Day 3: May 28, 2016

Today I got up at 6:45 and led a bird walk with Vanessa and my friend Emma.  All three of us are obviously interested in birds, and so we were asked to lead a bird walk for kids in Wake Audubon's Young Naturalist club.  It was really fun--only three kids came, but they and the Young Naturalist leader Jennifer saw at least one bird species they had never seen before.  We saw two yellow-billed cuckoos, large birds that are very difficult to see because they just sit very still in a tree and give this clucking call.  But, we found a pair of these cuckoos, first hearing them, then playing its call from a phone to see if it would come in.  It did!  We eventually tracked it down, perching about 20 feet up in a tree, and saw its mate close by.  That was probably the coolest part of the walk--seeing these elusive birds.  I also enjoyed teaching the kids about how to identify birds, and listening to songs to try to identify what was calling.  One kid knew better than me though!  He'll probably leading the bird walk in a few years.

I saw the goats again (they stayed for a day) and they had eaten a lot of greenery in the backyard!  There were still patches of groundcover, but I was impressed by the amount of damage 20 goats can do in 18 hours.

I went to the gym with Vanessa, then spent a few hours at my neighbor's pool-opening party.  It's always nice to talk with neighbors, because usually there are endless funny stories to be told or memories to be remembered.  And the food is always a major plus :)

I will probably not blog for the next few days, because I am not going anywhere extraordinary or doing anything crazy, just spending some wonderful time with family.  Peace!

Day 2: May 27, 2016

Today was a relaxing day where I got nothing done.  I firmly believe that everyone needs days like these every so often :).  I hung out with my friend Emma and Vanessa; reading, going to the library.  We went to our neighbor's house, who rented out goats (apparently that's a thing) to demolish/eat everything green and unmanageable in their backyard. The goats were awesome!  There were 20 of them, all of different sizes and coat colors, and they were just munching away at the weeds, vines, and saplings in the yard.  I went into the yard, observed all of the docile goats, and managed to pet a few, and feed a couple some leaves and bark.  That's something I will probably never get to say again, so I was glad to have that experience, albeit strange!  An N & O photographer came too, since our neighbor, David Menconi, writes for that newspaper and was going to do a story on his family's goat adventure.

Once seeing the goats, my family and I went to Millbrook's Dance and Drama Awards.  It was very fun, and I really enjoyed seeing the same old theater and dance students.  Last awards ceremony forever!

All of the goat diversity!  I was expecting 20 white or gray goats, not the handful of coat colors and sizes.  The one black goat above has tiny ears, kind of truncated-looking, while the others have the long, soft ears.  And some goats really like an ear or back scratch, so they just come up to you, give you a nudge, or stand awkwardly close until you realize that they want you to pet them.  And a few goats ambled up to my hand, sniffed it with their soft muzzles, and casually nibbled it to see if it was a leaf.  I then casually moved my hand away...no, it didn't hurt at all, and they quickly learned that my hand was a petting, not edible, object.

Day 1: May 26, 2016

Today I did bird banding at Prairie Ridge Ecostation in Raleigh.  Bird banding consists of catching birds in mist nets--nets made for catching birds because they have pockets that the birds fly and fall into, getting tangled--and putting small aluminum or color bands on their feet.  Bird banding is important because scientists collect data about each individual bird, like body fat, molt, sex, age, and this can be used to get a general idea about the characteristics of a species.  Also, every bird gets an aluminum band etched with a specific number.  If the same group or a different group somewhere in the US catches the bird again, the number on the band can be used to identify the individual.  So, scientists use this to see a) where the bird goes and if it migrates, b) if the bird returns to one place every year, and c) how long that bird species' lifespan is.

I have been bird banding for about four years now, and I still really enjoy it and learn a lot from it.  Today, I bird banded with Vanessa, John Gerwin, the ornithologist that taught me everything, and another student named Edward.  We bird banded near some bird feeders so that we could hopefully get many birds in a short amount of time.  This didn't happen--we caught around 8 birds in 2.5 - 3 hours, but that's how science is: unpredictable.  The weather anchor for WRAL, Elizabeth Gardener, likes to do the noon weather report by the Museum of Natural Sciences, where my mentor John Gerwin works.  So, she came to do the noon report at Prairie Ridge and interviewed John about bird banding.  It was really cool!  She's very nice, and I'm pretty sure she smiled the entire hour she was there.

The birds that were caught were: Common Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird, European Starling (all were babies/juveniles), Carolina Chickadee, House Wren.  The last two bird species were target species for this project called Neighborhood Nestwatch.  It's a project that the Smithsonian Museum is doing in eight different cities around the US, and Raleigh is one of them.  Different groups go around bird banding in people's yards (with their permission, of course) and putting easily identifiable color bands on the target species.  So it was nice to get the House Wren and a few chickadees.

After bird banding, my sister and I went home and cared for our poor dog, Gus, who got into a fight yesterday with another of our sweet dogs Wall-E.  I ate dinner with my friend and her family.  Great first day to my gap year, save that two of my dogs are recovering from a fight.

The bird banding table (it's always like this :)

Vanessa holding a Common Grackle

John Gerwin holding a Carolina Chickadee.  You can see the color bands on it's feet, and the tail feather shape.

Vanessa removing a Brown-headed Cowbird from a net

A toad!