Saturday, January 19, 2013

Both yesterday and today were adventures, and at some points very trying between language barriers and a stupid migraine. We started off yesterday sampling in mangroves right across from one of the main roadways, Salaam, next to the water. It definitely was strange to hear traffic so close to a field site. The water was so smooth getting out the site and we saw quite a few birds. I'm really wishing that I would have purchased a nice camera before coming here to capture the crazy huge bird diversity as well (plants make much better subjects from a moving boat), but my camera still is getting the gist of what I'm trying to capture. Below is a photo of a bird with the longest legs relative to body size that I've ever seen. I think it's a stilt??


 We also saw flamingos. In the photo below, if you look at the center of the image, you'll see a flying pink/white stick : ) They are amazing birds and I'm looking forward to seeing more of them.
The mangrove we worked in was, by far, the densest forest so far. The trees were tall, the saplings were dense and everywhere, and there was a fine layer of sand that kept falling on us as we bushwhacked our way through the plots. I must admit that I wish that I knew Arabic yesterday. We had a very eager volunteer who wanted to help with everything, and his English was at the point where he understood some things but not the finer details needed for the plot sampling. I definitely was pushed to the max of my patience level as I tried over and over to explain/show/act out what we needed to do, and he kept trying to take things out of my hands in a thoughtful, polite manner, but I needed to do what I was doing with the things that I had (for those of you who know me well, I'm a very patient person, so you can imagine my state at that time). Eventually we got another staff member who knew what was going on and helped me take some measurements and the man learned by example. He kept saying, "Mr. Lisa, I've never seen a woman work so hard." I kept chuckling at the 'Mr. Lisa' part that I didn't let the second half of that sentence get to me.

 The weather was absolutely magnificent and I waded in the water a bit while we waited for the last crew to finish up. Below is a photo of one of the most unique buildings I've seen so far. Each triangle (set of 4 smaller ones) is a shade and can be operated by the tenant behind it. So, some parts of the day all of the screens are closed, other times all are open, and sometimes you see a few odd men out. Such a weird design! 
 (Zooey, here's your picture :) ).
At the end of the field day, we packed up our samples and headed to the local fish lab next to the harbor to process them and we continued to process them for most of today. All of you Burning Man friends, you can appreciate the magnificence of this building made out of shipping containers. On the inside, you would never know that you were inside of a bunch of them, and all of the containers were connected seamlessly. I wanted to take photos on the inside, but I was so slammed getting plants processed. Hopefully I'll be able to get more 'touristy' science photos in. The lab is in the middle of the shipping/packing area and there are a lot of suks (small markets) were you can get fish/plants/fruit/etc. It's definitely a trip to see the other side of Abu Dhabi, without the tourists.
 One thing about this city that I didn't know about is the huge feral cat population. They are everywhere and come up to beg for food. They're friendly enough and rub up against your leg, but it saddens me to see so many skinny cats and kittens.
We got an amazing Indian dinner last night in a local mall (I could go on for pages about this mall but will save that for when I have more time - what a trip!). I have never had such great Indian food before! Before I pass out, I'll share with you some none wetland photos from the past few days.
 


Tonight I'm in Al Mirfa and we have four days of mangrove island adventures, starting with an amazing preserve called Bu Tinah with dugongs and sea turtles :). Keep your fingers crossed that I get to see at least one of those!!!

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