the new girl...

the new girl has arrived…and I’m not happy about it. Right now things are going okay…not great, but at least okay. She’s a strange egg for sure…no pun intended. Within the first 24 hours she asked alex and I not to swear around her, wipe off our dishes before we put them in the sink, asked me not to listen to my mp3 player at night, commented that the protocol is stupid (the bird protocol is over 8 years old), told us to conserve energy and not play movies on the computer AND keeps turning off the radio while we’re listening to it because she can’t concentrate.

Don’t worry there folks…any of you that know me really well should know that this little princess has been stopped in her tracks. I have put my foot down and I’m rather proud of myself that I did it in a professional manner. I’m close to asking the island manager to have a talk with her. I talked to brian (manager) today and he said that he “was rather worried about her here because she was rather strange.” At least we don’t have the problem the other island has…their new intern was told to grocery shop for 3 weeks and she brought out a jar of peanut butter and a package of noodles. The real kicker is that the girl is allergic to eggs and birds…she’s working in a seabird colony surrounded by hundreds of eggs and chicks…and she’s allergic. WHAT THE HELL WAS SHE THINKING ??!! anywho…I still play my mp3 player at night, watch movies and keep turning the radio on…if she wants quiet she can go upstairs or for a walk.

We still don’t have any nests with eggs but I’m hoping for something within the next week or so. The birds are staying overnight even with the bad weather for the past few days. This morning we did a passerine survey…here’s my updated list:

Cedar waxwing
Nashville warbler
Parula warbler
Blackburnian warbler
Black-throated green warbler
Blackpoll warbler
Warbling vireo
Red-eyed vireo
American redstart
Yellow warbler
Eastern wood pewee
Osprey

i’m getting off the island for a day this Wednesday…I keep thinking of everything I want to do but I’m mostly looking forward to taking a nice hot shower. Keep in touch.