nanofishology's Journal

Earlier this week, I had the surreal experience where people paid money to have me show them videos of caterpillars pooping (??) and I got to talk into a microphone and everything? Anyway, it was a ton of fun, even if it was only a ten minute presentation (?!). At least I got to defend mosquitos in the debate (and you BET mosquitos won).

The event was part of a quarterly series of shows in Austin called the Dionysium. It's essentially an intellectual variety show, and I will have to check it out if I have found a job by the time the next one rolls around (but that's another post ;_;)

The presentation file is here! (very large because it is full of embedded videos, though sped up VERY FAST to fit into ten minutes!): https://www.dropbox.com/s/iohrnyj1ctvk3ef/2019%20Dionysium%20Drowning%20in%20Caterpillars.pptx?dl=0

Original event posting in Austin Chronicle: https://www.austinchronicle.com/events/arts/theatre/the-dionysium-bugs-2380669/

Howdy y’all!

I found out on Friday that my company is moving to the middle of nowhere, Massachusetts next year, and... uh... I’m doubtful anything they could offer me would be enough to leave TEXAS and MY PEOPLE in Texas. I’m going to try to negotiate for working remotely, BUT I’m not sure they’ll go for it.

SO I’m casting out my job net as far and as wide as possible! I am currently a Polymer Research Scientist in R&D doing 50/50 wet lab/project management work, prepping for the PMP exam. Background in chemical/biomedical engineering and nanotech with a Masters from UT Austin, 12 years experience working in science/tech, 6 years specifically in hands-on polymer and/or nanotech lab reseach. I ALSO serve as the Director of Outreach and Education for my Master Naturalist chapter. ALSO work as a science communicator, arguably both with and independently from my TxMN chapter, online and in person.

I am up for any challenge and willing to switch industries as long as I stay in the Austin area. Current job in in San Marcos (90 mile daily commute...), so I’m willing to drive A LOT if necessary. In theory, I’d love to work for naturey non-profits or gov agencies BUT I have student loans and oh boy.

Supposedly R&D isn’t moving until next summer so I theoretically have time, but also my current job has been unnecessarily stressful and I actually started job hunting before this news came out.

If anybody has leads or secret jobs or a pile of money they don’t need, I would be most appreciative in receiving the info and/or pile of money.

If you pay much attention to where my observations in iNat pop up on the map, you may notice I... uh... get around a bit. I drive A LOT in the name of citizen science, and car maintenance is expensive--more expensive than I had anticipated, apparently!

So in anticipation of MOTH WEEK! and also to pay for emergency car expenses that are not in my budget ;_; I've launched a fundraiser! The fundraiser ends on July 21 (The day Moth Week starts!), and shirts will ship out soon after.

So Many Moths / So Little Time

https://www.bonfire.com/so-many-moths-so-little-time

IN PROGRESS JEEZ HOLD ON
note to self: add route maps for each day

Videos:
Grasshopper Dance-off (Bastrop State Park): https://youtu.be/1AQaWrDZmZ4
Barn Swallow Chicks in Nest (Bastrop State Park): https://youtu.be/zKiehSd75HM
Antlion vs Harvester Ant (Hornsby Bend in Travis County): https://youtu.be/E3bhQkiCQ80
The Duck Whisperer (Old Settler's Park in Round Rock): https://youtu.be/_WO4iQIyQuo

(list is still in progress! Be PATIENT jeeez)

Eight human observations (7 linked; 8th: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/12218166)
this Black-throated Sparrow video: https://youtu.be/a3P0LeGAY1s
these Cave Swallows (video): https://youtu.be/5pYzwrxOvdY
this cricket video: https://youtu.be/m4bs9uGnjMo
THESE DANCING SCORPIONS: https://youtu.be/Zn3ce2tEAb0
This CUTE LITTLE BEE taking a cactus flower bath: https://youtu.be/K9gvLta2A4o (featuring the real live voices of me and @silversea_starsong with @psyllidhipster doing backup)
This Blue-grey Gnatcatcher with ANGRY EYEBROWS: https://youtu.be/9U9yNGkYq0w (my first time seeing the breeding plumage! Silly birbs!)
Lark Sparrow: https://youtu.be/FWZk2VXQjOY

1. I have finalized the logistical nightmare that was planning for a week-long business trip in Paris while arranging pet-sitting for 6 special needs cats and now I can actually start thinking about what to do on my day off in Paris. I'm flying into CDG early Saturday morning, will be meeting up with a friend downtown. I have never been to mainland Europe. Where are good/easy places to see LOTS OF GOOD BIRDS? Thnx

2. Now I can plan for the Bioblitz in Del Rio!
   @silversea_starsong and @psyllidhipster When do y'all plan to arrive in Austin? Would you like to leave at the buttcrack of dawn on Thursday? Leave on Wednesday and take lots of "rest stops"? I don't have to pay for petsitting for my Paris trip so I can afford be in Del Rio longer. Still need to head back to Austin on Sunday, probably late morning/early afternoon.

