With two experiments
already running, we are now making a headstart with the trampling experiment.
With this experiment we want to test the hypothesis that cattle do not step in
their own dung while grazing. For Black Larks this would mean that using dung
around their nest would reduce the chance that their nest is being trampled.
For the experiment we will slowly herd a group of cattle trough an area in
which we placed fake nests, which are places either in dung piles or on bare
soil.
For the fake nests we
were planning to use small balls or eggs, made out of papier maché, as we
showed in one of the earlier blog posts. Strong wind is however a constant
factor here on the steppe, and these fake eggs would probably quickly fly off
as soon as we would put them on the ground. Therefore we thought of a different
material for fake nests, namely clay! Yesterday we moulded 200+ clay ‘cookies’
more or less the size of a Black Lark nest. We baked them at 35 degrees on the
car for about two hours and now they are ready to use!
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| Making the cookies |
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| Drying them on the car, 220 in total |
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| This Greater Spotted Eagle flew over our heads. It's a late migrant or a rare summer visitor. |
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