#mistnet

Happy exploring!

....as they watch how birds are banded during a recent field trip to the Otways. Thanks to Dr Kaori Yokochi for this image.

On my second saturday at the MLC I went mistnetting with Lex and some other volunteers. We caught a beautiful hummingbird and two emerald toucanets. The toucanets were very feisty and one kept biting Lex.  We took the toucanets back to the MLC to show everyone else.  I carried one of the toucanets back.  At one point I slipped quite impressively and landed on one knee. Thankfully the toucanet was fine, even if I was a little sore.  Everyone crowded round to see the toucanets and take photos. Once they were processed they were released together.  We had granola for breakfast and then headed back into the forest to take down the mistnets.  After some ID test revision, it was time for lunch – vegetables in sauce with rice.  As with most Saturday afternoons, it was quite quiet at the MLC and there wasn’t much scheduled.  I spent some time in the MLC biogarden and then it was time for the dreaded ID test!  After a tasty dinner of Spaghetti Carbonara, Lexi, Rob, Marcus, Ingrid and I went on a stream walk. It was amazing. We saw several frogs, including a hypsiboas boans which was perched on branch overhanging the stream.  The further we went along the stream, the more difficult it became. There were lots of fallen trees to climb over and it was difficult to tell how deep the water was in places.  At one point we were more than waist deep in water. Marcus started trying to climb along the rocky sides of the stream to avoid getting wet – a quite impressive spiderman impression.  A few minutes later Lex spotted a caiman and he managed to catch it. It was a magnificent creature.  We soon finished the stream walk but there was still more wildlife to see. I found another hypsiboas boans swimming in a puddle! We arrived back at the MLC exhausted, soaking wet , but with smiles on our faces. This was my first and favourite stream walk at the MLC.