Veselé Vánoce!

Merry Christmas!

The Czech Republic is not without its share of Christmas traditions. Dinner time in particular has more than a few. The meal itself is fish based. Carp. The first dish is a light fish soup with the main dish of breaded and fried fillets and potato salad on the side.

You don't just buy this fish at the store...

You pick it out of a bucket. If dinner is in the next day or two - kill it then. If you are way ahead of the game, feel free to take your fish home in a bucket and keep it in the bath tub for a few days. It can be a pet AND dinner. A scale from this fish is placed under each plate before Christmas dinner begins. After the meal the scale is supposed to be placed in your wallet to protect you from money woes.

There is no particular Christmas dessert. Plates of assorted cukroví (pronounced tsukrovy) are constantly available this time of year. It is a sugary minefield in any household communal space. Sugar or meringue cookies with chocolate, coconut, walnuts, jam, some sort of creamy fluff or combination there of. They are so enticing. Constantly. So much yummy sugar...

Cukroví at Tom's mother's house

  Cukroví at his grandparent's house

Between dinner and presents (presents are after dinner) those who have withheld from eating meat prior to dinner go on a hunt for the golden piglet. When children are little this gets them out of the house long enough for adults to set up a Christmas tree, put on the decorations, and put the presents under it. A bell is rung to call the children back in to say baby Jesus (no Santa in the Czech Republic) has come with all of their gifts.

As a bunch of old folks in this celebration the decorations had already been put up. The extent of our hunting the golden piglet was everyone taking turns firing a shotgun after dinner. It was my first shotgun usage!

Major Christmas celebrations in the Czech Republic take place on the 24th of December leaving the 25th as a time to relax with the family.

To my family- I miss you all and hope you have a wonderful Christmas day!

Great Sand Dunes National Park - Who Knew?

Maps of Colorado and Utah are splattered with the green shades representing National Parks, Forests, and Recreation Areas. Reviewing the paths one could take between Kalamazoo, Michigan and Seattle, Washington all that green is a big draw. A particular spot of National-Park-green in southern Colorado caught my eye. The tiny script read "Great Sand Dunes National Park". I had never heard of it. A good enough reason to go in my opinion.

These dunes in Alamosa, Colorado are the largest in North America. 750 feet tall! Found at the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains the dunes maintain their large size through recycling. Every year winds blow sand off into the mountains. Each spring as snow and ice melt the sand is given an express trip back to the base of the dunes. Two creeks run along either side of the enormous sand piles thus a constant supply of material is available for the wind to throw back in.

Woo! Look at all this recycling!

I was really hoping to be able to go dune sledding or dune boarding during our visit. Unfortunately because my mom and I were visiting on a Sunday during the off season there was no place to get gear. I didn't even have a cardboard box I could use! It was a shame.

Regardless! The dunes were incredible! We walked out onto them and hiked a while on the tallest. There is a bit of a knack to dune walking. The windward side of the dune about a foot or two from the edge seems to have the hardest packed sand.

A beautiful day at the park

Packed sand would sometimes form designs 

A hiker at the top for scale

We spent about an hour exploring the alien landscape. We could feel the altitude of the Rockies in our heavy breathing but it was the wind picking up that drove us off. Strong winds on a dune is like a sand blaster to the face. Back at the car all of my head mucuses were working overtime to clear the sand from where it didn't belong (attractive right?). I could still shake some sand out of my hair that evening. 

Until next time!

What lies between Michigan and Colorado?

The Saint Louis Arch (and the rest of Saint Louis)

Kansas

A Russell Stover Factory!

More Kansas...

Some tumbleweeds

And now you know!

Cranes, Cranes, Cranes

The machinery? No, the bird of course!

On October 11 my housemates and I journeyed to Baker Sanctuary, an hour or so from Kalamazoo. There we sat and watched the sky for over an hour as the sun drew closer to the horizon. Why? To see the sandhill cranes fly in to roost.

Bernard W. Baker Sanctuary is an 898 acre piece of property owned by the Michigan Audubon Society dedicated to the protection of sandhill cranes. It was the first sanctuary in the country created for a crane species. The sanctuary every year hosts several breeding pairs in the spring and thousands in the fall as they journey southward.

