Never say Never

I know. I know. I intimated that last year was my last year doing field work in Argentina but I take it all back and will never say never again.

We arrived in Bariloche, Argentina, on Monday morning, Nov. 9, the wind blowing and the mountains shining with the previous night’s snowfall. It is spring and freezing… and was not hard to justify staying in a hosteria for our first night! There was much to do, supplies to pick up which had been stored at our friend’s, Gustavo, house, and a trip to Centro Atomico to fill our liquid nitrogen tanks (the better to freeze the poops with!). By mid-day, Wednesday, we had made our way to the camp and began setting up the tents. It is strange to be here with out John, but he will soon join us and our team will be complete. This first week will be spent scouting the site, assessing which colonies are occupied, collaring select females with radio transmitters for colonies in which we cannot determine boundaries, and finishing writing a grant. Why is it that, at the start of every field season, I am working on a grant?! This one, however, is a big NSF grant that will seek funding to continue looking at the relationship between the social environment, stress hormones (glucocorticoids), and behavior… and who knows? If funded, I may be coming back for a long time yet.

Day 1 on the field and I saw a tuco immediately. Day 2 and I saw pups. It should be a very good year. I have attached a picture of my Argentina bedroom, much different than the one I have at home in Sebastopol. This first post is short but more to come later. I will say that it is good to be back in my southern hemisphere home!