Oh How the Wind Doth Blow!

We’ve been here nearly 3 weeks and only have about 3 to go. It’s a shortened season at this site, but come Dec. 18th, we’re headed to north central Argentina to a place called Jujuy (said Who-Whoee and put some zing into it when you say it). John and Eileen and my labmate, Rachel, went there last May to check out another report of a social tuco. You may recall that we checked out one last year in Tierra del Fuego, but as it turned out, the tuco was a solitary one, though still quite cute (which goes a long way in my book). However, the one in Jujuy IS social and we are headed there to do some serious radio telemetry to better understand group size and composition.

Here, though, we have a lot of work to do in a little time… and the weather is not cooperating. It’s been raining quite a bit and the wind… well, I’ve written plenty in past years about the Patagonian wind. It’s like no other. On top of that, it’s downright freezing. I know I was spoiled last year with warmer than usual weather but really, does it have to be this cold??? Still, I am enjoying the open spaces and the relative quiet.

We’ve caught animals in 4 colonies so far. I even noosed an adult female… thinking it was a large pup! Oh well… she survived my ignorance, though not too happy about it. There have been some cool “Attenborough” moments this past week. We have a pair of American Kestrels nesting in one of the trees in our camp. There´s a hole entering into the cavity about ½ meter from the ground… seems low for a kestrel but they are taking turns flying in and out of it with dead mice and lizards. Fun to watch. Can´t wait until I see baby Kestrel fledglings! Also, the annual mating “fly-off “ of a local ant species happened when I was suppose to be standing very still watching for tucos. I noticed one of the senecio bushes “moving” and saw hundreds of ants crawling their way to the top. There were wingless ants, small winged male ants with their “gifts” to be given to the large winged reproductive females. As soon as the females reached the top of a stem, off they flew and before I knew it, there was a whirlwind of flying ants all around and above me. It´s rather spectacular! There are many more, which I hope to write on next week.

Today I am posting a rather shakey clip of walking back to camp after a long day in the field... to give you an idea of how it feels. Eileen and John are ahead of me and when I stop and turn to take a panoramic view, you can see the Andes, across the "highway" toward the field site, and back toward our camp. Thanks for the emails and comments. Wishing you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!!