This is the next facet I did not explore with my dissertation, so I’m all the more excited to get started thinking about these questions and expand my perspective. Wetland modelling in the study regions allows us to think about several aspects of the landscape, such as presence/absence and number of wetlands based on certain […]

Unfortunately, there’s no great equivalent to Mike’s site (yet…) for my new home state. So, I’m using Douglas Co. as a proxy of what I might see right across the border. This week’s peak butterfly is eufala skipper, though it’s very rare. I don’t really expect to find it, but good to be on the lookout.

That’s an abridged title of my new project, which is an NSF Macrosystems (Heffernan et al. 2014) grant. I saw the job posting for this project on Ornithology Exchange, which is how it caught my eye. There is a project goal similar to what I have done for my dissertation, and I look forward to […]

Today is my first day at the Natural Resources Research Institute (NRRI) so here’s a shiny new CV to reflect it. It was typical first day stuff; I met a lot of people, filled out paperwork and got my new office. I don’t have my desktop computer yet so I’m waiting on that. I’m mostly catching […]

At the entrance to the garage are royalty crabapples. My balcony overlooks a row of planted white spruce, and the closest deciduous tree is a silver maple. There are fairy rings of mushrooms growing in the lawn below. The lawn is likely a blend of Kentucky bluegrass/fescue/rye. Out in front of the building, there are radiant or red splendor crabapples (possibly both).

I’ll need to use my vacation days wisely, but if I do look for a change of scenery in the winter, it looks like Badlands may be the closest road trip.

Of course, this is preeminent on my mind! I’m happy to finally live within the land of yellow rails, and I’ll be trying hard to listen on dark nights come spring 2017! Then, a venture to the western edge of the state will hopefully bring chestnut-collared longspurs, Sprague’s pipit and Baird’s sparrow.

Today, I signed a lease in my new home state! I have an apartment, but still need to get some basic furnishings, etc. before it starts to feel like home. I’m really lucky to live in a great part of town with lots of good birding opportunities.

Today we head west to Wall, SD. We’re a little late for most breeding birds, but we’ll hold out hope to catch migrants. If we did this earlier (as originally planned), we may have had a better chance of running into black-headed grosbeak along the way.

Finally, I’m taking the time to do what I should have done long ago: actually see the places I studied! This is Day 3 of our adventuring, and we crossed over into the Prairie Potholes. We’re staying in Watertown, SD tonight.