Saturday, January 31, 2015
Beauty of Mpala, Majesty of Nature
Monday, January 19, 2015
Python Spirit Guide
Thursday, January 15, 2015
Baboons in branches: a networked approach to how monkeys decide to turn down for the night
Sunday, January 4, 2015
Field Computational Ecology 2015 edition
The pilot version of the Field Computational Ecology course was in 2010 (read about it in earlier posts), funded by the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University and the College of Engineering at the University of Illinois through the generosity of a private donation by Bill Unger. The first full version of the course in 2012 was supported by a grant from the US National Science Foundation. This year's course is supported separately by each department.
Friday, January 10, 2014
Mpala, the Saga Continues
Monday, January 6, 2014
Mpala, the Sequel
[Tanya] Mpala magic
More Mpala
- Rock Mouse
- Grass Rat
- Ochre Bush Squirrel
- Unstriped Ground Squirrel
- Scrub hare
- Bats
- Black-backed Jackal
- Hippopotamus
- Giraffe
- Grant's Gazelle
- Thomson's Gazelle
- Impala
- Hartebeest
- Dikdik
- Greater Kudu
- Oryx
- Plains Zebra
- Grevy's Zebra
- Bush Hyrax
- Elephant
- Olive Baboon
- Vervet Monkey
- Red-headed rock agama
- Striped skink
- Ostrich
- Vulturine Guineafowl
- Yellow-necked Spurfowl
- Crested Francolin
- Egyptian Goose
- Black-headed heron
- Black-Shouldered kite
- Blacksmith Lapwing
- White-bellied Go-away Bird
- Lilac-breasted Roller
- Von der Decken's Hornbill
- Fischer's Sparrow-Lark
- Common bulbul
- Superb Starling
- Greater Blue-eared Starling
- Spotted Palm Thrush
- Scarlet-chested Sunbird
- Eastern Violet-backed Sunbird
- Marico sunbird
- White-browed Sparrow-Weaver
[Eva] Counting dik-dik
There is a starling staring at me as I write. Its habits are sort of adorable. I wonder what the tags on its legs are for? (I’ll be back)…(I’m back!) My mother said that they are probably just for research, nothing interesting. :P
According to this National Geographic book on mammals, apparently there are 19 orders of mammal species. However, the book says that there are “thousands of species of mammals,” which is not very specific.
I feel as if my father will write a play-by-play, amusing description of what we did today, so I am free to write what I like really. I am going to write until the end of the page, and then I will stop.
I learnt some Swahili words from our driver, Jackson, so I can sort of talk to some of the people here (not really, but that’s what I like to think). I like the way Swahili words sound and feel in my mouth, however strange that sounds.
It’s really dusty and sunny here, so I always feel dry and dusty, but also sticky from the sunscreen, which kind of sucks. I am at the end of my page now, so Over and Out!
Saturday, January 4, 2014
[Mosheh] Doctor’s Blog, Mpala date 1-3-14.
Doctor’s Blog, Mpala date 1-3-14.
We began our journey to the Mpala Research Station on the first day of 2014, in the midst of winter snow. As expected, there were delays. However, it turned out that the delays had to do with difficulty in loading a cargo bin, not with the snow, which had tapered off, and was expected to resume the next day. The airline gave up on the cargo, de-iced the plane, and we were off. Not yet to Mpala, mind you, but to the transit port of Amsterdam. Despite our delay, we arrived in time for our Kenya-bound aircraft, which, luckily for us, but not for other passengers, was also delayed an hour or so. We even had to wait at the terminal for a while. Worried because of our previous delay, Tanya asked a young gentleman who worked for the airlines (KLM) if he could check whether our luggage had made it to the Nairobi-bound flight. This young gentleman came back, and, with a totally straight face, informed Tanya that our luggage never left Chicago. He managed to keep that straight face for about three minutes. He totally got us. After about an hour in the terminal, we boarded our flight, and we were off. 71/2 hours later, we landed in Nairobi, and emerged to a nice warm evening. After going through passport control, and waiting an hour for our luggage, we were taken to our hotel for the evening. The hotel was, as Tanya, using her newly-acquired set of Britishisms, “Very Posh”.
- Herd of giraffes (nothing really can compare to a heard of giraffes on the run)
- Zebras (Grevys and plains)
- Elephant
- Hippos,
- Dik-diks
- Impalas
- Grant’s gazelles
- Wildebeast
- Dik-diks
- A troop of baboons
- Jackal
- Secretary bird
- Did I mention Dik-diks?
- Bustard
- Egyptian geese
- Ibis
- Herons
- Cranes
- Some more dik-diks
- Guineafowl
- Hornbills
- Vervet monkey
- And, of course, dik-diks…