Today was our last field day *sniff* with Team Mag-nificent,
and it truly was a magnificent day. We’ve been very fortunate with the weather
for this team, with most days being overcast so finch catching and observations
were just a touch cooler than if it had been sunny days. The EG team came back
in the afternoon buzzing with excitement, and we quickly found out why: they
had caught 30 birds! With that bumper morning, we stayed at the station in the
afternoon to enter all the data. That evening, Luis showed the volunteers
graphs using the data from the finches they had helped us capture and measure.
For the last few days, Luis, Diana, and I realized Team Mag-nificent
was conspiring about something. There would be secretive huddles after dinner,
mysterious trips to town during the breaks, and furtive glances at each other
occasionally. Tonight, we found out what all the secrecy was about, and was it
ever a treat! First, the Earthwatch volunteers made a team banner, with a magnificent
G. magnirostris
on it flexing its muscles. The banner is currently hanging proudly in our
common area.
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| Admiring the Team MAGnificent banner |
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| The Team MAGnificent banner |
Second, the team made custom t-shirts with the team name and
a wonderful design showing the radiation of Darwin’s finches. The team even
made shirts for Luis, Diana, and me, which we proudly wore to dinner tonight.
Third, the team had written a rap about their experience on the expedition and
performed it for us. Lyrics included descriptions of the field work, quips
about each of the volunteers and researchers, and refrains such as “De PI team
are dynamite/Patience galore at every site/They must have thought, ‘Gee, they’ve
past it’/What a surprise, they actually lasted!” We couldn’t stop laughing and
smiling at the creativity of Team Mag-nificent, and we are sad knowing they are
leaving us tomorrow.
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| Proudly wearing Team MAGnificent shirts at dinner on the last night of the Earthwatch expedition |
Luis, Diana, and I also had a small present for the team,
though we couldn’t possibly top what the Earthwatch volunteers had done for us!
We assembled a photo collage of the team and gave each volunteer one. We will
miss Team MAGnificent!
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