Holy Batblog Batgirl!: rolling dung to the sound of hideous frogs

Monday, July 17, 2006

rolling dung to the sound of hideous frogs

Day 7, Monday, July 17 No netting tonight, I go to retrieve the nets from last night, and get poured on. I stand under a tree, which doesn’t keep me dry but is surprisingly effective. Sharon, the dung beetle researcher, with help from Myles a herp volunteer, are rolling little dung balls to bait Sharon’s pitfall traps. I will see these dung rolls at each camp, but here, the dung is fresh, collected by one of the guides who has a horse that can supply endless fresh dung. I have gotten used to the cold shower at El Paraiso. My routine is to shower after a night of bat netting. I return late, but am always hot, sweating, and happy for a cold shower. There are frogs somewhere in the village that have an obnoxious call that goes on all night. The sound is hideous.

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Welcome

i have always loved wildlife. most significantly, i remember a family vacation at age 7. driving through oregon, the beauty of crater lake made an incredible impression on me. and at the gift store, my parents bought me a golden guide to mammals. afterward, it seems i had that guide with me wherever i went. i dreamed about making plaster casts of mammal tracks like the ones shown on the first couple pages. i wanted to know everything about wildlife.

twenty years later i got a job as a wildlife biologist for the arizona game and fish department. i've been privileged to work on a variety of projects including black-footed ferret reintroduction, mount graham red squirrel monitoring, habitat evaluation and planning, black-tailed prairie dog reintroduction, and bat conservation and management. in my current position, i focus on bat conservation full time. i love my job, it provides a daily connection with that obsessive enthusiasm i felt at the age of 7.