As I walked down a path between two willow trees in water almost up to my knees, I saw the nest. I took the retractable mirror from my pocket and extended it up to the nest and confirmed there were no eggs. This was a nest just built by black headed grosbeak parents. My field research partner for the day, Rebecca, and I had spent the last hour tracking these two birds into a grove of willow trees along the bank of a fast moving creek. We conducted vegetation searches, scanned the trees with our binoculars, listened with our ears to see if we were getting close to the nest, and moved carefully through the brush careful not to step on nests close to the ground. We were due to leave this site in twenty minutes and we agreed to give this one section of willows one more look. After finding the nest, we marked it’s location on a bird nest card and with our hand held GPS receivers. We then turned around and began our long walk back to the van. The importance of this simple find was not lost on me. I came to Wyoming to learn field research and to learn how to identify different bird songs. More importantly, I came here to learn how to inspire my town and school community to become more effective stewards of the Earth. I'm not sure exactly how I am going to accomplish this goal. Like the grosbeak, I realized I too am making a nest here in Wyoming. The materials have been kindly given to me by Earthwatch and the Teton Science School and I have created a nest of "ideas" which are currently growing. I have a lot more in common with birds than I thought...
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