The List: a Peek Inside my Head

The 50-foot BNC to BNC video cables have been ordered. The four-marine-battery purchase has been approved by my advisor. Video data has been downloaded. Data entered for the day. Data backed up for the day. Equipment organized. Updates sent. Field clothes doused in permethrin. Schedule updated. Scholarship? Applied for.

Grad school is a big fat to-do list. Just when you think you've crossed everything off the list, and after you've jumped up and down clapping like an idiot and praising yourself like a moron, you realize you have a bunch of other shit to do.

It's June. You know the way the Papua New Guinea Pavilion at the zoo smells? That's what it smells like now in the bottomland forests of Arkansas. It's hot. It's damp. The air hums with insect noise. The stinging nettle is up to our waists. The ticks are everywhere.

In the beginning I was afraid we wouldn't find enough nests. We've actually reached a point where we have so many nests that we can't do anything else except check them. We need to do veg surveys. We need to band birds. We need to focus on the other sites. We need the rodents to STOP chewing up our video cables. I need to praise my amazing, hardworking friends. Check.

Current Status of my Head... or Six Cowbird Eggs in a White-eyed Vireo Nest?