Hello all,
As I recently posted, my former advisor, Wayne Trivelpiece and his family recently lost their house and most of their belongings in the Witch Fire in southern California. A website has been set up with information on how to help the family. If you can, please consider helping the Trivelpieces get back on their feet. Sue Trivelpiece had already returned to their study site on King George Island in Antarctica but she hitched a ride on an early tour ship and will be returning to California soon to be with Wayne and their two girls.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Paper Trout
I found this site on a recent post from Dr. Hypercube. Check it out. The site provides patterns to make paper trout. I haven't made one yet but I hope to soon.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Now the Destruction Post
I just found out this morning that my former advisor who lives just outside of Ramona, CA has lost his house in the Witch Fire. He was able to get his kids and dog out but lost the house. His wife had already deployed to their research site on King George Island and is trying to get back. I can't imagine. They had a beautiful place in a small canyon.
I also found out that some friends that I met while leading them on my first trip into Torres Del Paine have evacuated from their Lake Arrowhead home. They are ok and they believe that their house is still there but they weren't sure.
I also found out that some friends that I met while leading them on my first trip into Torres Del Paine have evacuated from their Lake Arrowhead home. They are ok and they believe that their house is still there but they weren't sure.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Richie Skane
My first season in Antarctica was the winter of 1994. I worked as a General Assistant with Bob Farrell (now the station manager) and we spent a lot of time shoveling snow but we also did a lot of carpenter helper type work as we rebuilt portions of the station. I was very privileged to work for Richard "Richie" Skane and I also spending a few memorable days with him in Colorado. Richie was my boss and probably one of the best bosses I have ever had. On top of that he was an all around good, fun, fair person - one of those people that everyone enjoyed being around. I can still picture his smile emerging from his bearded face below his round glasses, with a pillbox hat on his curly head. His eyes always had a smile too.
Later, when I worked at Palmer in the science program, Richie was again working in the carpenter shop. At the end of one particularly stressful and advisor-beaten season when I felt the lowest I have ever felt in my life, Richie was the one who approached me as I was getting on the ship to leave and told me "you will be alright John". It made a tremendous difference to my self-esteem to hear that from someone I really respected and I will always remember his kind words.
He passed away in February of 2003 of stomach cancer.
Photo by Glenn Grant
Last year Glenn Grant and a group of people who knew and loved Richie made a proposal to have an Antarctic feature named for him. You can read the whole story here. Originally the proposal was to name a small island recently exposed at the face of a glacier near Palmer Station after Richie. However, after further consideration, a nunatak near Cape Monaco was proposed. I found out that the USGS approved the application this August, the details are listed below:
Antarctica Feature Detail
Antartica ID: 18944
Feature Name: Skane Nunatak
Class: Summit
Latitude: 644302S Longitude: 0641636W
Description: A distinctive nunatak rising to 130 meters 0.4 mile E of Cape Monaco, Anvers Island, in the Palmer Archipelago. Named by US-ACAN (2007) after Richard J. Skane, carpenter foreman in support of the U.S. Antarctic Program at McMurdo Station for four field seasons from 1979; at Palmer Station for 10 field seasons including two winters, 1986-96. Elevation ( ft/m ): 427 / 130
Decision Year: 17-JUL-07
Date Entered: 14-AUG-07
I hope I get near Cape Monaco this year to see Skane Nunatak and say hello to an old friend.
Later, when I worked at Palmer in the science program, Richie was again working in the carpenter shop. At the end of one particularly stressful and advisor-beaten season when I felt the lowest I have ever felt in my life, Richie was the one who approached me as I was getting on the ship to leave and told me "you will be alright John". It made a tremendous difference to my self-esteem to hear that from someone I really respected and I will always remember his kind words.
He passed away in February of 2003 of stomach cancer.
Photo by Glenn Grant
Last year Glenn Grant and a group of people who knew and loved Richie made a proposal to have an Antarctic feature named for him. You can read the whole story here. Originally the proposal was to name a small island recently exposed at the face of a glacier near Palmer Station after Richie. However, after further consideration, a nunatak near Cape Monaco was proposed. I found out that the USGS approved the application this August, the details are listed below:
Antarctica Feature Detail
Antartica ID: 18944
Feature Name: Skane Nunatak
Class: Summit
Latitude: 644302S Longitude: 0641636W
Description: A distinctive nunatak rising to 130 meters 0.4 mile E of Cape Monaco, Anvers Island, in the Palmer Archipelago. Named by US-ACAN (2007) after Richard J. Skane, carpenter foreman in support of the U.S. Antarctic Program at McMurdo Station for four field seasons from 1979; at Palmer Station for 10 field seasons including two winters, 1986-96. Elevation ( ft/m ): 427 / 130
Decision Year: 17-JUL-07
Date Entered: 14-AUG-07
I hope I get near Cape Monaco this year to see Skane Nunatak and say hello to an old friend.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Learning bird identification
My inquiry for help on Chilean bird identification got me thinking about how I am learning birds in Chile versus how I learned to ID birds in Montana (and perhaps try to explain what should have been a pretty easy ID!).
Although my experience birding in the United States certainly helped me as I continue to learn the birds of Chile, much of my experience learning to ID birds in Chile has been without the benefit of birding with a birder skilled in the Chilean avifauna. There have been times when I have been able to bird with other North American birders, which really helped, and once with a Chilean birder but we were busy with non-birding guests and it was late in the season. In addition, most of my time in Chile was on my way to or from Antarctica which meant I was birding either really early in the season or late in the season when I could snag a quick trip out of town or when I was traveling with non-birding friends for a few days. On top of these limitations, the only field guide I had was the Guia de Campo de las Aves de Chile by Braulio Araya and Guillermo Millie (entirely in Spanish) with mostly black and white line drawings and no range maps. I did learned a fair number of Spanish words related to colors and body parts! When Alvaro Jaramillo produced the Birds of Chile field guide, my ability to ID a number of Chilean birds increased dramatically. If you can only carry one book for Chile, Antarctica, South Georgia and the Falklands this is by far the best book you can get.
