Catching is going well. Not spectacular (not getting 20 birds a day or anything!), but we are getting at least 2 juvies a day. Yea! the birds in the aviary are attracting other birds to come in and visit, so the last 5 birds have been caught in Potter traps (think carrot under box propped up with a stick) that are hanging off of the HOFIs flight cages. We’re now up to 16 birds (8 males and 8 juvies).
On the other hand, HPLC training is not as happy. The guy I’m learning from is not a very good teacher. Yesterday he said “purge the system” and then left. Didn’t explain any of the 50 buttons on the “system” or anything! And, he knows I’ve never done HPLC because he lent me a intro book so I could understand the principles behind it. Yeesh! Luckily he has an ex-tech who set up the system that works down the hall now (until Wednesday). So, he was kind enough to actually “train” me on what buttons to what. Eep! So I have to try to learn everything I can by Wednesday, because the main guy is not so helpful. I guess that’s what happens when you have a tech for 20 years and never do any of the lab work yourself! I’m starting to think the main guy doesn’t actually know how the system works, so can’t teach me anything. We’ll see. At least this isn’t part of my project!
Strange when the “field” portion of my summer is going well, and the “lab” portion is not as good! Weird!