So, here is a picture of one of my grasshopper cages. I have 18 of these spread out over three different transects. I’m going to be collecting the grasshoppers from the cages on Thursday. Hopefully they’ve enjoyed their stay and have grown a ton! Fingers crossed. I’ll keep you informed.
So, Walker and Kayla are off to live in a nearby community for the next week or 10 days. Their adventures will be sufficiently harrowing (at the very least two deep river crossings in the car) that they decided to take “baby” and I’m now renting a new Land Rover. If any of you are … More New (old) car!
I’m really sorry I don’t have a picture to go along with this day and a half’s fiasco! There’s no way I could have though, my hands were such a mess I’d have completely destroyed my camera. So, the next step in the insect research is to get a sense of the flying insects that … More Tanglefoot Craziness
Sorry for the long lapse in posts. This week has been extremely busy! I don’t think I’ve taken a single photo from out in the field and so didn’t have anything to share. This is a quintessential “Black Cotton” savanna picture to serve in place. I started midweek by finishing setting up the grasshopper experiment. … More Research Update
One thing I’ve learned working in the savanna filled with mammals and here, filled with cattle as well… the ticks are ferocious and plentiful. I can’t begin to count the number of ticks I’ve picked off my pants to date. Luckily only about 1 in 10 actually makes it past the pants and into my … More Ticks!
As part of my research question I am trying to demonstrate that because of the high productivity in the glades (remember?) we’ll find more primary consumers (herbivores) and secondary consumers closer to glades than farther away. Well, the lizard stuff is looking good but it’s time now to start sampling those consumers in the shape … More “An elegant weapon for a more civilized age”
The scale is difficult to tell here but that picture is of a road about 7 feet wide and mud about 16 inches deep. Those trenches are my tire tracks, perpendicular to the road. This is where my truck formerly was. Mired in mud. Elcanna and I set off to sample some grasshoppers today in … More Mired in Mud
So I went back out the field today and the leopard was nowhere to be found. For the better I suppose, because I finished this round of field work but still, I was a little disappointed approaching the tree with my camera at the ready. We did have to chase of a hyena that was … More Diversions while staking out the leopard
So I’ve finished my first round of lizard surveys! Yay! Ended up with 1031 trees surveyed and over 600 individual lizards. It feels so good to be done (with this round, there’ll likely be two more…) I went out yesterday evening to get one more look at the first transect that I surveyed because I … More Stymied by a Leopard
Here are a few pictures of animal encounters in the field!
Colin Donihue 