Colin Donihue

I’m back from the Bahamas but leaving for Greece tomorrow afternoon! Whew. I knew it was going to be a fast turnaround but my head’s spinning trying to keep track of the simultaneous fieldwork wrap-up and start-up to-do lists. I have a couple of pictures and videos ready to share from the Bahamas though so I want to get them posted quick before the next adventure is in full swing.

All in all the Bahamas visit was a success. We shipped 360 lizards back to Harvard for a big breeding experiment and got more data on habitat use for well over 1200 lizards across Eleuthera, Long, and Bimini islands. The team was terrific, the lizards were plentiful, and the weather was perfect. Well, almost.

The final day of fieldwork was a complete washout. As Raphaël said, “C’est la fête à la grenouille” – a party for frogs. Alas, we were after lizards, not frogs, so we stayed in until the last minute hoping it might clear. When it became obvious that a thorough drenching was inevitable though, Raphaël and I put on our swimsuits and set out. We needed to return all of the lizards that we’d caught that we weren’t bringing back to Harvard with us. It was a sloppy wet hour and a half for us but I’m pretty sure the lizards appreciated being brought back home.

Here’s a short video documenting the adventure: