We missed the first three, but the fourth was a success-- as soon as Scott pulled the noose closed the pelican began to flap, clearly caught by the leg. We ran up and grabbed it. | |
After #1 had been tagged, photographed, measured, and released, we re-set the snares for #2, and it didn't take long for us to catch another. As we were processing, it began to rain lightly, and we noticed a wall of black cloud moving toward us. Soon after we released the bird, the rain began to fall harder. We lay flat on the ground as the thunderstorm passed overhead, creating instant mudslides and filling the air around us with electricity. Once the storm had passed, we set up in the new section of the colony and, after several tries, captured our third bird of the day. It only took us 25 minutes to tag, process, and release it: well on the way to our 15-minute target. | |