Towards sunset Abigail, Chelsey, and I began to hear a great ruckus from beyond a hill to our right. Cranes were creating a cacophany of sound but we couldn't see them yet. For several minutes we waited as the sound grew closer. Finally, hundreds of cranes appeared over the hill. The arrivals honked at the cranes already in the marsh while those previously settled honked back saying it was safe. In groups of ten and twenty the prehistoric looking birds circled around for the best place to land. as each group settled the marsh began to quiet again.

Sandhill cranes at Baker Sanctuary - Bellevue, Michigan

On October 28 Abigail, Chelsey, and I had another crane adventure as we volunteered for the annual crane count. All of Michigan was split into territories to be covered by teams or individuals to count the cranes they see roosting. The count had to take place between the 27th and the 29th in order to be relatively sure no one was counting the same birds twice.

Before dusk the three of us drove around our zone seeking foraging and nesting grounds. We found approximately 150 sandhill cranes among the harvested corn fields. Knowing how many are foraging gave us a number to expect when counting the roosts.

We parked near two marshes in the middle of our survey area to sit and wait. As before there were only a few at first but as the sun fell below the horizon over one hundred appeared flying in. With the three of us at various posts counting in the growing dark our numbers became fairly rough. After some debate and last minute estimations while becoming too dark to see we came to the number of 170 sandhill cranes in our survey area.

Art Prize

What has got to be one of the largest independently organized art events in the world takes place every year in Grand Rapids, Michigan. For nineteen days in September and October artists from around the world showcase their work across three square miles of downtown Grand Rapids.

Through the ArtPrize website individual property owners offer up their space as a venue. Artists then contact venues to showcase their piece. Anyone over the age of 18 can contribute a piece of art. Thus, downtown is covered! Art is showcased in every major building and business from the Grand Rapids Art Museum to City Parks, Founders Brewery to The BOB (Big Old Building).

Every piece of art has a small placard located on or near it. As ArtPrize goes on the public votes on their favorite pieces. By the end of nineteen days the field has been slowly narrowed down until a grand prize winner of $200,000 is announced! Beginning this year they also began a juried vote. A board of art critics picks a winner for a $100,000 prize.

Eight of us from the Nature Center went to Grand Rapids to take a look on October 1.

There were several of theses eight foot tall glass orchids. In the Top 10 public vote

Also in the Top 10. It changed colors! This piece was in a dark room that also housed a few other light based pieces. 

One artist created minimalist posters for every state. I liked Washington's. 

A mural drawn entirely with pencil and permanent marker

Crazy amount of detail. 

All of these pieces were in the Grand Rapids Art Museum (GRAM). We spent the most time there due to the high density of artists and the little time we had to see art. After the GRAM the group split. Half of us went to Founders Brewery to experience another art of Grand Rapids - brewing. Luckily for us Founders was also a venue so we saw several great pieces and even met the artists as they were enjoying a brew too! 

My favorite piece at Founders, and probably my favorite piece overall. "Ninkasi" (goddess of beer) contains over 500 pieces of handpainted colored glass. 

My First Ever "Whistle Pig"

When first arriving in Michigan I asked many folks in the area if there was a chance of seeing fireflies so late in the season. The fantastical glowing insect is something I have never seen before. Unfortunately I was too late for fireflies but since then I have come across some other exciting (for me) animals.

Biking along the Kalamazoo River Trail one morning I saw ahead of me a furry creature shuffle off the path. It was a perplexing thing. It didn't move like a rabbit, wasn't the color or shape of a badger, and much too large to be a squirrel. After the perfectly healthy versions of the aforementioned creatures were ruled out I began to imagine deformed badgers or the worlds fattest tree squirrel.

Upon reaching the area where my furry mystery scuttled away I failed to find it in the underbrush. I shrugged off the mystery and continued down the path when all of a sudden an animal like a marmot scuttled down a tree to hide after being startled by my passing. I was just as startled to see a marmot-like creature in a tree. It was the same thing I saw scuttle away earlier. Does Michigan even have marmots? Marmots in Washington all live in rocky or mountainous regions. Kalamazoo is neither.

 Hoary marmot, native to the Pacific Northwest. (Source:Wikipedia)

 

 

Using the power of the internet I researched marmots in Michigan. It turns out a member of the marmot family does reside in Michigan. My mystery marmot is more commonly known as a groundhog, woodchuck, or colloquially as whistle pig.

 

Groundhogs are smaller than the marmots we have in the PNW but they have much the same shape. (Source: Wikipedia)

 

The term "whistle pig" comes from the high pitched sound groundhogs and other marmot species produce when frightened. Fun fact: Whistler, British Columbia, Canada is named after the whistling sound of the local marmots.

