Back to the cold!

Hello Everyone! Hope everyone is having a good Holiday Season!!! I finished up my last week on Round Island  last week!! We have spent a lot of time doing plant monitoring all over the island to tally up the native plants that have been planted over the last 10 years!!  Last week the Reptile team came over, as well as the very anticipated Tortoise relocation!! This meant a big influx of people to the island and to make some room I returned to the mainland a bit early. Leaving the Island was very awe inspiring, because this time we got to take the Helicopter! This was my first time ever in a Helicopter, and by the time I landed I was convinced I wanted to be a pilot! Ha, ha.

On my way back to Canada, I got the opportunity to spend a couple nights in London, UK. I used this time to go to the Natural History Museum, which was AMAZING! It was neat to see the life-sized Dodo and the models of the Tortoises!! I spent most of the day walking around looking at models of things that they had in Mauritius, and feeling completely grateful that I got to work with the real deal! Many people would only have the chance to see these things in Museums and on television! It really made it sink in that much more what an incredible opportunity I have been given with the New Noah Program. Ok, well I am getting all nostalgic so I will say bye for now before I start getting too sappy :)

Please check back for some pictures to be loaded on my next posts!

Thank you everyone for following me on my adventure and to Wildlife Preservation Canada for everything! This experience has changed my life and inspired me so many ways! I am ready to bring what I have learned back home and start helping species in Canada!!!

Back to the Island :)

Hi Gang! I have been back on Round Island since Friday and thought I would write a little note to let you all know the happenings of the week so far :) Our trip over was very nice, we came by boat and there was a Coast Guard change over on Flat Island (an island just west of Round where many Tourist take Catamarans to snorkel and enjoy the beautiful lagoon and beaches!) so we got to stop there and get off for a little walk on the beach! It was very nice to get a chance to see Flat Island up-close after seeing it from afar for so long.

We navigated the landing rock with ease and carried all our equipment back to the field station on Friday. The remainder of the day was spent quarantining all our food and equipment to insure nothing was brought back to the Island. Saturday we spent the morning cutting back the planting cages for the plants that had out-grown them and were now growing through the side of the cage; a hot task, but a very important one!! In the afternoon we GOT RAIN!!! It hadn’t rained here since I have been on the Island (8 weeks!) so the 4mL we received Saturday was a welcome change! Between the showers we got some plant nursery work done, moving plants around to make room for the new ones and get ready for the influx of plants to begin the planting season in January.

The last couple of days have been very hot here. It was 28 degrees Celsius at 8 a.m. Monday we watered the plants in the morning and then spent the afternoon we tended to some invasive weed sites. In these sites invasive weeds had been previously found so we monitor the sites monthly to insure they are no longer occurring in those areas. Over the original area where the weeds were we placed heavy black plastic held down with rocks. The plastics blocks out the sun and heats the weeds to extreme temperatures. This hopefully will kill all the plants and seeds.

Tomorrow there is another lot of 10 Mauritius Fodies coming to the Island to be trans-located!! Some of -them are adults and will be hard released immediately. The others have been hand-reared and need to be kept in cages for a couple days to get used to things before being released. We spent today filling the cages with branches so everyone will be nice and comfortable in their new homes! Well it’s about time for supper here so I better go! I will let you know how everything goes with the Fodies tomorrow, fingers crossed everyone!

P.S

I hear it is starting to get a bit cold in Canada, brrrr, just thinking about it gives me goose bumps!

Pictures from Ilse au Aigrettes

Petrels, Sea birds and Fodie, OH MY!

Hello Everyone,

Its been a very busy time here on Round Island over the last few weeks. The first exciting news is that Round Island is now home to some Mauritius Fodies!! The second lots of birds were brought over in a Helicopter and release a week or so ago. The population seems to be doing well and the Fody team is working hard following them to see how they are using their new home! Two more lots of birds are scheduled to come over in December bringing the population on Round into the twenties!! It was a very exciting time and a great honor to witness their introduction to Round Island!!!

Over the past 10 days we have been busy busy on the Warden team working with Malcolm Nicoll. He was visiting from the University of Reading (UK) to train us in distributing geo-locators to the Round Island Petrels. Little is known about these birds migration patterns and there is lots to be learned using these little tools. The locators are placed on bands on the birds' legs and record sunset and sunrise information as well as sea temperature. This information will then be entered into a computer program when the locators are removed next fall to see where they have been over the past year. We got extensive training in taking blood samples from the birds and correctly placing the geo-locators. Though the week involved a few bloody fingers from the snappy birds, it was an amazing week learning about the species and the project!

