Two calls, one from, the other to, Europe

This morning (after all the excitement with the armed robber, who apparently is still on the loose...), I had a phone interview for a field position in Switzerland. It would be for the spring, mostly unpaid (though accommodation would be provided), and consist of many long hours researching Great Tits. He said he would let me know of his decision by the end of the week. However, I made up my own decision based on the call Seth received immediately after I hung up the phone.

Seth was called by Harvard to inform him that he won the prestigious one year fellowship to study at the Villa I Tatti in Florence next year. This would mean he could do his own research, with the advantage of being surrounded by brilliant resources, and free from the distractions of teaching and administration, for a full academic year. (This would also mean I will need to put some long hours into learning Italian). The representative told him that his application was so wonderfully well received that there was no discussion about whether or not to take him; only 15 people internationally are accepted each year, and this includes ALL humanities that have anything to do with the Renaissance--art, music, literature, history, etc. I'm so proud of my Smarty Pants! :o)

What a rush...

Adventure on the Hill

Ok, so I think I jinxed myself when I wrote about how wonderful it is to run in the snow--yesterday we set a record high at 58 degrees, AND it poured heavy, warm rain all day long. Needless to say, most of the snow is now gone, leaving in its place lots of slush and flooded, swampy bits.

During this wet and wild run, we kept getting distracted by a helicopter circling Prospect Hill. Perhaps it was surveying the storm damage from yesterday, or checking out the traffic along I95 which runs along the eastern side of the park. Seth was getting a bit nervous of this helicopter and wanted to leave the park. We stopped for a moment to take a good look at it while it was overhead, and besides being blue and white there were no other distinguishing characteristics about it. I figured that if there were something wrong, someone would let us know (there are megaphones in those helicopters, right?).

We noticed a pair of dog walkers pull up at the main entrance, which made me feel better, so I said we ought to finish up our last loop (up until then we hadn't seen a single person, maybe because the trails were so wet and nasty?). As we headed back, the dog walkers shouted to call us over. Turns out they were walking a large German Shepherd, wearing bullet proof vests and carrying a super-sized rifle. The police officers said there was an armed home invasion last night on Jacqueline Road, and the suspect, a "large black male" with a gun, was last seen near the old ski slopes on the north side of the park. It is safe to say that that put an end to our run in Prospect Hill this morning. Pretty freaky.

The story in the Daily News Tribune

The article

Here is a link to Clutch variation and egg rejection in three hosts of the pallid cuckoo, Cuculus pallidus

Winter wildlife

The blanket of snow up on Prospect Hill has allowed for really excellent running. In fact, I have been able to run almost every day since returning to Waltham a couple weeks ago. Each day, however, is incredibly unpredictable--the slightest shift in temperature/precipitation/pedestrian activity drastically changes the running conditions, so we never know what to expect.

The best thing is that the snow greatly reduces impact, so my shins have not felt a single tinge of pressure or pain. Also, since I have not had to go to the gym, I have been able to save lots of time AND my knees are also spared (I think the repetitive motion of the Elliptical aggravates my knees a little). As the icing on the cake, the snow is dazzling! Sometimes if it sleets a little then snows, the next morning the low purple/peach sunlight will make the ice and snow glisten and sparkle off the branches of the trees.

The hard part about trudging in snow is that it wipes you out--not only is it very slow going, is often frustrating, and does some damage to your shoes, but when footprints make the path choppy and uneven, it then also takes its toll on ankles, hips, and sometimes your back. Overall, however, the snow is really something to be glad for!

Yesterday when Seth was out by one of the lookouts on Prospect Hill he said he saw some big, extremely fluffy gray cat. It was making some strange sounds as it ran off. When we looked up some images last night he said it looked just like a bobcat or a lynx--I don't thing lynx live so far south as MA, but bobcats have been expanding their range throughout the state in the past couple years. I wish I could have seen that!!!



This is like the bobcat Seth said he saw. Definitely not my picture. ODNR.

I did, however, see my own amazing creature last month--an eastern screech owl (rufous morph). The red owls are uncommon but apparently have been increasing in numbers because of global warming... Anyways, I had a great long look at the little guy (he was perched only a few meters away), and in daylight. In real life, he was even more amazing as the one here:

Eastern screech owl (red), like the one down the road. Wish it were my picture! SDB.



However, the most spectacular critter has got to be our own little Western Pigmy Possum, identified by the card sent from some friends in Australia (Stephen and Kim). This picture was actually very hard to take because every time I tried to take one the camera's focus would make a beep sound and it would scare the dickens out of him--he would zip into his box, not to be seen for a long time after. He must think the sound was a predator or some alarm call... poor guy :o( (I eventually had to focus the camera in a different room so he couldn't hear it).

How Shameful, Massachusetts!

>:o

Clutch variation and egg rejection in three hosts of the pallid cuckoo, Cuculus pallidus

We arrived back in Waltham Wednesday night and waiting for me in my emails was the PDF for my paper! It was accepted in July 2009 and will (I think) be printed in the February issue of the journal Behaviour. Better late than never!

I will try to figure out a way to post a link to it...

Landstrom, M. T., Heinsohn, R., & Langmore, N. E. 2010. Clutch variation and egg rejection in three hosts of the pallid cuckoo, Cuculus pallidus. Behaviour 147, 19–36.

Snowing and blowing

The past couple days here in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York have been really cold. I shouldn't complain, it could be Minnesota, where Andrew and Jen live, as well as Monica Gray and Seth's grandparents. But for me, it's cold. It has been a consistent 9 to 11 degrees for the past 36 hours or so, which isn't that bad, except it is magnified by powerful 20mph winds. The wind is so strong (it just sweeps across the fields, only rarely buffered by the occasional stand of trees), that it blows away whatever precipitation falls. It supposedly snows but it is so fine and dry that it hardly seems to build up, it just 'blows away'...

The wind sweeps the powdery dry snow across the fields and over the roads

The neighboring town of Gorham


Tests of Manliness:

1: Chopping wood and hauling it in

2: Cleaning up after yourself (Spunky, the neck warmer, is helping out)

3: Running in this weather (Seth is equipped with ski goggles and a big fluffy face mask). This is my limit--I am definitely inside with my tea and oatmeal :o)