Teh Birdhouse

Fri
5/6/11
I swear there was another one. Went out for Cinco de Drinko yesterday. We went to a Mexican Restaurant called El Ranchito. I had left my ID in my jacket, so I had to order a water, drink it, and pour myself some margarita from the pitcher. I got a huge burrito mojado. Leftovers made good breakfast.

I'm getting the hang of aging birds. Mold sequence still does not roll off the tongue. The Tanager felt like a present for my patience. Fuckin had to move all the nets today on account of the poor capture rate at our old site. Just for the record, there are usually 2 loops of 5 net lanes, each net is 3m by 12m. Moved up the road a bit. It's a fun drive to get there. The old location had tall trees spaced far apart. The birds were probably in the treetops and not flying low enough to be caught i our nets. The new lanes are in dense, dry vegetation. Very thorny and sharp. And lots of poison ivy. My first encounter with it. As we mentioned today "Leaves of 3, let it be. Leaves of 4, eat some more!" And ticks! Errr. Ticks. I've been well defended, but it got hot and before I knew it I was macheting thorns, trees, and grass in a tshirt in what I tried not to imagine as a constant waterfall of ticks. Great fun though, setting nets up. I like the smell of the rope.

Played catch with sam, which I assume is short for samantha or something. I brought my mitt to Indiana in good faith that I would use it sure enough it came through! She's got quite an arm.

5/8/11
Yesterday we got rained out of birds early, so we spent the rest of the day doing whatever. I read a bit more of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, had a few beers and a smoke. Made fish tacos with yummy guac. Mel was my cooking partner. Closed out the night with some music and Kings cup. Nothing serious (except for Victor), but it was a good bonding experience.

Early up as usual the next day. Victor didn't feel so well. As you can see, the nets rang off the hook! We caught 11 different species of warbler and 4 spp. of Catharsus thrushes. James said it was due to thunderstorms last night. Migrating birds who would normally cruise over had to hunker down for the night. Good day. Lots of practice, and lots of practice to come. Two ticks today. Tweezered out and chopped in half.

sam is making a bat from a fallen branch. Its looking really good. The barrel is neat, the handle is coming along well. There are carpenter bees all around the house. They're going at each other persistently. They'll challenge one another and force the loser into the grass and the winner of the confrontation will hover there and say "You dont want to get up, pikey" Had a lecture on bird injuries and euthanasia. Heavy stuff. We learned how to amputate a leg. Holy crap dude.

Paco. He's our parrot. Haven't gotten him to say Pacos Tacos yet, but i have all smmer to befriend him. This is going to be a good summer. As long as I dont have to pop a bird spinal cord (to euthanize it) There I go again with the bad notes.