Do not be fooled by the pictures, the weather out here in Port Mansfield has on the whole been rather bleak (for south Texas at least). Though I lose track of time out here, it seems that for the past week it has been on and off cold, rainy, and windy. Not great for the mammals, including us. The weather affects the work, but certainly does not lessen it. For the few wet/cold days when we don't trap, we catch up on flagging grids and entering data. Depending on the day, me and the crew have been working 10 to 12 hour days, though on Thursday an owl call-back survey was added to the load, stretching the day from about 7am to 10pm with an hour break for lunch. We've had few afternoons off, mostly because the grids we've been trapping are bursting with small mammals. On top of that, I've been up to rookie mistakes of getting lost on a grid and getting a little too enthusiastic with the machete. As you might imagine, it's been a bit rough.
However, there's always some good news. As of mid February, I am officially an employee of Texas A&M University. This past Friday was my first paycheck, and though it was only for a couple weeks, it was definitely welcome. I do wish they back-paid: I've yet to be paid for my work January 19 through "hiring" in February. We'll be getting paid for that time of course, but it means putting in hours after we've finished working here. The hoops we've had to jump through have been significant, but at least we're now on the payroll. And even with the iffy weather I've seen lots of cool sights:
-New species: Great-horned Owls (Bubo virginianus), Vermillion Flycatcher (Pyrocephalus rubinus), and Bobcat (Lynx rufus)
-A Cheshire cat smile moon grouped with Venus and Mars
-A giant rattlesnake with a body thicker than my arm
-Very young Texas tortoise that fits in the palm of your hand
-"The Rig", mysterious abandoned oil equipment that's now an El Sauz landmark
-Tons of nilgai, turkeys, javelinas, coyotes
Oak woodland on the north side of the ranch
Young Texas tortoise
"The Rig"
White-footed mouse at El Sauz
Rattlesnake at a grid we're flagging
Driving through marsh
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