Bats! (and other stuff)

---

Right so last entry I totally planned to write about what we did on monday as well. But I had to run out because the group was leaving for our 4 day field trip. haha. So yeah, sorry for the abrupt ending.

Anyway, on monday, the day was pretty typical. Classes, field work, etc. But, the night was absolutely incredible. After dinner some of us went with Jess (ecology prof) to set up a bat trap on site. The trap itself was really cool. So about an hour and a half later jess came to tell us that we'd already caught 6 bats so we could go help her take them out and put down the trap if we wanted to. Which i did. The bats were soo small (all microbats). Once we got back down to the center, she had us take them out one at a time and she ID'd them for us and took all the data she needed such as sex, forelimb lengeth, and species. But while waiting for her to examine them, we got to hold them. So they are in these cloth bags. But they need heat, so you put the bag under your shirt. ohmygoodness i feel in love. as did most other people. it was so amazing having them right next to your skin, feeling them move etc. Such an amazing experience I can't even really begin to describe it. So yeah. it totally made my night. Also, after she ID'd them, she tried to feed them. And some of the students also got to try it. So I took lots of pics. It was really just incredible. Again, when I have time I shall try to put the pics up. But basically, it was one of my favorite experiences thus far. Hence it made me want to work with Jess for my DR even more.


As I informed some of you, from tuesday until today, we were on an extended fieldtrip. Went to Chillago for tuesday and wednesday and then 40-mile-scrub for thursday and friday. I thought we were heading out to dry country. Which is true. Except it is the wet season. And they are having one of the wettest wet seasons that they've had in a really long time. Like nearly 20 years. So yeah, it rained a lot while we were there which was kinda a bummer. but it was still really cool. we saw kangaroos and wallabys which was really quite exciting. I did not realize how prolific they are here. As in, everywhere. Kinda like deer back home. In fact, the first few we saw were dead along the road which was really sad i thought. But then we would see like 5 at a time, jumping along in the savannah surrounding the road or wherever we happened to be. On wednesday morning I got up early and did a bird walk with Jess and a few others, and while out I got really good looks at some wallabys with my binoculars (thanks AC!). one of them had a joey in its pouch! it was amazing. Saw some really cool birds on the trip. Couldn't ID some of them though. Need to look through my bird book. Anyway, we basically had lots of free time but also had some field lectures where we went to a few different places. Went on a tour of a limestone cave which was cool. So yeah. And then on thursday we got up early and headed out for the second place. Sadly, plans got changed and we didnt get to meet with this Aboriginal man who was going to talk to us about his culture and teach us how to use boomerangs and stuff because he got called into work. So ended up stopping at the widest waterwall in australia which was pretty cool. also stopped in a town for lunch. it was very cute. it was basically a looong day mostly spent in the car. and it rained. when we finally got to 40 mile scrub it was still raining and we had to set up camp which was loads of fun. but then we headed off to Undara National Park to get tours of some lava tubes. Which was really cool. Again, due to the absurd amounts of rain they have been getting, some were flooded and so we couldnt go in very far or see as much as we would have, but it was still really awesome. Then this morning we spent about 3 hours pulling out lantana (an invasive weed) from the national parks. it was EVERYWHERE. really tiring but really satisfying. in total we ended up pulling out 19,000plus plants which was a big help for them. Then lunch and packed up and headed for atherton. got there around 4 and had an hour of free time during which i just walked around. Now i am back at the center and in DESPARATE need of a shower so I'm going to stop here for now.

Still having a blast. Hope everyone is doing well!

---

Comments

[Katherine]

Microbat is so cute! Aah! I'm glad you're having a good time in Australia!