Hey ya'll
The next few weeks are going to be exceptionally hectic!!! Not only are the PhD application dates drawing perilously close, all the activities that I have so "cleverly" spaced out at the start of the year all seem to be falling in "that week" or "another"... more out of necessity than anything and I'm "forced" to get those out of the way as well! To top it all off, another animal under my care has fallen ill. Angel, our budgerigar has been having a case of the runs. He's recovered from them before, but I'm not taking any risk. I've written in to Dr. Jenny for a prescription of anti-diarrhea medication. Unfortunately for all parties involved I can only fetch them on Friday which means... I basically have to make time to get away from my marking and writing to get the medication. Dr. Jenny has also asked for a stool sample... as fresh as possible, so that makes my window a lot narrower. Well, at least I've finally started to find a narrower and more precise focus for my PhD research topic.
With all the mayhem that's been going on though, I am quite glad to report that the lycaenids have started to return!!! Related perhaps to the recent bout of construction work that has been mushrooming all around the campus grounds of late (prompting my initiative to kick-start a butterfly garden/breeding pit stop), Lycaenid numbers had dropped to an all new low and I was beginning to think that many of them would be gone for good! Indeed, for the past 6 months I had been fearing as such. These butterflies rely, after all, on the hospitality of the specific species of ants that hosted them and with all the digging that's been going on... why let's just say I was very much concerned. Apparently, some butterflies are made of much stronger stuff! And of course, their ants too, for I saw today, on a patch of wild flowers, a rabble of these minuscule butterflies! What a wonderful sight! My dearest friend and fellow insect blogger Brittanie McCormack is quite fond of saying that Nature has a way of connecting with those who loves Her, and I truly believe that! But all in all, I'm just so glad to be seeing these guys back here again! Perhaps, in time the other varieties of larger lycaenids would start to return as well.
With all the mayhem that's been going on though, I am quite glad to report that the lycaenids have started to return!!! Related perhaps to the recent bout of construction work that has been mushrooming all around the campus grounds of late (prompting my initiative to kick-start a butterfly garden/breeding pit stop), Lycaenid numbers had dropped to an all new low and I was beginning to think that many of them would be gone for good! Indeed, for the past 6 months I had been fearing as such. These butterflies rely, after all, on the hospitality of the specific species of ants that hosted them and with all the digging that's been going on... why let's just say I was very much concerned. Apparently, some butterflies are made of much stronger stuff! And of course, their ants too, for I saw today, on a patch of wild flowers, a rabble of these minuscule butterflies! What a wonderful sight! My dearest friend and fellow insect blogger Brittanie McCormack is quite fond of saying that Nature has a way of connecting with those who loves Her, and I truly believe that! But all in all, I'm just so glad to be seeing these guys back here again! Perhaps, in time the other varieties of larger lycaenids would start to return as well.
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