Don't look down!
Me coming down from a 40-spotted Pardalote nest in Tasmania, Australia Within 24 hours of landing in Tasmania, Australia, I was 20 feet up a tree. Climbing trees I have found, is quite fun. Not that I didn't already know this, having climbed trees in my backyard growing up like most kids, but now I use ropes and feel safe about it. Why do I climb trees? To look into bird nests of course! In Tasmania, I was studying an extremely endangered species called the 40-spotted Pardalote, and hardly anything was known about its natural history. Whenever studying birds, especially endangered species, it is important to know their nesting success. To have a successful nest means a pair of birds raises their young from eggs all the way until the jump out of the nest and fly off on their own. Bad weather, predators, parasites, or disease are a some of the reasons why a nest might fail. To study this aspect of their lives, it means finding nests, and then monitoring them so you know how ma...