New feather processes

This last week has been pretty exciting! at the the lab they have been training me to take over some of the bigger parts of the experiment. First I selected one feather from each ornamentation for each bird based on their variation and viability in our programs. After 100 individual house finches and 300 feathers in total, we're moving on to the next step. Last week and this week is going to be a lot of landmarking. 

We use a program to landmark specific points on the house finch feathers so that not only can we compare the presence of pigment between ornamentations, we can also compare the feathers' pigmentation between species. Our program matches up the landmarks that we have marked so we could compare the feather of a house finch with, say, the feather of a flamingo. Their feathers are radically different sizes which is why this program is so amazing and useful.

Throughout the past week I have also been scanning feathers for later analysis. I gather all the feathers that have been collected from individual house finches during field outings, take down all of their data, then prepare them for scanning. After strapping on some gloves and washing everything and the kitchen sink with isopropyl, I use forceps to delicately line up and organize the feathers by ornamentation on the scanner. Then I cover them with a plastic sheet and flip down the cover to scan. This whole process is more difficult than you'd thjnk. The steps themselves are easy to comprehend and describe,  however, the patience required is immense. When placing the feathers (many of which couldn't be a few millimeters long) on the scanning bed, you cannot breathe too hard, you can not make sudden movers. The most frustrating part is the static. As you are placing the plastic covering over the feathers, they will often fly up and stick to the plastic, and you have to start over again. 

Even with all the tedious annoyances, I actually really enjoy it. I don't know that I've always been the most patient person, but this task has certainly made me more patient. It's a challenge and one that I find myself growing better at everyday. I have been learning so much, I think the best part is the accomplishment and sense of contribution I have. I am so grateful that I am able to contribute to a community filled with people that I respect and have been growing closer with for the past few weeks. 

Thanks for reading!