Lay of the Land

Considering I've already referenced this post a couple of times before even writing it, I guess it is about time I get this online.


Our field site is adjacent to the Río Colastiné on the land of a local cattle farmer. While there is water around most of the boxes, some areas are more flooded than others. Just two days ago we loaned our oars to a group of bird surveyors who needed to cross the site. Fortunately Maya and I have our own pairs of waders, all the rage among the Argentine youth (did I mention Waterworld just hit theaters? lucky for me people keep mistaking me for Kevin Costner).

Our site is broken down into two main sections: Power Tower (left, to the west) and Florida (right, to the east). Power Tower is also comprised of three smaller sections: Trailer Park, Marsh, and Wild Wild West.

(FYI: all "maps" below are oriented North)

"Map" 1: Appropriately named for its ornamental power tower

"Map" 2: Appropriately named for its... penis shape?

Bear with me as I try to walk you through the sites.

Let's start with Florida. Here you will find two main peninsulas, each with a double-row of boxes. The first begins at box 18, runs to box 32, and then loops back from box 34 to 43. This forms two semi-parallel stretches of boxes connected by (in most parts) land in the middle. It has been blessed with a small oasis around boxes 28, 29, and 37, which is usually a must needed pit stop for applying a second coat of sunscreen. These boxes have become very active recently, and will hopefully stay productive during the second round of clutches.

Always a waterwalk to start the day at Florida. Notice box 42 on the right and box 20 well ahead on the left.

The Oasis: Doesn't look like much? Put on a few layers of trash bags and stand out in the sun for a while, then get back to me.

Hey looky there, more water! Anybody's boots need a refill? This is past the oasis, with box 30 up on your left.

A look across to the other peninsula (what do you mean you don't see it?). Standing at the oasis, looking at box 37.

Across from the first loop is a second "peninsula", though here you will find no actual dry land, merely scarce opportunities for your knees to stop holding their breaths. These boxes are less ordered, and are numbered from 41-56. The number 50 is missing, but don't worry because someone was kind enough to throw the number B in there to make up for it. These boxes are not so busy right now, unless you include wasps in your definition of busy. In that case, there's no room at the inn (note: We do not include wasps in our definition of busy). To the east of this second peninsula there is only water. The vegetation stops, and the mix of wading birds and reeds clears away for grebes and kiting kingfishers. Facing away from the city, this may be the most peaceful section of the site, and you can be sure what's going to fly over the top of the water.


In Between

Florida and Power Tower are separated by a stretch of deep water covered in reeds. This is a great place to see ibises and jacanas poking around and Snail Kites hunting, but just too deep and thick to work in.

The Great Unknown: It's just like the moon, or the deepest parts of the ocean; it's just, we don't really want to go in there.

Power Tower

"Map" 3: Power to the Tower

Power Tower makes up the western section of the site, closest to the town, and to all the action. The deepest section of water is in the middle, running between boxes 65, 66, and 87, and boxes 67 and 85 (note the river [not actually black]). Power Tower has dropped off since the first great die offs, but it's still busy. This may be the area with the highest concentrations of other birds, a fact which has often made itself known in our boxes. There is currently a cattle tyrant in 66, a saffron finch in 61, and a house wren in 82. There are also lots of jacanas and ibises picking around in the vegetation. The most unique thing about Power Tower? Look up: the towers themselves (block 1 and block 2 on "map" 3) are full of monk parakeet nests (We call that communal breeding).

Looking out along boxes 90-87. Spy anything in those towers?

Anyone order a pandemonium of parakeets? I wouldn't say it's quite as enjoyable as going to an A Cappella concert, but then again when does a Caracara fly in and carry away one of the altos for lunch?

Looking at box 64, heading towards the river, aka "the big plunge" (nah nobody really calls it that... yet...)

Wild Wild West

"Map" 4: We certainly are Loveless about this place

Just north of Power Tower is a small grouping of boxes dubbed Wild Wild West. To put it bluntly, they aren't worth shit. If you wanted to study House Wrens, by all means strap on your boots and head out to Wild Wild West. But for our purposes, they're useless. The one brood in this area died only a few days after I arrived. It may be that the area is too enclosed for swallows, or that the House Wrens just won't put up with anyone else in "their" boxes (House Wrens are known to poke holes in the eggs of other birds. Bunch of dicks if you ask me). But for birding purposes, Wild Wild West is great. There are usually woodcreepers and gnatcatchers aplenty, and if you look out the back end, between boxes I, J, and K, there is a small lagoon where you can typically find a few Black-crowned Night-herons fishin' away.

Trouble finding the boxes? That's because they're camouflaged! ...Maybe we should've re-thought that...

Marsh and Trailer Park

"Map" 5: Stan and Kenny (if anyone gets that please tell me)

In the western half of the Power Tower complex are two groups of boxes: Marsh and Trailer Park. While Marsh has been fairly productive in terms of swallow nests, Trailer Park doesn't seem to want to do any work (maybe that's why it's called Trailer Park).

Both sites have their own uniqueness about them. Both are good places to see herons, egrets, and other wading birds, and both have their own special guests living in the boxes. There's a resident bat in box 117 in Trailer Park, and there's a wonderful (sarcasm) critter wandering around Marsh who likes to eat our birds. We actually found two boxes in Marsh that were predated last night. Fortunately there are McDonald's in Argentina who are willing to sell
us some of their grease to slather on the poles.

Marsh: Boxes 105 (L) and 106 (R), home of the predator... (starring Maya Wilsonager and David Millone)

The really cool thing about Trailer Park is that most of the boxes are over water. Okay, so this isn't so cool when we're trying to measure chicks or catch adults, but fortunately land is not too far away, and some cool birds always seem to show up (e.g. Pied Water-tyrant, Striated Heron, Black-and-white Monjita).

Up close and personal with box 118. Boat rentals: $10/hr, we're open every day

There are plenty of cattle around our site. "El patron" who owns the site has over seventy cows and horses roaming all over the place. Usually we don't have a problem, except when they all decide to head to Marsh.

Horses in Marsh

Cows in Marsh

Of course we do our best to give these thousands of pounds of cheeseburgers their space, but the thing about Marsh is that once you follow the row from box 94 to box 101, there's only one way out: the way you came. Now let's say these Big Macs-to-be decide to block your one and only path out of the Marsh. You're just going to have to find another way around, and odds are you're not getting out of there dry, waders or no waders.


Let me give you a better idea of what I mean.




You see the bell on that guy? I don't think that thing's just for shits and jingles. I'm thinking that El Patron thought that whoever might be out on his land would benefit from knowing exactly where this guy is. Thank you, El Patron. Now bring me a boat. Needless to say, that was the day I topped my waders. If I find an easier way around, or if El Patron decides to start working for Chick-fil-a instead of Burger King, I'll let you know.



As I write this, rain continues to pour over the city, as it has done for the past 24 hours. Because there is no drainage system, six inches of water has collected on both sides of the streets; however, I have no doubt that the king of the land (aka the sun) will recall it all to the sky as water vapor twice as fast as it fell to earth as rain (simply a drawn out way to say it'll probably all evaporate by tomorrow). And while one might think that all this rain has me worried about the water level of our field site, I slightly expect the amount of water in the swamp to have decreased since our last visit. Fortunately, at least for today, I can relax knowing that the water levels at our site are influenced more by systems hundreds of miles away, flowing from Paraguay southern Brazil, and Iguazu, than by any local deluge. Therefore, I have no fear that my pictures of our site from this past week are out-dated, but if we find everything under water tomorrow, I will be sure to give you an update.

(And sure enough, one day later, the water levels had gone down)