Welcome to my blog. This is a place to keep family, friends, and colleagues up to date on how my project is coming along.I've completed two field seasons studying the bird community that uses high Andean peat bogs (4,000 m -5,000 m) found in central and southern Peru.
I had a pilot season in June and July of 2007 which was cut short due to a little hiccup in Pisco. If you find yourself using public transportation in Peru, make sure the taxis are really taxis. Otherwise, you might find yourself tied up barefoot in a field relinquished of all your heavy field gear. With help from a foundation, I replaced all the gear and was back in the field by February.
The second field season was a great success with loads of data, specimens, a few recordings, and photography. I've been processing data, finishing up course work, and looking forward to getting back to the bogs to get the last set of data for my dissertation. So now you're all caught up.
The photos are Andean Goose (Chloephaga andina), Gray-breasted Seedsnipe (Thinocorus orbygnianus), and White-bellied Cinclodes (Cinclodes palliatus).
It's looking good for some support through a grant to continue LSU's exploration of Peru. Hopefully, everyone can find a schedule that works.
Here's the plan:
January 20 - Fly to Lima, Peru
I found out today that Continental has a Saver classification for redeeming frequent flyer miles. It's HALF the miles if you fly on a Saver date. So with my current miles, I can travel to Peru twice rather than once. That's great news as it is an $800 flight and always a good chunk of the budget.
January 23 - Feb 3 Get to Tacna or Puno and buy a Toyota Hiace fourth generation (1989-2004) four-wheel drive van. We'll set it up to be the ultimate expedition vehicle: giant luggage rack which can double as a tent platform, ladder, tuned to 3,000 m elevation, ...maybe even some official looking graphic to raise eyebrows with federales. The photo below is a Hiace gen 4 set up as a shared taxi.
Feb 4 - Once the van is all systems go, an expedition team will visit all study sites, add grassland contrast transects, and scout new target areas determined from environmental modeling.April 20 - Return to Baton Rouge to prepare for generals and process data.
Next steps: renew my passport and find two or three qualified technicians willing to work for experience and suffering.
Addendum: I had a question about the plants in the photos. The peat bogs have indicator species such as Distichia muscoides and Oxychloe andina. These are the cushion bog plants that make up the bulk of the peat and define the habitat. There are all sorts of other small flowering plants and Ichu grasses as well. I'll blog on these plants another day.
3 comments:
Good luck!
Would you please identify the birds and the bog plants in your photos (by common and scientific names) for your readers?
OK, I'll edit the entry with a few sentences about the photos.
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