As we enter into a new decade, I feel it is only appropriate to nod my head at the accomplishments of 2019. I ended the year with five papers in the peer-review process resulting in one publication and three acceptances for publication. I'm still working to resubmit the fifth one. I also started work on a NSF Rules of Life Project with the Aeroecology Group at OU.
I took part of February and March off to take a vacation on the Osa Peninsula of Costa Rica. It was fabulous and I highly recommend it!
See...don't I look relaxed??
I was back to fieldwork in early May to Wilmington, NC where I am working on an American Oystercatcher movement project with my good friend Lindsay Addison (North Carolina Audubon).
Lindsay Addison holding one of our project AMOY.
In June, I went to San Diego to work on a Black Skimmer juvenile survival project I started in 2012. This is A5 banded in 2015 and resighted in 2016 in Long Beach,California.
In July, I was back to Long Island to deploy more GPS trackers on the Black Skimmer population at Nickerson Beach Park in Point Lookout. It is always great to work with the Town of Hempstead crew! We have gotten a great number of resights on our birds thanks to wonderful volunteers in North Carolina and Florida.
In August,I returned to Long Island to help with the chick rodeo. We banded 157 skimmer chicks in 2.25 hours (again thanks to all of the 32 volunteers who helped out).
The ever famous rock of Hempstead. John Zardrusky has been working for ToH since before I was born!
Thank you wonderful volunteers for all of your help with chick roundup!
B36, one of 156 chicks banded in August. We are pretty sure it is a male based on it's mass and wingchord at 22 days!
(me) Enjoying the early morning sun in the dunes before heading out to the colony.
Tara Schneider-Moran, another amazing person that I have the pleasure to work with at ToH.
September through December whizzed by as I got busy writing up my Gull-billed Tern migration results and various other papers. I spent my evenings with my boys.
Finally, Tomasz and I celebrated the end of the year going to a 1920s party. Blurry but fun! Don't worry we UBERed home!
