tree watching a mistnet, feeling the gradual oncomings of the flu. I'm not too much of a hypochondriac, but I've been told time and again that "if you're not taking antimalarials (which no long-term researcher does, mind you), assume you're coming down with malaria when you begin to feel like you have the flu." A bit of an extreme precaution, I suppose, but better safe than sorry - if left untreated until too late, malaria will cause flu-like symptoms [View Full Entry]

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The Mpala School, attended by the children of Mpala staff, recently won a regional competition in gymnastics, and will subsequently be attending the national competition in a few weeks. Thus, they’ve been quite eager to show me their moves the past couple evenings while I’ve been netting birds near the staff village at the Ranch House, where many of them live. It started yesterday, when a small group of children (about six, ages 5-10) approached me to practice their English and say hello. When I returned the greeting, they literally began doing cartwheels. I had my small point- [View Full Entry]

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