Tropical Storm Tomas turned out to be a bust. He didn't cause any damage in Trinidad, thank goodness. He did, however, affect the tides at the beaches. Daniel and I went to Maracas this morning. The tide was so high that the shore was more or less nonexistent. It was really difficult for me to swim. The tide kept pulling me out into the ocean and I had to call over to Daniel to help me get back to shore. He was really great about calming down a very scared Miguella. Note to self: don't swim during a tropical storm with an underwater camera in your hand. It's a little distracting.

New bird today: juvenile Pearl Kite.

I participated in the Republic Bank cancer awareness walk today around the Queens Park Savannah. I went to support Auntie Vilma and to remember Auntie Merle. It was a good day for a walk; not too hot and a little breezy.

Off to Tobago tomorrow! Can't wait!


Posing with plovers and sandpipers.

Nicki Minaj. I've been hearing a lot about her on the radio here in Trinidad. She's having a concert sponsored by MTV this weekend in the Queens Park Savannah. Tickets are outrageously priced. And her music really isn't my style (though I do kind of like "Right Thru Me"). Daniel called from JFK today to tell me that the flight was delayed a bit because Nicki Minaj is on the flight and TV cameras were at the terminal. Now the flight is an hour late. Thanks, Nicki. I'd better get a picture of her while she's leaving customs!

I used a power saw for the first time today! Thanks, Mom, for helping me freak Dad out! The four pieces of plywood were too long and needed to be cut. When I asked Dad last night if there was a saw here, he said, "Yes. What for?" When I told him my plan, he replied, "Well, there isn't a saw." Dad also call me "fragile" earlier this week. It was time to show him! I found a handsaw and a power saw. No chainsaw. That would be fun. Thanks also to Grandpa for being so handy and having tools around the house! Now all I need are nails to fit the pieces together...

A bunch of the cows I sampled had Giardia, I think. What I saw was the right size and looked like collapsed Giardia cysts. Other parasites included Eimeria, Strongyle eggs, and Strondyloides. Pretty soon, I'll be able to post images of the parasites since the microscope has a camera. All that's needed is a computer.

Stray dogs are classified into four categories: 1)unowned, 2)lost/escapees, 3)abandoned, and 4)community-owned. The smiling stray dog pictured in yesterday's post is definitely an escapee! On my way to work today, I saw him relaxing on his owner's porch, flashing his cute smile. I know it was him because of the single white patch on his forehead. In today's picture you can see his point of exit. Trinidadian dogs are some of the smartest in the world, I tell ya! Notice the owner's makeshift add-on. Sigh. Irresponsible dog owners make me sad.

On my way to the farm in Waterloo, I decided to stop at a Home Depot-like hardware store called Bhagwansingh's to get a 3' x 2' plank of wood (long story). The best that could be done was 4 pieces of 3'x .5' pieces of plywood... for free! Beggars can't be choosers. Because of my detour, I ended up lost in Chaguanas, then Couva. After about an hour, I saw the Hanuman statue and knew I was close. I still had some time before I was to meet with the farmer, so I went to visit Hanuman again. He is really breath-taking.

The farm visit took about an hour. I learned that it is the largest private dairy farm in Trinidad with 120ish cattle. Afterward, I headed to the Temple in the Sea again to count strays and bird watch. No new birds today, but 22 stray dogs! Waterloo has a reputation for having a ton of strays due to human influence. Unrelated groups from around Trinidad go to there to feed the strays (see recent article in the Trinidad Guardian. Note: Some Trinidadian's have don't the best grammar). Really, really bad idea, I think.

I came home, sweaty, stinky, and tired, longing for cold shower and a nap. As I approached Santa Cruz, I noticed that only the police station, grocery store, and fire department had electricity. Great. The power came back after about 45 minutes, shortly before Dad came home. Second reminder this week that I'm not in Kansas anymore.

I'm so tired. One more crammed day of work before Daniel's visit. I hope to have better luck with the cattle poop than I did with the dog poop. Poop! What a great word :-)


Hanuman


Temple in the sea

I am no longer Jane Doe! Dad picked up my passport from the U.S. Embassy today. I cannot believe it took five weeks for them to process my visa! Noted. Get visas done in the states.

Other great news today: I booked ferry tickets for Daniel and me to go to Tobago! This is great for a host of reasons. Tobago is mix of relaxation (great beaches, picturesque scenery, and delicious food) and excitement (snorkeling, windsurfing, jet skiing, hiking, you name it)! We'll be staying with my favorite Tobagonian couple, Ed and Susie. I hope Ed will be up for one of his 5AM walks! Taking the ferry to Tobago is even beneficial to my research! I can bring any poop samples I collect in Tobago back to Trinidad without worry. I don't know that Caribbean Airlines would have allowed me to smuggle fecal samples on the plane. And, because we'll be there on Sunday, we get to partake in Sunday School. You'll see when I post the photos :-)

Sparky and I went for a walk around the soccer field. There was a match going on. Sparky really wanted to play. I ran into Nigel who works at the vet school. He was gearing up for some fútbol.

