Sunrise over the Atlantic in La Paloma. This was often the view I saw as we pulled into the house after a night of splotlighting. This particular site was one hour + drive away but was a very good site. From the area where we had to leave the car it was another 1-km hike to where to birds roosted but well worth it. -----------------------------------------

This is another, more accessible site and much closer to the bunk house. This piece of land (above) divides the Atlantic Ocean from the Bay and was usually chock full of shorebirds. During the week the numbers fell a bit due to the heavy amount of people traffic going fishing or recreating in other ways. This area is designated a National Park (Guardeparques) in Uruguay and there was a very nice blind set in the sand dunes. This worked well for bird banding (below). We could run two teams banding and two teams spotlighting though the area was hardly large enough for so much spotlight activity.

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Finding a vehicle that will accommodate 2m long iron poles and 55-gallon drums that contain cryoshippers in addition to more equipment and 6 people is no easy task. The first objective was always to get the gear from the port of entry to the destination. That always took creativity. Here in Latin America the bus system is amazing though!!! After hauling everything in a caminoetta taxi and a rental car (always rent a car with a pass through from the trunk) to the bus station, we were able to ship everything from Montevideo to La Paloma for a ridiculously small fee. Then, on the first try we rented this small truck. Not bad for the bed that could handle all the eqiupment but in the end it had engine trouble and traded it in for the magnificent Fiorino (on the right in the photo below). That truck/car hybrid could handle anything and the space in the back was great for processing birds, there was huge amount of room.

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In Montevideo I enjoyed my only vegetarian meal. It was OK. Though Latin America really does excel at meals containing meat. One of my favorites things is the Chivito. Perhaps you know of this sandwich. You can get it al plate (w/o bun) or as a sandwich. It goes like this: a thin piece of steak with bacon (only in the really nice restaurants) ham, cheese, a fried egg (over easy if done correctly), lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise. Mmm, mmm. It has been a good standby. Otherwise, I enjoyed whatever came out of that pot you see Neilson stirring.

Back to Civilization

We wrapped up capture in the rice fields with a bang: on friday morning we caught 5 Pectoral Sandpipers, 2 White-rumps and later in the night after taking in all of the nets and othe field equipment, we lost our sanity and went nite-liting and caught 5 Golden-Plovers! That was great. The remaining skeleton crew of Matilde, Julian and I are all so tired and ready to sleep for days. We drove back to Montevideo this A.M. to return a rental car and now have to take care of all those tiny logistical issues before Julian and I depart for Buenos Aires on the ferry tonight. I am ready to return to Buenos Aires for a few days, investigate export and import permits and shipping and head back to the states. I promise pictures this week! Chao!

La Coronilla

Again, I apologize for the lack of photos since I am writing from an internet cafe but I tell you, Uruguay is beautiful! Imagine Kansas with the ocean coast....We were very succesfull capturing shorebirds on Laguna de Rocha and packed up once more and headed north, just 25km south of the Uruguay-Brazil border to a sleepy coastal town, not yet awakwened by the tourist season, La Coronilla. Across from the town there is an Estancia with rice agriculture where we have already been successful, capturing 6 Pectoral Sandpipers and 2 American Golden Plovers this morning!!! I hope the trend continues. The shorebirds love the newly flooded rice and swarm like ants. Just one more week in the field, I hope to make the most of it. I will try to post some photos once I reutrn to Beunos Aires next week. Chao!!