Lake Taupo

Today I went swimming in Lake Taupo, which was fun. The lake is actually the caldera of a volcano, It was formed 1800 years ago when the volcano exploded and blew the top off the mountain. After it cooled, the crater filled in with water and formed a lake big enough to see from space. The first great aspect is that I went swimming in a lake in January. (How is winter, by the way?) But it is a particularily nice swim because the waters are perfectly clear. The water is not entirely warm because it is in the mountains, but since it sits on an active volcano, when I dug my toes about three inches into the lake bed, the pumice sand is quite hot. It is a nice feeling. There are also a few small natural hot pools on the edge of the lake, so I could easily warm up if the water was too cool. Of course, there wasn't much need for warming up, because it was a beautiful summer day. Quite nice all around.

Radio tracking

I explained earlier that we were be putting radios on the falcons. This is what I was talking about. From the small size, I think this is a male falcon. The hood keeps him calm. Sometimes they even fall asleep. The radio is strapped on like a backpack with some string that is designed to eventually weaken and fall off. The radio emits a beep every second which is detected by an antenna that we have. We rotate the antenna and subjectively judge which direction got the strongest beep. That then is the direction of the bird.

Posted by Hello

Ozone and UV

You can see from this figure that the North Island of New Zealand has the greatest ozone depletion of any place outside Antartica. If you want to become an expert on the topic, check out The Ozone Hole Tour. What this means for me is that the sun here is really intense. Even when it is not that warm, you can feel the sun burn into your skin. On December 20th, we awoke to frost on the ground, and yet I had a deeper tan than after three months of working in Virginia during the summer of 2004. If it is cold out, I put on sun screen. If it is cloudy, I put on sun screen. If it is raining, I put on sun screen. On clear days, the burn time for fair people is less than ten minutes.

The Ultraviolet Index (UVI) measures the intensity of the suns rays on a 1-10 scale. A 6 or higher means you need sun protection. A +, meaning over 10, means don't go outside. Every day this week has been a +. Only on cold rainy days do we get down to 9 or 10. You always have to be prepared.

Why They Pay Me the Big Bucks

Here I am, hard at work. This is a small adult male falcon that we caught. I am measuring the cere to tip length, which means beak length. You can see the yellow and white plastic bands on one leg. That is so we can identify him from a distance. The other leg has a metal band with a unique serial number so, if caught anywhere by anyone, he can be identified.

Anyhoo, this is the really cool, fun part of work. I've more or less gotten used to handling them. It is not super complicated: you grab their bottom half and don't let go. They seem quite calm as you hold them (but they are birds, so it is hard to know) and they usually don't struggle at all. If you relax though, they will take their freedom in a second.



Posted by Hello

Geysers

New Zealand is lousy with geothermal activity, which leads to things
like big geysers, unholy water, and boiling mud.







Posted by Hello

Falcon Nests

Falcon nests are not very flashy affairs. Historically, falcons would
lay their eggs in epiphytes, but in the pine plantations, they just
lay them on the ground. The nests are called "scrapes" because all
they are is a small patch of dirt. This works because there are not
many predators in New Zealand that can take on a falcon. See my
earlier post of an attacking falcon to see why.



Posted by Hello

Kaka Pics

These parrots, called kakas, are highly threatened by introduced predators, such as rats. I spent a day helping on this monitoring project. Here Claude and Bob are attaching radio transmitters. I wrote more about them earlier.







Posted by Hello

Science is Fun

Here I am doing some very important scientific research into the
buoyancy of Toyota trucks.



Posted by Hello

Public Enemy #1

This guy may look cute, but he is thoroughly hated here. This is a captive Australian possum and his kin have destroyed more native trees and birds than any other animal. The government kills millions and the public kills them too. People will swerve across the road to hit them and
people also shoot and trap them and it is generally seen as a patriotic duty to kill as many as possible.



Posted by Hello

Archive Reminder

Remember, if you want to see older posts, click on the Archives in the right column.

Sporting News

I need to leave the country more often. The Steelers have won 14 in a row, they are the number 1 team in the NFL, and soon they will be rolling to another Super Bowl victory. Duke is still undefeated and ranked No. 5 despite having a 6'3" power forward. Plus they beat Temple AGAIN. What is most important to remember is that the Eagles suck, Arizona is a bunch of losers, and Carolina can go to hell.

New Zealand Facts

Want to know a little about Aotearoa? ("The Land of the Long White Cloud" for short.)

Land Area
NZ: 268,680 sq km (similar to Colorado)
US:9,631,418 sq km

Coastline
NZ: 15,134 km
US: 19,924 km

Highest Point:
NZ: Aoraki-Mount Cook 3,754 m
US: Mount McKinley 6,194 m

Popoulation
NZ: 3,993,817
US: 293,027,571

Life Expectancy
NZ: 78.5
US: 77.4

Per Capita Income
NZ: $21,600
US: $37,800

Time Zone
NZ: GMT -12
US: GMT +5 (EST)

Closest to Equator
NZ: 36 degrees S
US: 26 degrees N mainland, 21 degrees N Hawaii

Farthest from Equator
NZ: 46 degrees S
US: 48 degrees N mainland, 70 degrees N Alaska

Did you know...?
Wellington is the southernmost national capital in the world .

100 Visits

I got to 100 visitors before the New Year. Yay! Of course, a few of those were me, but not too many. I can sense the e-fortune is just around the corner. Thanks!

I'm in the Herald

I was in the New Zealand Herald, which is the country's largest newspaper, for this falcon project. In the print version, there are 4 pictures, including a small one of my hands holding a falcon chick. In the online version, that picture is right at the top. The article is pretty good, so you should go read it. Here is the start:

Wings scooping the air to pick up speed, the female falcon comes in to attack at eye level, a speckled-brown dart of fury aimed straight at the scientist's blue canvas hat. The heavy thud as she strikes is loud, astonishing. Immediately she sweeps up into the air, her shrieking cry echoing over the valley, jangling the nerves. This is the front line of New Zealand falcon, or karearea, research and it is not for the faint-hearted - or the hatless. To reach this nesting site, we have driven for more than an hour in a sturdy four-wheel-drive truck over narrow, treacherous dirt tracks deep into a Bay of Plenty pine forest. We arrive at a small, steep-sided valley with row upon row of baby trees growing over rugged land, the ground littered with the wood debris of past harvests. The man in charge of this falcon research project, ecologist Richard Seaton, and his two student volunteers, Matt Clement and Shane McPherson, hand out various pieces of unattractive headgear. McPherson is already wearing what looks like a tea cosy on his head and Clement is grinning knowingly. This site will be a doddle, they say. They had decided earlier not to take us to "blood gully".

And no, I don't know what a "doddle" is. I wrote more about blood gully earlier.