I get to sleep in tomorrow! My dairy farm visit isn't until 4:30 so I'll get in around 9ish. In the morning, I'll prepare everything for sampling. After lunch, I'll head to Waterloo, scope on the stray dog scene, and try to remember the location of the farm. Should be a fun and productive day.


Pack of strays craving a Sparky snack


GOOOOOOOAAAAAALLLLL!


Smiling stray

Not much to report other than I had a full, busy day. I met with the mother of a seventeen year-old interested in doing public health research on stray dogs. It would be great if she works out. My morning was devoted to working on my seminar presentation. I read newspaper articles and legislation about stray dogs. The Dogs Act of 1918 (yes, 1918) is quite outdated. I chuckled when I read that owners of unmuzzled stray dogs will either have to pay a $100TT fine or serve one month in prison. Talk about extremes!

I processed the remaining dog samples today. I saw some weird cells but I just don't have enough experience to know what exactly it is I'm seeing. It's definitely the rate-limiting step in my research progress.

I set up the cable in my living room. Uh oh. Definitely dangerous. Good thing "Jersey Shore" is over! :-)

I thought I would have to prepare myself for empty nest syndrome, literally. I went out to the porch to check on Mama Dove and her two babies and they were gone! I was both happy and sad to think that they had made it to the next big stage in their lives. They sure got me! I turned to look in the second fake vine wall hanging to find the three peeping over at me. I'm not sure if the babies flew over or if Mama Dove picked them up. I'm hoping they'll still around by the time Daniel gets here. Stay tuned.
Update: I watched the birds fly off the porch and onto a electrical wire (see photo).

OMG! I can't take it! Last night/this morning, it was the cries of a whimpering dog that kept me up. The neighbor across the street has a bunch of dogs (mostly pitbulls) locked up in kennels. It sounded like the dog was in pain (though it very well may be voicing its displeasure about being locked up). It's 7:30 and its still yelping. Do I confront this guy? He seems nice enough. Sparky was barking an awful lot last night too. This seems like a fight I will not win.

Little Hermit confirmed!

I'm still 5 for 5 with weekly beach outings even though my trip to Las Cuevas was postponed. Instead, I did some rearranging and cleaning. Mom, hope you're proud of me! The kitchen sink is always clean, I sweep at least once a day, and my bed is usually made.


New dining area


New living room area

I can't win. Sleeping in is an impossible feat. This morning, Sparky woke me up at 2:45! I remember John Schaefer telling me that Li Li would wake him up at ungodly hours of the morning. Is this the standard for dog ownership? If so, still sign me up!

I went to Port of Spain to get some stamps for postcards and greeting cards. Apparently, the post offices in smaller towns don't sell stamps. I went into one in Santa Cruz asking for them and the woman looked at me like I was crazy. Then we went to Dad's place so that he could look for immunization documents from over 50 years ago. After a couple hours of looking, he gave up for the day and it was off to Macqueripe. On our way, Dad saw my favorite Trinidadian fruit, Pomerac, being sold on the highway! I should mention that it has been out of season during my recent trips to T&T. We got four for $10TT on the way back. The sun was extra hot today so the cool water at Macqueripe sure hit the spot.


Another day of waiting on Dad


Macqueripe Bay from above


So big now!

Happy Friday! This week flew by with very little progress. I'm already starting to panic about the limited time I have left to do accomplishment so many things. Today was my first attempt to process samples and identify potential parasites. Theresa, the parasite diagnostician at UWI, laughed at me today as I poured (and spilled) half a bag of sugar to make the sucrose solution. I finally got it to 1.33 spg! How many grams of sugar? I couldn't tell you. Should make for a fun time next time I have to make sugar solution.

Every now and again, I am reminded with little hints that I'm not in the first world anymore. Take for example, consistent water supply. I would think that an island, which by definition is surround by water, would have more than enough water. Especially during the rainy season! The problem isn't so much a lack of water, but a lack of running water and a lack of desalinated water. We didn't have running water at the house for almost two weeks. Thank God for the three large water tanks we have in the back. Today at UWI, minutes before I wanted to process my poop samples, water was shut down on the entire campus. Can you imagine if I had started? Gross.

