It got down to 29F one night, and in the morning the truck windshield was frozen (I had an urge to break out my credit card and start scraping, but the heater and wipers did the trick), the puddle of water on the tarp had a skin of ice, and the whole slope of chocolate black sand was dusted in powdered sugary frost. beautiful, and cold as hell. of course the palila were as chipper and bouncy as ever, excited for their foodpans and flowers.
I'm heading up again for 9 days tomorrow and I sure hope it's stopped raining up there. The last session was a dreary routine: wake up to fog, notice some clearing as we headed up the mountain, see the clouds rolling in as we fed the birds, be enclosed in roiling mists by 10:00, and break out the rain gear by 11. Head back to camp where the rest of the afternoon and evening would be punctuated by the sound of hard rain on the corrugated metal roof of the drafty cabin, eat a hot meal and retire to the sleeping bag by 19:00. Then waking up again to the same day all over again. I'm just going to say that I'm secretly hoping for a sunburn this next session.
Because of the nasty weather, the release was postponed a couple days, which meant I was not present for the birds' first foray into the wilds of the mamane forest on the north side of Mauna Kea. And true to my desire to keep work as separate as possible, I haven't sought a bulletin. But after 3 days of rain in Volcano, I'm raring to go track those transmittered birds.
I'm heading up again for 9 days tomorrow and I sure hope it's stopped raining up there. The last session was a dreary routine: wake up to fog, notice some clearing as we headed up the mountain, see the clouds rolling in as we fed the birds, be enclosed in roiling mists by 10:00, and break out the rain gear by 11. Head back to camp where the rest of the afternoon and evening would be punctuated by the sound of hard rain on the corrugated metal roof of the drafty cabin, eat a hot meal and retire to the sleeping bag by 19:00. Then waking up again to the same day all over again. I'm just going to say that I'm secretly hoping for a sunburn this next session.
Because of the nasty weather, the release was postponed a couple days, which meant I was not present for the birds' first foray into the wilds of the mamane forest on the north side of Mauna Kea. And true to my desire to keep work as separate as possible, I haven't sought a bulletin. But after 3 days of rain in Volcano, I'm raring to go track those transmittered birds.