I've Been Away and Busy

For the last few months I've been on Southeast Farallon Island.

On a foggy morning at the SEFI lighthouse

 Having an amazing time in the fog and occasional sun

Olive-sided Flycatcher on a background of Farallon Weed

 looking at lots of seabirds and the occasional landbird

Steller's Sea Lion

 every once and awhile we'd get mammals too!

Black Oystercatcher chick, ready to fledge

Check out some more of my photos on my flickr account!

Also, just made a post on the Farallon blog page on bird photography here!

Field Biology

I have so many research project going on right now it's hard to keep track.

WFC 195 - Affects of weather on incubation times in Brandt's Cormorants and how it affects their foraging.

WFC 136 - Flight initiation distance in urbanized Mallard ducks in Davis, CA.

WFC 155L - habitat use of Piciformes in relation to invertebrates collected at specific field sites at Cache Creek Nature Preserve. This shot is of my friend record some data after invert sampling at one of our field sites. Fun stuff!

Skulls and the Past Life

Slowly, I build my natural history museum from where ever I can. It is not much so far, but it is growing. People sometimes think I'm strange. I just say I'm an aspiring wildlife biologist.

Summer Work: Watersnake Trapping

So after my plans to do bat work this Summer fell through, I asked around my department and found out the Brian Todd was doing field work pretty close to Davis and was looking for volunteers. I was stoked to get out into the field to do just about anything so I jumped on this opportunity. Above is a photo of a baby (1-2 yrs) Nerodia caught in one of the plastic minnow traps we have set out.

This is where I work in Roseville. We have 156 minnow traps set as well as 7 of these larger drift net traps. We check all of them daily to ensure that no animals are stuck in the traps for more than 24 hrs.

This monster was caught in one of our big drift net traps. I fished him out, which was a little nerve racking. Will (left) and Brian (right) just held him so that I could get a photo. Yes, these are wild snakes, and yes, they can bite and will not hesitate to do so when cornered in a trap.

I never pictured myself working with snakes, but this really is awesome!

Busy At Work

Like a bee in Spring. Sorry I haven't been posting much, but you know, its Summer! There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want. (mad props if you can guess where that quote is from)

Summer Puzzle

And so, the pieces of my summer are slowly coming together and fitting pretty nicely. If everything happens, then this will be an amazing season.

The Domes Trash and Cob Bench

I cannot wait for this bad boy to be finished. No, really, it'll be amazing and beautiful. So much work has gone into making this cob bench. For those of you who don't know, my boy Brennan Bird has been spearheading this project as a monument to sustainability. The bench has been made entirely by volunteers and mostly students and is made out of mainly cob (an earthen building material from clay, dirt, water, and straw) as well as gravel and portable landfill devices.

The portable landfill devices are an awesome idea and allow people to use their trash instead of just simply throwing it away. The plastic trash is cleaned and compacted into a bottle until the bottle is as hard as a brick; at this point, it can be used for building. This not only creates a practical use for all the things people throw out that cannot be recycled, but also makes people aware of how much trash they really create.

The bench is being built on The Domes property (also known as Baggins End) at UC Davis and if you can, you should definitely come and check it out. I personally have donated my trash and time to this along with dozens of other people.

Also, I posted a little while ago about the Domes having some issues with student housing (see link above) and we have now started an online petition HERE. Please sign it guys! It would really mean a lot. This place has too much history and potential to be demolished!

Bike Part Sale!

Come check out my house in Davis if you want to pick up some cheap bike parts. Craigslist add here:

http://sacramento.craigslist.org/bik/2345637347.html

I need money to help me fund my pennyfarther touring trip accross Patagonia and to survey rare specimens of bumble bees in the area. Thanks and hope to see y'all there!

Bike Maintenance and Projects

Ah yes, here is my 1988 Fisher Montare SC that I converted to an SS commuter bike. This guy has seen a lot of miles and is finally working at near 100% since I rebuilt the rear u-brake (those things really are terrible). It's outfitted with a mish mash of xt, xtr, ritchey, race face, and just about everything else ha. But it rides B-E-A-utifully. I even took it on a few XC rides in china camp over the break. Its too bad I left it at home in Marin for the time being. I do miss it.

Meanwhile, I've been riding the crap out of the old Cannondale R600 i picked up over summer. I've been riding it just as it was given to me up until now. I'm finally doing a bit of maintenance to it, swapping out the junker Dia-compe brakes with some old 105s that I have the match the rest of the gruppo on it. Currently trying to overhaul the rear hub, but my first attempt failed because I overtightened the spindle and mashed the bearings a little bit. Oops. Oh well, we live and we learn.

Another project I'm finally getting around to is a franken-tall-bike. It will maybe be made out of my cousin's old bmx bike, my roomates crashed (slightly bent) road frame, and spare parts from just about everywhere. Oh, did I mention that I will be trying to do this without any welding? Should be interesting and probably a bit frightening to ride the first time. That is IF it even gets built. We shall see what happens and I'll be sure to post photos as update. YAY

Buidling Buildings

Crane your neck skywards to behold these lovely monuments of our triumph over the natural world. Bask in the rare romanticism, now lost to these cold pillars holding up the capitalists never-fading grasp on your minds. A bit depressing, huh?

My Head is Reaching Critical Mass

but my finals don't even start to Wednesday. This should be fun.

Going Into Finals

Time to be studious.

This Kid

He's crazy. Taking over 20 units every quarter (this quarter I think its around 22, last quarter it was a ridiculous 26 or 27). I don't know how he does it. But he is Philp. And he's super chill. We bond over roasting marshmallows and cleaning the house.

HG Home Universal

Some of my friends have started a business. Real reliable and wonderful young men, hard working, and honest. If you need any sort of labor done around the house (this includes gardening, cooking, repairs, painting, wood work, car washing, even chauffeuring) they WILL do it. Check them out, there rates are very reasonable for the amount of work you will get.