Research time

So I fail at keeping you guys informed. I am now into my first field season for my thesis project. tl;dr, I am investigating the use of restored wetlands and fish farm ponds by migrating shorebirds, which are largely in decline, and the interior subspecies of the Least Tern, which is endangered. The Mississippi River delta area in eastern Arkansas used to be mostly wetland, but it's now mostly rice and soy fields instead. But lately there's been an expansion of aquaculture in the region, and the federal government has also started a farm bill which provides monetary incentives for farmers to retire marginal farmland and restore it to its original wetland condition - or something resembling that, anyway. So both of these things may help shorebirds and terns which use the Mississippi River flyway each spring and fall, and it's my job to figure out how many and which species and what kinds of habitat conditions are associated with bird use in these areas. It's pretty cool, and I get to work with a lot of small businesses and local landowners that actually want to help birds by making their farming operations more bird-friendly.

For you, the internet, this means I am gone most days of the week, and come May, once classes are over, I will be gone even more, until early June sometime. So if something of major internet importance happens, inform me! As I will probably miss it. Also, spam me with lulzy nonsense. I always love that.

Now, for those few people on my flist who don't already know, RvB Season 10 starts on May 28th this year. At PAX, RT showed a very early version of a scene from the Freelancer part of the story, with yet another battle between the Freelancers and an Insurrectionist cell. Watch it. Now. :)

(Mini not-really-spoiler: Sigma is apparently voiced by Elijah Wood. Yes, really. Now they just need to do a live-action film version with Sean Bean as the Director... Either that, or John Reed needs to make some iconable faces for me.)