Garret's Recap - Week 4

The first round of bird surveys is done! This has been a long week, since Alyssa and I have start bird surveys at around 7am each morning. Thus, our work days are long and tiring, but progress is being made! We’ve completed one bird survey for each 100 meter transect, walking along the transect and recording every bird we spot within 40 meters of the transect. We’ve also completed a significant portion of our invertebrate surveys using pitfall traps. Our first vegetation survey took us much too long to complete, but after some modifications to our methods, we should be able to complete them in a timelier manner. Research never really seems to work like we plan it to, but we’re taking it in stride.

This past week really has helped me think more about time, regarding working effectively. It seems like our group has used so much time trying to follow our methods faithfully just for us to realize we aren’t finishing as much as we should be. At some point, this caused us to re-assess how much time we were allocating to certain tasks and discuss what we needed to change in order to make significant progress. This helped me realize that just because our methods are already outlined, doesn’t mean we can’t return to them and make the necessary changes as long as we are honest about those changes.

I am also excited to see what we can teach the new high school interns that are coming up this week. It is very fun to be able to pass on my natural resources information to a younger audience, especially if it helps them know what they’d like to do with their professional careers.