Earthwatch Team ?? Day 2: Training Day

Today, after a goodnight's sleep, the volunteers came over to our house to begin training. First, Luis gave a seminar about why the Darwin's finches are such an iconic example of adaptive radiation and evolution. He also spoke about the influence humans are having on the evolution of Darwin's finches in the Galápagos.

Once the volunteers knew about all things finch-related, we showed them how to set up and take down mist-nets. The volunteers were quick to pick up the different knots we use.

And of course, with this being the Galápagos, we had a couple of visitors in our yard. One G. fuliginosa was covered in red pollen, most likely from Acacia flamboyant or Delonix regio, an introduced ornamental species.

We had some visitors inside the house as well!

An ani also came to hang out with us...

And some yellow warblers taking a bath. Always cute...

Tomorrow we start our actual data collection, so we headed to bed early to get a good night's sleep!