Hello, goodbye

This fall, we will say hello to a large shipment of GPS collars from our "winning" company, and say goodbye to what I have been referring to as the "pilot study" phase of my dissertation research to test the 3 different GPS collars for fox squirrels (although there are still a few collars from the "pilot study" that have not been deployed yet). Regardless, the results are in! and the obvious winner has been chosen, so the order for 32 more GPS collars will be placed this week. Although this is the main project update, there are a few more hellos and goodbyes: We thank our Florida technician Diane for her awesome work and best of luck as she starts a M.S. program at the University of Florida this fall! We also welcome a new addition to the fox squirrel project this month, new M.S. student Alex! As field work will increase with the delivery of our new collars in a month or so, we will also soon be advertising for a full-time technician to work at the Jones Center this fall---stay tuned. Earlier this summer, I was excited to take a one-week course on database management of animal movement data from telemetry studies (how perfectly specific to my needs!) and have now started to take a closer look at monthly variation in squirrel locations and movement trajectories. Even more exciting, I found out that have access to a database manager who will help me construct and maintain a database for the whole project! It's always nice to have an expert on your side. =)

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