The Biology Family (different than biological family)

I feel like the grinch when his heart grew three sizes after my roomies helped me to do an exclosure. These are the "cages" that keep predators out, are hopefully completed in under 20 minutes, and require at least 3 people to construct. Oh, and the weather has to be not too windy and not raining and not too hot as to not disturb the unprotected eggs. That's a lot of factors to try to plan for, but my roommates really stepped it up by spending their Saturday evening helping me out. 

The newly exclosed eggs!

Pic by my housemate Kate

I promised a good work out, some bruises, and pizza.

However, I didn't know we'd meet this snapping turtle on the road to saving plover lives who would spice things up even more! This big ole guy was blocking traffic while trying to cross the road. A car holding 2 wildlife biologists and two horticulturalists happened upon the situation and resolved the crisis with a few shovels and a tarp! After we had moved the turtle (and he had snapped at my fingers) a policeman showed up to deal with the traffic. He declared he'd be staying far away from the turtle because he liked all his fingers. 

Let me reiterate - four young women 19-27 years old, Saturday night, living on an island, working (volunteering) their butts off to save animal lives 30 minutes away from home. Is your heart a little bigger now too? (Don't get me wrong, I still kept up appearances as a "regular" at our favorite dive bar after the turtle/plover festivities). 

I guess I didn't scare 19-year-old Sarah off too much, because she joined me Sunday for "bring your housemate to work day". She learned a lot about piping plovers, natural history of the area, and birds in general. Thanks Sarah for keeping me company on a dreary Sunday in the field.