Mice and Shrews

Tuesday started out great with the fact that I could sleep in until 6:00am; and that is waking up early for the mountains. Slept amazingly well because of the cool crisp air, I am loving the mountains.

Went and checked the traps and we caught 2 four striped mice and a forest shrew at the grassland sight and nothing at the forest sight. Took the measurements of each animal including weight, body length, tail length, ear size, and foot size. The mice were very calm and relaxed while we took the measurements but the shrew kept trying to bite us and get out of the bag we held him in. Rachel, one of the volunteers, decided she hates shrews because of this but I think they are cute.

After we went to the river for a swim and a picnic. They have a rope swing to swing from so we all took turns jumping in. The water was freezing but once you got used to it it was not too bad just made our hearts stop for a bit. Paul, a volunteer, went the most times trying to do some tricks as he jumped off but mostly he just ended up doing a back or belly flop. I spent most of the time in the water while most of the girls decided they would rather sun tan.

The afternoon we went back to the trap sights and we had caught more four striped mice and again nothing in the forest area. We then went to a big waterfall to take some pictures. Kaggie dropped us off to walk to the waterfall and went to the other side to take photos of us on the waterfall. We somehow missed the path and ended up getting a little lost but we found it in the end.

The evening was spent cooking dinner and more games of cards – mostly “Uno” and “blackjack”.

Photos - Rachel on rope swing & Everyone learning how to measure the animals