I have to step up my processing and identification game. Today's session was a spectacle! Water and sugar everywhere, blurry images of potential parasites that I do not recognize (or maybe they're just plant matter)...

Time for bed. Hello, weekend!


Sparky and Sprite. He drank the whole bottle :-)

Sad news from the TTSPCA today. Teddy, one of the dogs I gave a bath last week escaped from his new home. Apparently, Teddy did not have a collar or leash and decided to take a stroll. He came to the TTSPCA as a stray who was hit by a car. Too much freedom, Teddy Bear! His owner came in to the shelter today. She printed a thousand "LOST DOG" flyers with a picture of the back of Teddy's head! There's no way she's going to find him with those. Whether it be happenstance or fate, I was at the TTSPCA to give Teddy's owner the photo I took of him last week. I hope she finds him! He is a cutie pie.

My volunteering time at the TTSPCA consisted of cleaning out litter boxes (oh joy), changing food and water, bathing a dog who is to be adopted tomorrow, and answering phones. Answering phones is interesting. There's a slight language barrier. I don't really speak "Trini" and the callers don't speak "Yankee." I answered a call about two separate animal cruelty cases. Another person wanted to give up 5 puppies and spay the mother. More or less, calls like these are encouraging and make me believe that Trinidadians are mindful of the stray dog and animal welfare issues in the country.

I had a long and productive meeting with the president of the TTSPCA this afternoon. I'm really excited to start counting strays.

I collected three samples from dogs at the TTSPCA for my intestinal parasites research. Tomorrow morning, I'll scoop up a sample from Sparky. Let's see what that little bugger has!

Pretty sure I got a glimpse of a Little Hermit today, but I'll wait to be sure.

I'm one step closer to starting my research! I spent the late-morning and afternoon (an hour break for lunch with Avi) in the lab. I needed to make sucrose solution with a specific gravity of 1.33 SG. I've never done this before. Thank goodness I obtained several essential protocols from the diagnostic lab at Cornell or else I would be screwed. Unfortunately, I did not reach the required SG of 1.33. I made it to 1.20 when I ran out of sugar. After work, I went to the grocery store to buy more. Hopefully ants do not get to my flask before I do!

I'm volunteering at the TTSPCA tomorrow. It will also be my first day of sample collection. Can't wait to play with puppies!


Baby birds growing up

Within minutes of arriving at the vet school, I saw a flyer posted on one of the walls: "You are invited to a PhD Seminar entitled Roaming Dog Assessment in Trinidad and Tobago by Ms. Miguella Mark-Carew." Holy cow! My presentation scheduled for the end of November is already being publicized! I'd better get the ball rolling.

Today was a great photography day. I started off with a picture of a Boat-billed Heron Roger showed me at the vet school. This bird is quite odd-looking... in a cute way. I visited dairy farms with vet students again. I watched (and took pics) as two student dehorned two older calves. In between farms, we stopped off at three Hindu sites: the Temple at Waterloo, the Hanuman Statue and the Sri Dattatreya Yoga Center. Really cool architecture. It almost felt like I was back in India for about 3 minutes.

So many birds. Four new ones for the day: Boat-billed Heron, Yellow-bellied Elaenia, Blue and Yellow Macaw, and one I can't figure out.


Me and my friend the Boat-billed Heron. It doesn't look real!


Sri Dattatreya Yoga Center


No pressure. FYI, November 25th just happens to be Thanksgiving!


Yellow-bellied Elaenia


Sue Ann and Michelle dehorning a calf


???

Today was quite a day. This morning while Dad and I were driving to work together, we almost got into a terrible accident. A man in a truck reversed from a driveway onto the street, fell out of the truck from his open driver's side door and was dragged about 7 feet across the road. The only reason he stopped was because the truck hit a wall! Dad's car was very close to hitting him. Craziness!

Port of Spain was flooded with upwards of two feet of water from heavy rains. I wish I had been there to take some photos. I was at the vet school where the rains weren't too bad. When I came home, my bed was wet from leaving the windows open. DOH!

I left work early because I was feeling under the weather. Auntie Vilma suggested that I drink some fever grass tea. As soon as I smelled it, I knew it was lemon grass (one of its AKAs). It was so delicious. I felt better within 5 minutes of drinking it. Honestly! And lemon grass keeps mosquitoes away! It's a miracle plant.

I made some progress with my lost debit card. Mom can pick up a new one for me at our credit union. Losing the wallet wasn't all that bad, I suppose, except that I cannot legally drive.

I've come up with a fool-proof way stay asleep longer. Instead of using the ceiling fan, I'm using the louder floor fan and keeping the windows closed. No fresh air, but no barking dogs, no roosters, and less mosquitoes. Take that!


