So the week started with some fun father-son bonding.  Not to get all sappy with you. My dad and I hung up a duck box in the creek behind their house.  Its not really work stuff, but it is still worth mentioning.  Got a couple pictures here and as you can see, I had to test out the inside to make sure the ducks would like it.  Personally, I thought it was too itchy and it smelt a little musty in there.  I just don't think that would be the place for me.  I mean it is on the water, but it is a little small for my liking. 

Well back to actual work stuff that I did at Montezuma.  I had an awesome week.  Went canoeing, did some more canoeing, and then went.......inside to do office work.  I bet you thought I was going to say canoeing.  Jokes on you.  Speaking of jokes, what did the fish say when it hit the wall.....DAM!!!!  Alright enough of that.  This was a short week for me so this post is going to be alot shorter than those others I put up here.  And frankly, I just don't have the pictures to put on to this post to even talk about anything.  I mean who wants to read a post and see no pictures.  My point exactly.  So I will do my best to keep you in tuned. 

Like I said, I did some canoeing this week.  I went out in the marshes of Montezuma and picked frogbit again.  I know some of you forgot what that was.  I am not telling you again because it was in two different posts.  You will have to read back.  It might be on the test that I will give you guys at the end of this internship.  This was the largest amount of frogbit we have gotten all year totaling out at 650 pounds of this weed.  Me and the guy I was with in the canoe paddled not more than 100 feet from the launch site and had about 150 ourselves.  This stuff is getting crazy.  But I feel better knowing that I am making a difference.  Hopefully next year we will have picked enough of it that it will not grow back as thick.  We can only hope. 

And like a said again, I did some more canoeing.  Next day I took the family out on the canal for a nice little canoe paddle.  Only dissapointing part is that we didn't have sandwiches out with us.  Someone forgot to bring them.  This is an inside joke so if you are not laughing that is why.  If you are laughing, you are my mother.  We did stop for a snack break, but I wasn't informed that I had to bring my own snacks.  My parents were nice enough to loan me some. But what a beautiful day it was.  I wish I would have taken more pictures. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and the giants are going to win the super bowl again.  We saw a whole bunch of kingfishers, some green herons, a lot of ospreys, and three different bald eagles; two immature and one mature.  One immature eagle landed in the tree right next to use offering great shots for the camera.  Oh yeah, I didn't have mine.  But good thing everyone had their binoculars.  Oh yeah, only me and my mother had some, even though I brought a whole bunch of extras that were still in the car.  We all got to see him though.  A little further down the river is when we saw the other two.  We got to hear an eagle calling and that is when I looked up in the sky and saw clouds.  And next to the clouds was more clouds.  And then I looked down and there was an immature eagle flying there.  Not but 20 seconds later I see this movement through the trees and out pops the mother eagle soaring gloriously through the sky.  She swoped down right in front of us, picked up a fish, and flew off.  Well that part didn't really happen, but we saw this mother eagle fly directly over head.  What a sight to see.  You would have had to been there.  We paddled for another hour or so and ended with a nice lunch in the visitor center.  Good end to an amazing day. 

That is about all the excitement I can provide for you this week.  I got to do some office work and some other odd jobs.  I am probably missing something crucial too that I should probably tell you, but I just cannot remember.  I hope everyone enjoyed this reading and also had a great christmas in 2005.  I am sorry for the lack of pictures.  I will get more later.  enjoy the next week. 

And now the species list:

trumpeter swan, Canada goose, wood duck, mallard, coot, double crested cormorant, great blue heron, great egret, green heron, black crowned knight heron, turkey vulture, osprey bald eagle, black tailed deer, killdeer, caspian tern, black terns, ringbilled gull, belted kingfisher, gray catbird, oriole (it was really a redwinged black bird, but I will call it an oriole to make George happy), wood thrush, house wren, woodchuck, white tailed deer, balluga whale (in the marsh mind you), veery, fresh water shark, and last but not least.........please stay tuned for next weeks.