sometimes like Bilbo Baggin's “I feel thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread.”

Phew.  Sometimes things can be a bit hectic.   
The academic life is not always a slow or stationary one.

This has been the year of travel.  After a cross country (re- CA to MA) move my postdoc started with getting stranded due to a storm for an extra week at the 2012 bat meeting which was held in San Juan, Puerto Rico- and I am not sure if I've fully 'settled in since then.

It has been in many regards amazing - lots of great field adventures and meetings - such as the 2013 bat meetings in San Jose, Costa Rica earlier this month *the best attended bat meetings yet.* Very cool.  However, with a trip to yet another very exciting meeting hanging over my head it's been hard to settle back in.  Home for two weeks and some quick histology work, talk preparation and grocery shopping does not bode well for fully settling in.  So just as a paper of mine was recently published in Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology I find myself keeping up with travel-delayed tasks and hopeful that a transatlantic flight will allow me to get those next few papers off!  The skills to travel well -and by that I mean in a manner that bodes well for being productive- I am hoping to improve! 

Perhaps for these reasons today's post is not really about much at all.  In fact today- no bats, no science just a quote or two, some ramblings and a song that I find incredibly pretty. 

Here's to a pending fall, trips near or far and to savoring both the wandering boot heels of the vagabonding postdoc life as well as accepting one's inner hobbit.  

As Bilbo Baggins said it best;
 “...I have no use for adventures. Nasty, disturbing, and uncomfortable things.” 

“I wish I was at home in my nice hole by the fire, with the kettle just beginning to sing!” 
(J.R.R. Tolkien)

Enjoy this pretty song from Tegan and Sara the amazing songstress sisters from northern North America- Calgary, Canada. 

Bat meeting 2013

There are many scientific conferences but I have to say that the International Bat Research Conference just might be the most stimulating, fun, and collaborative one I've had the pleasure to attend.  This year the meeting in San Jose, Costa Rica was absolutely amazing including researchers from near and far.  The next time this group gathers it will be in South Africa which is quite exciting!

Highlights from this year's IBRC meeting:
>a symposium dedicated to Elisabeth Kalko and Bjorn Siemers,
>a Behavioral Ecology symposium with fascinating work by people like Gerald Carter who studies food sharing in vampire bats (LOTS of other great talks that I hope to write about later),
>a wonderful symposium on the evolution of bats
>amazing plenary talks every day by people such as Rodrigo Medellin, Gary McCracken, and Dan Jansen
>posters from all over the world
>local food and coffee

>and even finishing with salsa dancing

I have lots of great ideas about things to share here on this blog- so stay tuned!

What makes male bats sexy to lady bats? How do bats get lucky? Daft punk meets bat research!

 

Please enjoy the following excellent video on how to get lucky if you are a Mystacina bat.

Enjoy some Daft Punk while you are at it!

These cute bats (Mystacina tuberculata) are New Zealand's resident bat commonly called the New Zealand Lesser Short-tailed Bat.  They are a fascinating little bat but for now I'll let the video entice you to learn more about them.  

This video comes from the research being doing by Cory Toth at University of Auckland and if you like it please head over to YouTube and give Cory a 'like'!  His video is currently in a competition (ASSAB Video Competition).

Daft Punk if you don't know them:

and THAT is where the name postdoctoral scholar came from!

PhD comics nails it again!

Here is a gem from Jorge Cham

www.phdcomics.com by Jorge Cham

Trinidad bats

Hello from Trinidad where the bats are flying and the rain (today) is falling!  Here are a few photos to enjoy including my first observation of a bat-lizard interaction!

Ok so the bat and lizard are NOT actually 'interacting' but rather the bat is flying past the lizard.  The bat and lizard were living in the same roost. 

Trinidad and Tobago bats

I am back home from a recent trip to Trinidad where the bats were abundant and from what I could see roosting in almost any and every abandoned house/garage/store on the island.  That may be a bit of an exaggeration but there are certainly many amazing bats in Trinidad.  Trinidad itself is beautiful, while the people are fun, kind and diverse.  The island country just off the coast of Venezuela is home to amazing animals, plants as well as food!  Just a word or two about the bats follow but I would suggest you read more about this interesting country if you find time.

Together with researchers from several different institutions we captured many species of bats but here are some of the more photogenic:

The greater spear-nosed bat (Phylostomus hastatus)

This very large bat makes very interesting vocalizations, roosts in groups and is known by bat biologists to have a forceful bite.  That said these are fairly sweet bats and amazingly beautiful.  Phylostomus eats fruits.

The ghost-faced bat (Mormoops megalophylla)

This is the 'oh my gosh what happened to it's face!' bat.  Mormoops is an insect eater and comes in beautiful shades of orange- in case you can peel your eyes away from its strange face long enough to appreciate its fur color.  Why the weird face?  well that's a story for another time but may have something to do with it's use of echolocation to find insect prey.

The short-tailed fruit bat (Carollia perspicillata)

This tough looking little nose-leafed bat is the main bat studied on the island and lives in a variety of habitats.  These little fruit-eating bats are quite small but are also famously good mothers and will take great care of a baby despite possible risks to the mother.

The Disk-winged bat (Thyroptera tricolor)

Another insect-eater, these tiny little bats roost head-up (which is unusual for bats who usually hang upside down) inside of leaves as they unroll.  Read more about how other sucker footed bats don't suck here. 

I hope to post more about T&T in the future but meanwhile I refer you to Trinibats.com which has amazing photos and information about a suite of other bats.

another graduate student graduating... cartoon

I have to admit I loved this recent PhD Comic: