I know this won't be doing my time in Ushuaia justice, but I am going to summarize the past 2 weeks. If this is too brief and you were hoping for more, I apologize. If you don't give a damn about my writing and only wanted to see lots of pictures, I also apologize, but not so much (picture my foot in your face!). Ok, here we go:
December 11th: Maya and I bussed into Buenos Aires after one and a half (2 and a half for Maya) months in Santa Fe. We were sad to see it go, but excited about moving onto new/cooler places. Arriving at Retiro bus station with 6 bags of luggage and a small backpack each, we felt like baby lambs thrown into a lion pit; but we were able to make our way to our hostel with no hiccups. We stayed the night of the 11th in Baires, meeting up with my friends Andrew (from Davidson) and Kyle (not from Davidson) for a few drinks at a local pub, and to watch Andrew hand some drunken shit-talker his lunch at pool (as well as Maya and myself, but that's not important). It was pretty awesome.
December 12th: We met up with Flor, a Golo collaborator and biologist from Argentina. Flor has been generous enough to let us keep much of our luggage at her place (to be picked up when we roll through in mid January for our return trip). The three of us met up with Dan Ardia, a PI for the Golo project and professor at Franklin and Marshall, and his current student, Taylor Dunbar, at the airport inside Baires, grabbed a bite to eat, and then took off for Ushuaia.
There is only one word (2 words with a hyphen?) to describe Ushuaia upon first glimpse: awe-inspiring. Swooping in between mountains, the airport (and the whole town for that matter) is located on a bay surrounded by mountains. The sites are something I have not gotten used to, even 2 weeks later. After picking up our rental car, we moseyed up to our apartment and settled in for the night (and yes, I do mean "up"; Ushuaia is set at the base of a mountain, so you're either up or down).
December 13th: Our first day in the field!. Our Ushuaian collaborator, Marcella, met us at our apartment and led us to the site. The site is located on a peat bog, and is also nestled between mountains. Here's a quick look:
Pretty incredible, huh? Go wipe the drool off your mouth and get back to me. I have to pinch myself every day because it is still hard to believe I am working here.
After a quick run through of the boxes, with Marcella as our guide, we set about installing egg temperature devices (for measuring, you guessed it, egg temperatures [incubating data]) and measuring chicks. We had about 20 actives nests to start, most of which had eggs at this point. Many of these clutches have hatched since then, but unfortunately we have had quite a few die offs, for reasons that will be addressed soon.
December 14th: After a quick morning in the field checking our active boxes and catching adults, we set off for Estancia Harberton, where Golo interns previously worked a handful of active boxes. Because we are short on staff this year we are not monitoring those boxes, but it was certainly worth the trip. There is a famous whale museum at Harberton run by a very kind woman, Natalie, who had housed the previous interns while they worked the boxes. After a slow 90 minute drive we found ourselves looking out over the Estancia. We met Natalie in the museum, where we were given a tour of both the museum and the bone house (which is exactly what is sounds like). Imagine a small cottage where hardworking interns scrape the flesh off of recently collected specimens. Get the picture? Now go smell something pleasant.
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| Taylor Dunbar: Whale enthusiast |
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| Maya Wilson: Human Ambassador to Whales (relations are not so good right now) |
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| David Millican: Huge dork and Leopard Sealaphobia-ist |
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| Chillin at the stink ...err... I mean bone house with a freshly-ish Andean Condor skeleton |
A quick 90 minute return trip found us back in Ushuaia and looking for dinner. The specialty? Lamb and king crab. Needless to say, we've been lambing it up recently. As expected (seeing as this is a tourist spot) the food here is quite delicious. It has been hard to stay in and making anything not made of crab and lamb lately.
