Today started with checking the mammal traps - 17 animals this morning, including hamsters, gerbils and jerboas, which are like little kangaroos that have long tails that they use for balancing and big hind feet with fluffy toes. They're very cute and incredibly fast when they get going, bouncing along so fast you can't keep track of them. I kept trying to get a picture, but it's very hard to catch them before they zoom off!
 |
| Hamster |
 |
| Gerbil |
 |
| Jerboa |
After breakfast it was Vultures with Jerry and Uka. The Toyota was adorned with a dead vulture they had picked up earlier to find out what killed it (I think). Anyway, it was tied on the top of the car all day and was a bit ripe by the time we got home...
We went round visiting nests and found 4 with birds in residence and several inactive. I got some great pictures of the parent birds and of the chicks in three of them - actually the chicks are about the size of turkeys!
We also saw kestrels and got some great views of black kites.
 |
| Black Kites |
 |
| Black Kites again |
 |
| Flying Kite |
 |
| Kestrel |
 |
| Kestrel |
Jerry and Uka walked part of the way back while the driver and I went to wait for them at an old mine where there were lots of bits of amethyst.
We got back quite late so the shower and washing never happened, because Bernie, Susan and I went out with Remu to set the mammal traps soon after. The sky was clouding over and we felt the first spots of rain, so we dashed round the traps and jumped back in the car. On the way back, a dust storm caught up with us - we could just about see out, and the wind was carrying the sand along like brown spindrift - it forms those little ridges behind clumps of grass, just like you see in the Scottish hills when there's a strong wind in a snowstorm. Someone from Mad Dog Gers was out in it on foot, we could just see him through the dust. It blew over eventually, and we got back to find that Ciera and Chelsea had been provided with free exfoliation after their showers as it passed through the camp!
It was damp and cold so they lit the stove in the dining ger and Roger gave a presentation about bats after dinner. We used the mini tripod to take pictures of the whole team together in our ger.
No comments:
Post a Comment