Predeparture

The last week of the Fall banding season at Manomet, great crew this year!

Ian has worked every weekday from sunup to sunset as of August 15th, living in the dorms above the banding station with the other banders. His last day is November 14th and we leave for Quito, Ecuador on Saturday, November 15th.

Evan, Mark and Sasha banding birds.

Cardinal being banded.

Linnea banding.

Ian banding a Blue Jay.

Vinebrook Road, Manomet

Joe took 2 days off for Veterans Day and we're at the cottage getting ready to move things back to Medford so we can close the place down for the winter. Anything left behind must be OK being frozen until Spring. 

 
I only have 4 more days before departure and things are coming together. General plans and destinations are in place including the first week  in Quito followed by forays to the Eastern Andean slopes, the Western Andean slopes, and the Amazon basin. Ian and I have been shot with immunizations for Yellow Fever, Hepatitis A, and  Typhoid because of our time in the Amazon basin near the border of Peru. Ian has  arranged for us to volunteer at the 

The Tiputini Biodiversity Station (TBS) adjacent to the Yasuní Biosphere Reserve in equatorial western Amazonia. Being there means direct contact with the greatest concentration of species diversity on Earth. This project has been developed by the Universidad San Francisco de Quito in collaboration with Boston University principally for research, education and conservation. 

The first month we will be volunteering at Yanayacu Biological Station & Center for Creative Studies Cosanga, Napo Province, North-eastern Ecuador, South America which can be found at 

 http://www.yanayacu.org/