Life on the booming grounds: life update

Its been a very busy couple of months here at the refuge. Together with the other interns here I have been shredding lettuce and feeding prairie chickens in the mornings and evenings. This leaves few chances to go home to Austin on weekends and see family and friends. What do I do here on the refuge? I have been playing my guitar, jogging around the marsh after work, watching lots of moviesand going to trivia nights on Wedsnesday in Katy. My favorite activity is reading on my rocking chair. I recently updated my bird life list. I am up to 161(!) species including a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher I saw outside my window, a juvenile White Ibis, an American Avocet (one of my favorite birds) and a juvenile White-tailed Hawk that we banded earlier this year. I am also trying to sign up for a wildfire and emergency management training class in the fall. If I complete this I can receive my Red card and potentially join a fire crew and respond to wildfires across Texas.

Unfortunately with all of the chicken care and feeding, I have had my hands full and have been unable to carry my SLR camera around to take pictures. Luckily though with the power of technology there is a camera on my phone which I have used to take random pictures of some things that catch my eye. The photos are low quality and taken from this spring to the present.