Catalina Island

The first weekend here (post move-in) consisted of a field trip to Catalina Island with my cohort so we could get to know each other, meet some grad students further along in their studies, and find out about opportunities to do field work off campus and collaborate with outside researchers.  Actually, our first real gathering was for a full day of "quantitative boot camp" consisting of 8 hours of tutorial in using the statistics program R. THAT was a true bonding experience!  So Catalina was a cake walk after that.

When we arrived we were whisked away (slowly whisked. In a large, lumbering van) and bypassed the main touristy town of Avalon which is home to the majority of the population and visitors.  We went straight to the interior of the island, which is almost entirely controlled by the Catalina Island Conservancy who work to protect the island from man-made fire, over use, and invasive species.  Two members of our cohort have been working on the island for the last few years and gave us an excellent behind-the-scenes kind of tour along with the chief conservation officer, Carlos de la Rosa, who is also adjunct faculty at UCLA.  

Catalina is part of the Channel Islands archipelago and home to the endangered Channel Island Fox.  A few years ago they did a major captive breeding and reintroduction program after the population was nearly wiped out by canine distemper.  During this program they learned a lot about the behavior of the foxes, and one pup was born with too many health problems to be successfully released so they kept her as an "ambassador" to the public.  We got to meet her and she was adoooorable- she had short little legs, like the corgi of foxes.  

We also got to meet a bald eagle (native and a recovering population) as well as a golden eagle (non-native and a predator of the endangered foxes) who were in similar situations to the fox and wouldn't survive on their own in the wild.

Ironically, the most iconic animal on Catalina 

is the bison. A herd was brought to the island in the 1920s for a silent movie shoot, and 

because it cost so much to ship them off the island, they were left there.  (Their scene was actually cut and they never even made it into the movie!)  The bison have a long history on the island and are a major tourist draw (downtown Avalon is full of bison statues and pictures) and many places serve buffalo burgers or tacos or jerky, though there are strict rules agains actually eating the bison on the island (instead they ship all the bison meat in from farms.  Seems silly).  The herd has grown quickly and its size is naturally unchecked, and the animals were causing some serious damage to native plants and cultural sights.  The Conservancy has begun implementing an innovative birth control method through shots to keep the population down, and so far it seems to be working.  All the crazy things you learn about when you hang out with scientists!

As a group we also got to visit some of the island's lovely beaches and go on a couple of hikes.  It was great to get to know people, and find out about this amazing part of Los Angeles County that is 20 miles off the coast!

A Whole New Sort of Adventure

*Side notes- I believe I fixed the problem of not being able to post comments without a Blogger account. Anyone should be able to post now, so comment away! Also, the blog has a fancy (and easy) new mobile interface if anyone feels like reading it on a smart phone or iPad! Yay!

After a couple of years cavorting around the world I'm settling in for the long haul and have officially moved to Los Angeles, where I'm starting my PhD at UCLA in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology program!  The move itself was very successful thanks, in large part, to my parents for being such good sports about driving me down and spending the better part of the weekend assembling Ikea furniture.  I love the stuff, but they sure make you work for it!  We got my room set up in record time though, and it feels great to be all moved in and able to focus on other things (like the 5 chapters of statistics programming homework I am procrastinating about!).

The campus is just a 20 minute bus ride from my apartment.  I brought my bike in case, but am totally intimidated by the streets around here! LA drivers are FAST!  I think the bike will wait for weekend cruises, or maybe when I know the streets better and am braver (or crazier).

Sunday night I went out to the field to help with the release of 50 Stephen's Kangaroo Rats, an endangered species that were being translocated from an area that is about to be bulldozed and developed to protected habitat.  The little guys have been in acclimation cages on site for a week, and we simply lifted the wire cages off the top and pulled out the plugs of their cardboard tube burrows.  Now it is up to them if they want to stay or go, but we're hoping they hang out and make that field their home!  They are adorable little guys!

Since I've had some free time before classes start, I went to the LA Natural History Museum on their free Tuesday (can't beat that!) to check out the brand new Dinosaur Hall, which was excellent.  The fossils were in bright, uncluttered rooms with lots of interactive touch screen activities, which was all very modern and grand.  But I can't help being drawn to the classic natural history displays like the giant dioramas in dark, wood paneled rooms which are both morbid and fascinating.  It brings you back to a day when science was really about collecting, and I'm glad we have moved beyond that but there is something about those displays that is still totally captivating.

I took more iPhone photos which I've been a little obsessed with lately, so I'll share a few of those here.