Trinidad Euphonia. Check out its yellow toupée! Not the best shot so here's a link.

Today started off uneventfully, like a Sunday should. I did some early morning house birding, swept my room, canceled my Visa card, and lounged around for a bit. Brent, Sparky, and I went on a long walk to find a trail that cuts through the mountains and leads to Maracas Bay. The people we asked said it would take about 2.5 hours to get there. We decided to see how far the walk was from the house to the trail. Well, let's just say we made a wrong turn, but the walk was through a nice residential area of Santa Cruz. I wore Sparky out! He stopped a couple of times in the shade, refusing to continue. I had to pick him up and cradle him like a baby as I walked. Silly dog.

On the way back to the house, we stopped off at a Rasta market for some coconut water. There were a lot of Bananaquits there. Our second pit stop was at a bar Brent had visited the night before. The men there recognized him and started chatting with us. I asked them if they knew of my grandfather. They said yes, and one man (pictured in the photo) started humming "Teo," a popular song my grandfather and his brothers used to perform. Sparky seemed to like his first bar experience. He wanted to stay and "lime" with the boys.

Think a copy of my driver's license will be a good substitute for the original in T&T? Wouldn't fly in the US. We shall see. I ordered a new one but it won't arrive for at least two weeks.

Today marks one month since I've been in Trinidad! How the time has flown. I'd give my first month an A-, the minus for the mosquitoes/sand fly/ant bites, losing my wallet, and some minor hiccups. I didn't think the adjustment to Trini living would be this easy.


Stubborn little dog. He plopped down in the shade and would not budge!


Shouter Baptist Church


Tired pup after a long walk. He wouldn't even turn his head.

Birds of a feather stick together. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. Kill two birds with one stone. All of these bird phrases are completely relevant to me as a bird watcher. Take this morning at Maracas Bay. I saw three birds on the pier and proceeded in that direction. They were three different species of birds hanging out together! Even after my first round of photo attempts caused them to fly away, they came back, all three, and landed in the same spot some minutes later (I went back for more shots. Forget two in the bush. Three on the pier!). Cool beans. I got my best birding photos thus far. You should have seen me climbing onto the pier, camera and sunglasses in hand. I'm sure the Black-bellied Plover, Common Ringed Plover, and Short-billed Dowitcher thought I was crazy. Crazy, but harmless enough that they let me get really close. Hooray for persistence!


Black-bellied Plover and Short-billed Dowitcher


Common Ringed Plover


Sparky sniffing bones of what was likely one of his canine relatives. The Black Vultures stripped this animal clean. You can see them in the background.

Today was my volunteer day at the TTSPCA. I thought they would have my answer phones or file paperwork. No. They wanted me to get my feet wet, literally. I, along with another volunteer, gave about 12 dogs baths. Some of them were in bad shape. Most of them tried to escape. In the end, they were less matted and smelled like VO5 Passion Fruit and Mandarin Shampoo! One dog, Teddy, was adopted within a half hour of his bath. I wanted to stay at the TTSPCA all day, but I was poorly dressed and needed to call the DMV to get a new license before it closed at 4. I get the feeling that the wallet is in the house. I'll have to do a more thorough search tomorrow during the day. Arrgh!


Auntie Vilma's famous Black Cakes

More baby animals! Mama Dove's two baby birds were born, probably last night. When I went out to the porch this morning to take a picture of a Tropical Kingbird, she flew off revealing her two fuzzy bundles of joy.

Brent, the other male Fulbrighter, arrives this evening. I'll be picking him up from the airport around 5. The traffic should be the usual nightmare...but! I can finally do some decent highway birding!

I may have lost my wallet. Shocking, huh? It took me less than a month. Hopefully it turns up by tomorrow. Otherwise, I'm in trouble! My stupid Cornell ID was in it. That's an easy $40 CU gets when I return to the US. Grrr.

I decided to revamp the blog. The sunset and palm trees were getting a little old. Maybe I'll switch it up every month or so. How does it look?




Tropical Kingbird


Sparky with a stolen hair roller


Brent's text after his customs ordeal. He was almost sent back to the US! 15 minutes was more like 40 minutes, plus about 2 hours of being detained.


A free man!

Congratulations, Miguella! You have identified 44 species of birds with your latest identification of the Yellow-rumped Cacique! You are well on your way to your goal of 200 different birds of T&T by July 19th, 2011!

Today I went to a government farm that raises sheep, goats, cattle, and rabbits. It was the largest farm I visited so far. Lots of cute baby animals.

Going home to take Sparkplug for a walk around the soccer field. We'll see how it goes!


Little Lamb


Maaaa and lambs


Smurf at the rabbitry!