December 15th: With nothing needing to be done in the field, we all took a ferry ride through the bay. The ferry travels to Harberton, and in the past has been a necessity for Golo interns. But since we are not working the boxes this year, we made the trip for one reason only: Penguins. Your heart may not have jumped out of your throat at the word Penguin, but think about it. When do you have the opportunity to see these tuxedo'd tikes? Other than the Galapagos and South Africa (and Australia? idk, but that's not the point), only at the end or bottom of the world. Along the way we saw lots of other sea birds, King Cormorants, Great Skuas, Giant Petrels, and even a handful of sea lions (firsts for me). But of course the penguins were the stars of the show. Magellanic and Gentoos (mostly the former). We had hoped to see some Rockhoppers, but apparently they're farther east and south, or maybe just not where we were.
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| Pre-Penguin Excitement |
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| Post-Penguin Excitement; props to Dan for Best Penguin Waddle |
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| King Cormorant colony. Notice the different stages of nesting: some parents have big chicks (all brown dudes) while others are still sitting on eggs. Maybe the ones incubating eggs got a late start, or perhaps their eggs were predated. Lots of skuas around trying to steal eggs, so both are possible (unless someone is a Cormorant expert and wants to chime in). |
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| I love it when you call me big Pop-pa; Get them flippers flyin if youz a sea lion! |
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| On Sea Lion Island, it's always sleepy time |
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| Adult Magellanic Pengiun |
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| Juvenile Magellanic |
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| Yea, there were a couple of Magellanics hanging out |
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| Gentoo Penguins hanging out on top of the hill, being loner arrogant jerks |
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| Except for this guy! He came down to the water to play/be photographed/get away from his lame Gentoo peeps |
(This is where the dates stop. It may have been the penguins on the brain, or all the incredible sites, but dates quickly became less of a concern)
Before Dan left, we were able to visit the National Park west of town. This was where we had hoped to see Magellanic Woodpeckers, but alas, we failed. Even a second trip after Dan left could not produce the elusive (though apparently abundant) peckerheads. Maya and I have one more site in mind that we will try in the next few days. But the park is still beautiful, with a handful of steep incline climbs and scenic coastal trails. Check it out:
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| Two lookers at the Lookout Point |
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| Coastal Walk |
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| Lots of mussels around, and I'm not talking about the Guido tourists |
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| Apparently the ground view is more interesting than the water. Ain't that right, ladies? |
On his last day, Dan bailed on us and our field work to go scuba diving (I guess that's fair). According to his report, there were few fish, but instead plenty of crustaceans to go around. In his words, it was the coldest dive he's ever done (or been, quite possibly both), and seemed to produce very unique sites. Meanwhile, Maya, Taylor, and I sweated it out in the field (minus the sweat, remember it's cold here). Our hard work was rewarded when we saw our second Andean Condor of the trip, flying down from the mountains and circling no more than 40 feet overhead for a good 5 minutes. All I can say is, holy shit, what a beautiful bird.
Since Dan left, the three of us have been carrying on in the field. We have had quite a number of parents abandon their nests, because of, from what we can tell, too much tinkering with them and their nests. Every
Tachycineta species is different, and there is also variation with each species. Some parents have no problem with plastic egg temp containers sprouting from the bottom of their boxes, or with our catching and processing them and their chicks. Others freak out and abandon their chicks. There is a predator hypothesis among birds that species in tropical ecosystems, where there is a greater abundance and biodiversity of predators, are more likely to abandon their nests (partly because they have a greater chance of laying another clutch later that season, or in later seasons, than their counterparts in temperate ecosystems). But being so far down here, it is strange that some adults abandon so easily. Having not looked at the data from past seasons, I really can't say much more. But for this season, it's put a small damper on our otherwise wonderful experience.
Today Maya and I drove by the airport and kicked Taylor to the curb. Good riddance.
Absolutely kidding. We are very sad that Taylor has left us, but are very grateful for the chance to get to know her. I won't ramble on about someone nobody else reading this knows, but she is clearly a fun and bright young lady with a wonderful future ahead of her. We hope to see her soon.
Now Maya and I are twiddling our thumbs while watching Park and Recreation. We will continue to work the field site until January 2nd, when we will trade in our work gloves for tourist hats and begin busing north to Buenos Aires. We will spend a couple of nights in Bariloche and Mendoza (and more than a couple on the bus) before arriving in Buenos on the 13th.