 

I was quite pleased with my groundhog sighting but the new animals didn't stop there. On my return trip I nearly ran over a box tortoise!

 

Called box tortoise for their ability to completely hide their limbs within their shell.

And they even have such cute little tails!

 

 





 

 



 



 

Kalamazoo Nature Center - A place for work but also groceries!

It has been a week already! Wake up number seven while working for the Kalamazoo Nature Center was at 5:45 this morning. I have already become accustomed to the necessary early mornings. Today I forgot to even set an alarm!

The Banding Barn. I report to work here most mornings. 

Nets are opened each day at 7:15. Every hour until 1:15 we go on net runs to see what has flown in. Between net runs we process the birds, fix old nets, or get some bunny love!

Brownie does not approve of bunny love time each morning. Whitey (who is getting love while I take this picture) puts up with it. 

The Nature Center has a few farm animals that it takes care of during the peak summer season for people to see and summer camp kids to learn from. Most have gone back to the people who donated them for the summer but bunnies and chickens have yet to find a home. That is fine with us! Each morning we feed them, get some loving and and occasionally eggs! 

Free chicken eggs!

From these chickens!

Elsewhere on nature center property are a few apple trees. By far the most popular among us volunteers and interns is a macintosh tree. Everyday I stop by to pick a few apples to snack on. Day before yesterday I picked a grocery bag full to make applesauce. It turned out so well! The apples are so sweet that all I added was a spoonful of molasses and a few dashes of cinnamon.   

Just one low branch of a very large tree. Sometime soon we will bring a car and just go crazy picking all the apples from the high branches. 

Applesauce!!

Everyone here has been so incredibly wonderful. I have learned so much about Kalamazoo and bird banding in the last week. I can't wait to see what else I will learn before I have to leave!

Where in the world is Kalamazoo?

Turns out, Kalamazoo is in southern Michigan. I'm on my way there now to begin an internship with the Kalamazoo Valley Bird Observatory. I will be spending the next seven weeks capturing, taking data from, banding, and releasing songbirds. My compatriots who arrived a few weeks ago banded over 900 birds between August 25 and 31. I have some catching up to do.

While they have been busy working I have been backpacking in the North Cascades and touring the country. Been to two new states thus far on my cross country journey - South Dakota and Minnesota. This evening is the first time I have ever used Central Time.

As a way to mix things up in our long days of driving my mom and I have visited Devils Tower National Monument, Mount Rushmore, and Badlands National Park.

That is one big crystal. Turns out there were once more towers similar to Devils Tower but they are older and have worn down over time. 

Saw my first prairie dogs while driving on the Interstate but got a good look at them when in Devils Tower NM. The monument houses one of the last large prairie dog towns. 

"Great faces, great places" - South Dakota catch phrase

Badlands National Park

We camped in the park. At night we were serenaded by coyotes while the milky way stretched overhead. In the morning meadowlark song filled the air and a bison (difficult to see in this picture) hung around camp. 

"Try it..." -Bison

Bison, black-footed ferrets, and bighorn sheep were all reintroduced in to the park. 

The security team. 

Our sightseeing is mostly over now as we make the final push to Kalamazoo. Approximately ten hours of driving awaits in the morning. Time to get some shut-eye. 

Holidays in Hawaii

My father loved to visit Hawaii. It was his favorite place.

 November of last year he passed away from cancer. For Christmas this year my family decided to go to Kaua'i in his memory. It was great to reconnect with everyone after being gone for the last few months not to mention the weather was quite nice.

Saw lots of fun things while out enjoying the weather!

Nene! I saw my first wild nenes visiting Hawaii this time. Nenes (neigh neighs) are an endangered species of goose endemic to Hawaii.

Crab

 Glass sand beach. There is an illegal dump a little ways away from this beach. Glass from that dump gets broken up and rounded by the waves then ends up here coloring the beach.

 

My mom, brothers, and I visited a Hindu monastery while on Kaua'i. We rang this bell asking for the blessing of Ganesh, the Hindu god of removing obstacles, as we entered.

At the monastery they are building a stone temple completely by hand. Stone carvers from India are mining and carving the temple stone without the help of power tools. Power tools create micro-fractures which over time lead to the cracking and breaking of the stone. The hope is that by creating the temple in this fashion the temple will last for 1000 years.