Bwanji!

In May and June of 2007, 13 undergraduate students from Northern Michigan University are taking a field course in Zambia. Most of the students are majors in the Biology department, and all of them will be doing short field studies of their own design while on the ground in Zambia. The group will be making a stop in London on the way, spending four days seeing Zambia/Africa-related British sites (Burton's tomb, Livingstone's artefacts at the Royal Geographic Society, the British Museum of Natural History, etc.) and adjusting to the time change. The course is being led by me, Dr. Alec Lindsay, a professor in the Department of Biology at NMU, and Dr. Jackie Bird - a parasitologist in our department. We have made this blog so students can hopefully post notes thoughts, pictures and discoveries to the world. This should allow classmates, teachers, family and friends to share in their insights and keep track of their travels. Not only that, but viewers of the blog can add comments to posts - please do! We would love to hear your thoughts. Zikomo!

23 April 2007

Crane behavior


What I plan to Study:
While in Zambia I hope to study crane interactions and daily movement. As there seems to be little insight into everyday life of the Grey Crowned Cranes, I hope to observe if there are specific times of the day that cranes hunt, rest, and gather in groups. I hope to view a crane nest or two, as they nest in trees, and also watch interactions between mates.

Some concerns:
My major concern is that I will not have enough time in each place to conduct enough data collection. This would be frustra
ting as I only have a limited time to do my project and designing a new one on the fly could prove very difficult.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Way cool Kala. Best wishes for a great field trip. It interesting to note that each member your team will be adding to the overall knowledge of the universe...so that all can learn. Dad

Anonymous said...

Kala, You have worked so hard to make this trip happen, I am impressed! Study hard, do good work, and don't forget to clean your plate!
Love, Mom

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday Kala!! Woo Hoo! Hoping you and your team are having a great trek and some fun along the way! Love, Dad!

Anonymous said...

Kala:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOOOOOOO-OOOUUUUUUU,
Happy BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
Loveya and missya, yer mommie

Anonymous said...

Kala , Its been a while since hearing from you! I know you have stated that this is to be expected, but I sure think (and worry) about you often. We all want to know if any big critter has taken a chomp out of you yet! bonnie