A typical day at Danum: Monday, 1 November 2010

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6:40am Wake up…try to get another half hour of sleep before starting the day.


7:15 Get out of bed, join Sam, James, and Rachel for a breakfast of oatmeal and coffee. Discuss the previous night’s best finds


7:50 Move to the porch to put on socks and leech stockings, and make sure we have all the equipment we need for the day


8:00 Leave the house for our plots on the West Trail


8:05 Cross suspension bridge without passing out from my fear of heights. Consider day a success!


8:45 Arrive at our first plot. Set up quadrat, measure canopy density, leaf litter depth, and start taking soil pH, temperature, and moisture readings.


9:00 Start sifting through the leaf litter in search of frogs


9:25 Finish plot search and try to convince field assistants that there will be frogs in the next plot in order to maintain morale. Move on to next plot.


9:30-1pm: repeat plot surveys 4 more times. Find Nyctixalus pictus in 3rd plot of the day—take lots of photos and savor the find.


1:30pm: Arrive at dining hall for lunch of rice, chicken, and stir-fried veggies. Heap plate with way too much food, liberally cover with chili sauce, and devour. Watch James and Rachel eat 2 more platefuls each.


2:30: Return to house to shower and check for any remnant leeches lurking under my clothes. Hang smelly field clothes on the front porch to air and dry out.


3:00 Stop by admin office to chat with Kartini (education director) about this weekend’s education program. Start planning an hour-long frog-related presentation and activities for Sabahan high school students who will be visiting on Saturday.


4:00 Enter data.


5:30 Realize that we have to leave the house in less than half an hour to start our night survey. Start putting on wet and dirty clothes, and gathering headlamp, scissors, rulers, and data books for night survey.


6:00 Depart field station for survey stream in the station’s Land Rover. Try to contain excitement at riding in a LR again.


6:30 Arrive survey stream. Record temperature, humidity, cloud cover, and stream flow. Begin searching for frogs. Capture, measure, and toe clip every frog we find on our 600 m transect.


7:47 Find Chaperina fusca, a frog not commonly found on streams, and with bright yellow spots on its belly.


9:23 Find Leptobrachella parva, a frog whose adult males are about 17 mm long (so tiny and cute!)


9:30 End survey and walk back downstream towards car.


9:47 Hear people shouting near the road—get a little bit nervous not knowing who they are and why they are shouting in the middle of the night


9:51 Emerge from the forest to find Land Rover on its side in a ditch, the driver’s side smashed up by an angry elephant that we just barely missed seeing (the shouting people were trying to get it to leave).


9:52 - 10:45 Consult with station staff on what to do about car; drive down the road to get some help removing car from the ditch; return to find Land Rover pulled out by station manager and friends.


10:50 Smile with pride when the Land Rover starts up without a hitch despite her battered condition. Drive down the road towards the elephants (I’m still not sure why the station staff did this), keep headlamps turned off so as not to piss off the elephant any further. Hear male trumpet, and turn around to go home after getting a brief glimpse of him a few meters from the road.


11:35 Return home and quickly shower off sweat and grime.


11:40 Collapse into bed.

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Photos

Searching for amphibians
This is what plot searches look like--it's fun getting dirty for a living!

Nyctixalus pictus
Our froggy find of the day--the cinnamon tree frog! So lovely.

Ellie-bashed Land Rover
Yikes! Those elephants don't take kindly to outsiders...thanks for the pic, Rachey!