My Chilean experience is in direct contrast to my experience learning birds in North America where I had a number of good field guides to use, I started young and had my Dad to teach me, I often birded with other very good birders (and still do), and I can bird during the peak birding times of the season and better yet, all year.
I knew this one was a Bar-winged Cinclodes!
It shows. In Chile, I struggle with what should be fairly straightforward identification because I don't have the benefit of an experienced mentor and I often don't have the time to really spend studying the birds I have questions about because I am leading a group of non-birding guests. I would like to thank Alvaro for taking the time to answer my email concerning an ID that is probably pretty straightforward for him (and hopefully will be a bit easier for me when I finally do get to see a miner in Chile).
All of this really points out to me the benefit of birding with other skilled birders in learning bird identification. I am still a beginning birder in Chile. I keep working at it and asking questions and hopefully one of these days I will feel more confident of my birding skills when dealing with some Chilean birds. I guess it helps reinforce my belief that one of the best ways to get better is to bird with other good birders no matter what your current skill level is.
Although my experience birding in the United States certainly helped me as I continue to learn the birds of Chile, much of my experience learning to ID birds in Chile has been without the benefit of birding with a birder skilled in the Chilean avifauna. There have been times when I have been able to bird with other North American birders, which really helped, and once with a Chilean birder but we were busy with non-birding guests and it was late in the season. In addition, most of my time in Chile was on my way to or from Antarctica which meant I was birding either really early in the season or late in the season when I could snag a quick trip out of town or when I was traveling with non-birding friends for a few days. On top of these limitations, the only field guide I had was the Guia de Campo de las Aves de Chile by Braulio Araya and Guillermo Millie (entirely in Spanish) with mostly black and white line drawings and no range maps. I did learned a fair number of Spanish words related to colors and body parts! When Alvaro Jaramillo produced the Birds of Chile field guide, my ability to ID a number of Chilean birds increased dramatically. If you can only carry one book for Chile, Antarctica, South Georgia and the Falklands this is by far the best book you can get.
My Chilean experience is in direct contrast to my experience learning birds in North America where I had a number of good field guides to use, I started young and had my Dad to teach me, I often birded with other very good birders (and still do), and I can bird during the peak birding times of the season and better yet, all year.
I knew this one was a Bar-winged Cinclodes!It shows. In Chile, I struggle with what should be fairly straightforward identification because I don't have the benefit of an experienced mentor and I often don't have the time to really spend studying the birds I have questions about because I am leading a group of non-birding guests. I would like to thank Alvaro for taking the time to answer my email concerning an ID that is probably pretty straightforward for him (and hopefully will be a bit easier for me when I finally do get to see a miner in Chile).
All of this really points out to me the benefit of birding with other skilled birders in learning bird identification. I am still a beginning birder in Chile. I keep working at it and asking questions and hopefully one of these days I will feel more confident of my birding skills when dealing with some Chilean birds. I guess it helps reinforce my belief that one of the best ways to get better is to bird with other good birders no matter what your current skill level is.
Miner ID question
I was going through my photos from my last trip to Torres Del Paine National Park, Chile in January this year and remembered these photos of what I believe is a miner but I can't figure out what species. Anyone out there familiar with Chilean miners? I guess that this could be a cinclodes but it didn't seem quite right at the time.
These photos were taken at the Sarmiento entrance to Torres on January 17, 2007. (click on the photos to enlarge).
(added at 20:07 - Alvaro Jaramillo, author of The Birds of Chile, let me know that it is in fact a Bar-winged Cinclodes, the longer tail of the cinclodes is a good field mark). Still learning!
These photos were taken at the Sarmiento entrance to Torres on January 17, 2007. (click on the photos to enlarge).
(added at 20:07 - Alvaro Jaramillo, author of The Birds of Chile, let me know that it is in fact a Bar-winged Cinclodes, the longer tail of the cinclodes is a good field mark). Still learning!
Home again, Home again,..
I finally back home after four days of meetings last week. The first three days were planning meetings. Oh joy. I am in the middle of a major planning effort for the management of most of the public land from the Canadian border to the Missouri River and the Continental Divide to the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in north-central Montana. It is important work but tedious none the less. My last meeting on Friday was much more interesting. It was the Montana Bird Records Committee meeting. I really enjoy these meetings, not only for the subject matter but also for the people involved. It is one of the few times during the year when I can get together with this group of people I really enjoy and respect.
We had a good meeting, reviewing new submissions and old records. A few of us have recently started to go through the archives of some of Montana's pioneer ornithologists and there were a few discussion on the status of species including Montana's only Ivory Gull record and the breeding status of Bohemian Waxwings in Montana (a few records around the breeding season, but nothing that would really suggest this species breeds in Montana).
We had a good meeting, reviewing new submissions and old records. A few of us have recently started to go through the archives of some of Montana's pioneer ornithologists and there were a few discussion on the status of species including Montana's only Ivory Gull record and the breeding status of Bohemian Waxwings in Montana (a few records around the breeding season, but nothing that would really suggest this species breeds in Montana).
I will have more news concerning Montana birds and an exciting project I am involved in soon!
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