Jordan Boersma has chosen one of the more remote and exotic areas of the world to do his PhD field work, Papua New Guinea. In preparing for the conversation with Jordan I learned that Papua New Guinea has the worlds lowest (or at least one of the lowest) percentages of people living in urban centers (13.25% in 2019) and its citizens speak over 850 known languages. Most of the about 8 million people living in the country live in what are known as “customary communities” meaning they are ruled in accordance with their customs, as opposed to by statutory rules of a government, usually one imposed by colonization. In short it is a place untamed by much of the rest of the world, and where the infrastructure to easily do traditional research is not easily available. Things like electricity and running water are not available where Jordan is doing his research. It was really fun to hear his stories. I hope you enjoy them too.
White-shouldered Fairywrens are a small bird of the open fields of Papua New Guinea. You’ll hear lots more about them from Jordan on the episode.
Ice worms are another topic we discuss. I can wait to ask Peter Wimberger from episode #30 more about these next time I see him. They are tiny worms that live their whole lives at temperatures very close to that of ice, i.e. zero degrees Celsius. They cannot tolerate extended periods much above or below freezing, somehow don’t freeze themselves despite as a worm obviously being cold-blooded. (do they have blood?) They appear to be a significant source of nutrition for the Gray-crowned Rosy Finches breeding on Mt. Rainier near the glaciers where they live.

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Until next time; Good birding and good day!