Week 35- Birding and Hurling

UM's Clock Tower

Monday 20th April-

I had my usual Monday, with class and work. I brought home lots of boxes to start packing up my stuff for next years students. 

Tuesday 21st April-

My classes today went fine. I worked on my ornithology proposal for a while that evening, giving it some final touches considering it's due tomorrow. At The Wildlife Society that evening there were the elections for next years officers. It sounds like they will have a great year next year. Shannen and I watched a BBC documentary about birds because we have an exam on Friday.

Wednesday 22nd April-

In my 8am genetics and evolution class we talked about human evolution. I've a great interest in this so loved the lecture. After my other classes I headed off to work. It was Earth Day so the theme was old style foods, using ancient grains and stuff. That night I submitted my final version of my ornithology proposal about kestrels and barn owls in Ireland. Nice to have one less assignment to worry about.

Thursday 23rd April-

Up at the crack of dawn for my 7am bird field trip. Today we traveled to some trails around Missoula and Kelly's Island. We heard lots of birds but didn't see too many. It's scary how easy it's getting to just hear a bird and be like "Oh, that's a red-breasted nuthatch". I didn't even particularly like birds before this class :P . I went home after the field trip to study for my exam tomorrow.  I hadn't had time to study for it yet so I spent the whole day revising.

7am field trips aren't too bad on a day like this.

Friday 24th April-

We continued with the human evolution story today, learning about Denisovans and Neanderthals. My bird exam went ok, not as well as the other two but I think I did fine. I spent that afternoon writing up my blog before heading off to work. That night I started to pack away some of my stuff, like little souvenirs and stuff. It's sad to think my time in Missoula is almost over, but at the same time I'm looking forward to going back to Ireland.

Saturday 25th April-

Shannen and I, the dedicated students that we are, got up to go birding at 8am. We went to Mc Clay flats, where we'd seen many birds the week before. This time we saw even more birds. We spotted wood ducks, which perch high up in trees unusual for ducks. We heard a grouse drumming and found the female that was being attracted, a ruffed grouse. Then we heard a sharp chittering and found a bunch of squirrels harassing a great horned owl! We also saw the bald eagles nest again but could not find the owls nest people had told us about. A productive morning all in all, and definitely helps learn for the bird I.D exam I have next Thursday. That afternoon there was a hurling tournament in the Grizzly Stadium. Hurling according to Google is "an Irish game resembling field hockey, played with a shorter stick with a broader oval blade. It is the national game of Ireland and may date back to the 2nd millennium BC." The Grizzlies won the tournament. It was pretty cool to see little American kids running around wearing hurling jerseys watching the games. After the game, Kate, Aoife, Shannen and I went around campus and took photos of where we study. We'd been wanting to do this for a while so finally got around to it. That evening Shannen's Missoula family asked us over for a BBQ along with three more international students. It was a really relaxing evening and we stayed chatting till almost 12 o' clock. 

A killdeer

Wood duck

Great horned owl

Ruffed grouse female

Hurling tournament

Myself and Kate chilling on the oval

Hanging out with the Grizzly

T-rex on campus

Dire wolf

Sabre toothed tiger

Monte Bear the mascot

BBQ

Sunday 26th April-

I started the day by watching episode three of the new Game of Thrones season. This season is looking pretty dramatic already! I spent the rest of the day working on homework and actually got ahead of schedule for once! Shannen and two of our friends from our bird class, Jamie and Lauren, met up that evening to start studying for our bird I.D exam. We must know about 225 species of bird that live in Montana, while also learning the calls of 10! 

Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed hearing some more of my antics!- Fiona