One of the first things I did when I got to the field was demand that someone give me a haircut. I had forgotten to schedule one in the chaos of moving and my hair was way too long for comfortable jungle life. Luckily, Phebe obliged with some supervision from Oona. Thanks guys!
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| Phebe cutting my hairs - photo and in-action advice courtesy of Oona |
The first few days we just got organized and Judit reviewed the procedures with us. We then had a few days of a "wet run" so people who were rusty or had no idea what they were doing (me) could do get a few days of practice in before going to Judit's actual net-line sites.
After the introduction phase, we developed a daily routine. For each net-line (we did four at Kilometro 28, not including the wet run) we would spend one day hiking out the gear and actually setting up the netline(s). The good part was that we could sleep in a little on these days (we usually left at like 8am or 9am or something), but the bad part was hiking out all the gear and clearing the net lanes again. Although we work mostly in varialles forest, which is stunted and rejuvenates slowly, it was still a lot of work clearing out all the new growth from the lanes because we would string 20 mist nets all in a row. Each mist net is 10-18 meters long, so obviously this is a lot of area to clear of brush and undergrowth. The gear also included all the 3-meter tall poles (maybe like 25-30 of them) that we attach the nets to, so we had to hike those out every time. They are light because they are aluminum or something but carrying around something that long in the rainforest and trying to maneuver them around all the vines and tree truncks and bushes is exhausting. Add that to a 2-hour hike and you have a dead Kim.
After the set up day, we would have open nets at each site for 2 1/2 days. We would start at 6am and close the nets at 4pm for the first two days, and then close at 11am for the half day, so 25 hours total. Combine that with 20 nets per net-line and you have a total of 500 net hours per net-line after the three days! The first two sites were between 1 and 1 1/2 hours away, and the last two were a little under 2 hours away. That means that for those sites we had to start hiking in the rainforest at 4am, and we'd get home at like 6:45pm (hiking home is often faster because you are hungry).
However, because we have a lot of volunteers, especially towards the last few days when doing the farthest sites, we could split the group into two and do two net-lines simultaneously. It helped a lot that we had some veterans to supervise the group that Judit wasn't in. This was great in that we only had to do the 2-hour long hikes at 4am for 3 days. The negative aspect of this is that the other group might catch really cool birds that you don't get to see! Once the other group caught Paradise Tanagers and I didn't get to see them. I'm so jealous!
Back at camp, we split up the camp chores. Two people would stay back every day to cook dinner for everyone, so there was a hot meal waiting for when everyone got home. Those people also had to hitchhike a couple kilometers down the road to get drinking water (that we would then bleach) from a nearby community, and buy bread from the bread man (a guy riding a motorcycle covered in bags of bread that he sells as he rides down the road, honking a ridiculous horn).
We had some additions while we were in the field - Eileen arrived at the beginning of September, and Camilo and Alejo arrived from Colombia a few days later. Like Oona, Camilo has volunteered for Judit before, so he is a veteran. And Javier is a Peruvian from Iquitos who joined us at the last minute (but then left, but then came back, but then left again? and will join us again? not really sure). But by the end of our stay at Kilometro 28 we were 13 people including Judit!
During/after dinner we usually have a "pregunta de la noche" (question of the night) that we all answer. Some examples are "What is your first memory?" "What superpower would you have?" "What is your favorite breakfast?" (my question!). One question my Ecua-group might appreciate was "What type of topography would you be?" My answer: a polylepus forest. :]
After the introduction phase, we developed a daily routine. For each net-line (we did four at Kilometro 28, not including the wet run) we would spend one day hiking out the gear and actually setting up the netline(s). The good part was that we could sleep in a little on these days (we usually left at like 8am or 9am or something), but the bad part was hiking out all the gear and clearing the net lanes again. Although we work mostly in varialles forest, which is stunted and rejuvenates slowly, it was still a lot of work clearing out all the new growth from the lanes because we would string 20 mist nets all in a row. Each mist net is 10-18 meters long, so obviously this is a lot of area to clear of brush and undergrowth. The gear also included all the 3-meter tall poles (maybe like 25-30 of them) that we attach the nets to, so we had to hike those out every time. They are light because they are aluminum or something but carrying around something that long in the rainforest and trying to maneuver them around all the vines and tree truncks and bushes is exhausting. Add that to a 2-hour hike and you have a dead Kim.
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| Me trying to help Judit after a field wound while clearing net lanes - another Oona photo |
However, because we have a lot of volunteers, especially towards the last few days when doing the farthest sites, we could split the group into two and do two net-lines simultaneously. It helped a lot that we had some veterans to supervise the group that Judit wasn't in. This was great in that we only had to do the 2-hour long hikes at 4am for 3 days. The negative aspect of this is that the other group might catch really cool birds that you don't get to see! Once the other group caught Paradise Tanagers and I didn't get to see them. I'm so jealous!
Back at camp, we split up the camp chores. Two people would stay back every day to cook dinner for everyone, so there was a hot meal waiting for when everyone got home. Those people also had to hitchhike a couple kilometers down the road to get drinking water (that we would then bleach) from a nearby community, and buy bread from the bread man (a guy riding a motorcycle covered in bags of bread that he sells as he rides down the road, honking a ridiculous horn).
We had some additions while we were in the field - Eileen arrived at the beginning of September, and Camilo and Alejo arrived from Colombia a few days later. Like Oona, Camilo has volunteered for Judit before, so he is a veteran. And Javier is a Peruvian from Iquitos who joined us at the last minute (but then left, but then came back, but then left again? and will join us again? not really sure). But by the end of our stay at Kilometro 28 we were 13 people including Judit!
During/after dinner we usually have a "pregunta de la noche" (question of the night) that we all answer. Some examples are "What is your first memory?" "What superpower would you have?" "What is your favorite breakfast?" (my question!). One question my Ecua-group might appreciate was "What type of topography would you be?" My answer: a polylepus forest. :]
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| Dinner in the kitchen - awkward photo courtesy of Oona |
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