In the week leading up to Malcolm's visit I got to participate in the monthly Red-Tail Sea Bird survey they do on the island. This involved walking around to 50 different nesting site and collecting information on the residence of theses humble abodes! If there was a bird in the site we would catch it up, take the ring number or give a new ring to any un-ringed birds. It was the middle of chick season so there were many little 'punk rocker' looking chicks found. They are very adorable but make the most ear shattering noise I have ever heard!! It was great to get to handle these birds up close!! They look so majestic and huge flying over the waters near Round Island that it was really something else to get up close and personal with these Island Residence!

Other then that we have been busy with the Island maintenance. Weekly watering of the plants and tortoises and weeding of the older planting sites takes up a lot of time on Round Island and is a great way to see the Island and has resulted in some major leg muscles...since most of it required a hike to the summit :)

I am starting my 2 weeks back on the mainland and will be able to post some pictures once I am back in Black River! I will be returning to Round in a couple weeks with the next group of Fodies to be released...this will be my FIRST HELICOPTER RIDE EVER!

Hope everything is going well in Canada! I hear it is getting colder by the day!

Welcome to Round Island!!

Hey Everyone! I have been in Mauritius for about 3 weeks now and I love it here! I am currently on Round Island, an island off the coast that has been made into a Nature Reserve. There are currently 8 other people on the here with me. It is a bit hard to Blog from here as the internet connection is a dial up and we are also incredible busy!! I will post some pictures when I get back on the mainland and update everyone on what I have been doing.  I am an Assistant Warden here so I am getting to do a lot of neat things and dabble in a bunch of different things. I have done Petrel Nest site surveys (and actually get to catch them and band them!!), weekly watering f the Tortoises and plants and some weeding, and plant nursery work. The thing I have been enjoying most is the BOA SEARCHES!!! They are so amazing and fun, and can only be done after dark! I have may cool pictures to share from these nights!! Well I am leaving the Island on Nov 12^th for my two weeks off so I will get on here and post some pictures and share some stories from my first month on Round Island!!

Arrived in Mauritius

Hello Everyone!

Sorry I have failed to update this in so long :( I had to go back to Canada between my Jersey stay and arriving here in Mauritius because of a delay with my Visa. I talked to some people here and they have had similar issues. I can't say it was all bad as it was wonderful to experience some of the amazing weather we had in Nova Scotia and spend time with Yvon, my family and friends :)

I finally arrived in Mauritius on Thursday morning at 7:25am, that's midnight for all you east coaster back home. The first two days were spent shopping for essentials, getting poked and prodded for my medical and meeting all the people in the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation Office (MWF). Everyone at the office was great and made me feel very welcome and excited to get started!!

I got to spend my first night on Ile aux aigrette, a wonderful little off-shore Island which is a Nature Reserve here. MWF has a field station and does a lot of work on the island. No one actually lives on the Island accept the MWF staff .....oh and a few GIANT TORTOISES!! There were really amazing species like the Mauritius Fodie flying around. We then returned to the weekend house for...well the weekend...and I got to meet everyone on all the different project. Everyone is so nice and a lot of fun!!

I will  be working back on Ile aux aigrette this week and living in the field station. My main work there will be helping in the plant nursery. I then will spend my second week working with Venessa, one of the Round Island wardens, on Ile aux aigrette to get some training before I head to  Round Island. I have been given the role of Warden Assistant on Round Island which means I will get to do work on all the projects there as well as the day to day conservation work there. I am really honored to have such an amazing posting while I am here!!

Well I guess that's about it for today! There is no internet on Ile aux aigrette so I will be keeping a written blog while I am there and post it next weekend. Also, I have decided that since there is so much incredible experiences and adventures in my future I would start to keep another blog. The new blog will be my personal experiences and weekend stories outlet, and this one will continue to let you all know what is going on with my MWF work and projects! I encourage you all to follow both! The new one is called VISITING THE DODO and can be found on this same website.

Lastly, if you feel like leaving a comment or just want to say hello, I'd love to hear from everyone reading this!

LET THE ADVENTURES BEGIN!!

 

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