Cattle Egrets Never Lie (June 27th and 28th, 2011)

The last 48 hours have had their share of ups and down, but I am finding it easier and easier to stay optimistic even at the more boring of times.  I have been keeping a daily log outlining the events of each day which includes who we focal sampled, when it occurred, where it occurred, etc etc, as well as other information pertaining to the herd’s antics. Using this log I have also been able to calculate the amount of time we have spent waiting in the last two days... 13 hours to be exact. Yup. 19 hours if you count the day before. If this had happened a week ago I would have been furious, but patience has become a huge asset and mine improves everyday. 

These 13 hours, in my mind, have changed from the most brutal hours of never ending agony, to very calm periods of time. I always sit on the right side of the Ele-truck, which has allowed me to bask in the sun for, well basically, the entire day. Although it is still very cold in the mornings I have begun to strategically layer my clothes so that when the temperature hits 23 degrees around 1:00pm I am prepared. I peel off my layers and wear shorts and a tank top. Ideal for when I hang my legs over the edge of the vehicle and tan my pasty arms and legs. My hiking boot tan will be magnificent when coupled with the two, or maybe three, different t-shirt tans I will have. Aside from tanning, I have also started bringing a few books along to read between data samples. I have managed to read 364 pages these last two days, the last 97 pages being from the book I swapped Abbie for. I am only now realizing that I should have brought more books with me. 

So, if you haven’t already guessed, the last two days have been fairly slow. At times we would sit on a dirt road for hours, surrounded by thicket, wondering why on earth we didn’t turn around and just head home. But as the last two weeks have taught me, cattle egrets never lie. Ever. These small white birds have become the tell tale sign for when elephants are lurking in the thickets. Every sighting we have made involves these birds, whether they are perching in surrounding trees, flying over head, or hopping along behind the elephants. As we sit in the truck, reading our books, these birds continuously fly overhead reminding us that even though we can’t see the elephants they are still there... and so, we must wait, and wait we shall.