@alisonnorthup Are you riding with @hydaticus or me? Do you need to borrow any camping equipment?

Also: I am taking my car to get serviced next week so we don't have any surprises on the way!

I've been meaning to do this for a while. Do I need to say I have an addictive personality?

Somebody stage an intervention (after City Nature Challenge 2018, anyway)

Update: I used the iNat export feature (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/export) to make a really quick observation vs time graph and it's essentially the same!:

Texas A&M Entomology Open House?!?! Count me in!

entomology.tamu.edu/event/tamu-insect-collection-open-house

I'll be driving up from Austin, and have space in the car if anybody wants a free ride. Who else is going?!
@sambiology @hydaticus @kimberlietx @wildcarrot @gcwarbler @ncowey

Almost all of my something-thousand observations so far have been iPhone photos. While I have become a wizard at taking iPhone photos, my lack of a "real" camera has held me back significantly in the area of "fast, far away, flying things." Part of the reason I am so into bugs is they're a lot easier to get close to than anything else (and let's be real, most plants are pretty boring :P). I like birds, but I have avoided getting really into them because I had no way to getting reliably good photos of them. I have a mount that lets me take photos through binoculars, telescopes, etc, but it was such a pain to use for birdwatching I just kept it on the microscope. And when it came to butterflies or dragon/damselflies, I have been best off just finding them asleep in my yard. During the day, I'd get clearer shots of the Loch Ness Monster.

Early this year I signed up for the Audubon trip to Malawi. I knew I needed a real camera for this trip or I'd regret it forever. So in July I bought the Nikon Coolpix P900, aka the best birding camera you can get for $500. It has 83x optical zoom AND does great macros. I tried to use the camera a couple times and was overwhelmed by having no idea how to use it, so I signed up for a half-day workshop on nature photography in September. The class was excellent, completely demystified all the functions of the camera, and gave me the confidence to use it.

So of course I tried it out a couple times but didn't really get much birding practice with it until I actually landed in Malawi earlier this month. Over the course of the trip, I gained a reputation among the group as being a really good photographer (???), probably because I was regularly able to grab a few shots of briefly-sighted birds that were good enough for the guides to ID from them.

Today (I guess yesterday, since it's almost 2 am) I was at the Blair Woods Sanctuary (love that place!), and after volunteering I spent a couple hours wandering around with my camera. I still need to figure out which ISO to use for any given outing, but oh man, I've been going through the photos I took today and some of them I can't even believe came from me.

For example, here is an example of a spreadwing damselfly from a few months ago:

ouch

Here is another spreadwing:

blinks

huh

So yeah, expect me to be posting a LOT more often! (is that even possible??)

I just got back from Malawi, if you couldn’t tell by the mess of observations I managed to make on the plane. These are barely a drop in the bucket—I managed to take so many photos my camera had to start counting from 0 again. Over 10,000 photos! Granted, I was shooting in burst mode for most of the trip (also got MUCH better at using the camera, so don’t be alarmed by how crappy the current observations are), but even overestimating that I took 100 shots for every species, that is still about 1200 observations.

So, a warning to all who follow me. Expect a lot of African bugs in the coming days/weeks.

It was an amazing trip, and I HIGHLY recommend vacationing at Mvuu lodge in Liwonde National Park. We spent most our time there, and I just can’t get over it. I have never had too much to eat on vacation (strange vegan diet, etc), but the chef there worked miracles. And the guides, David and Samuel, are FANTASTIC. Samuel especially is a birding savant. Without binoculars, he would see a little speck in a tree and say exactly what species it was before any of us could even find it with binoculars. He even saw a pangolin in the park once, but the people he was guiding didn’t even take a picture of it, which prompted him to start carrying a camera with him everywhere. The park is on the Shire River, so there are a ton of bird species there. The only downside to the park is all the wild animals (especially hippos and elephants) graze on the grass at night, so my nighttime bug hunting excursions were very brief and incomplete, and limited to what I could find around my doorway.

The trip organizer, Jordan Price at Travis Audubon, did a fantastic job organizing this SUPER AFFORDABLE trip. For well under $5000 (including round-trip airfare), we spent 10 days with the best birders and naturalists in the country. This was his first time organizing a trip like this, and he is planning to do many more. We had people from Oregon and Arizona joining us Texans, so anybody is welcome. Let me know if you want his contact info, and he can add you to his safari mailing list.