As I board another long distance flight to Chengdu, I am pleased by the fact that I am embarking into new territory for PDXWildlife. For this is our first foray into collecting data during the holiday season. Over the last four years, we simply didn’t need to have any presence in China during the later half of November, as well as December and January.  However, with an influx of interest in our research and the exciting effort being put into reintroductions, we are now a year-round fixture in the Sichuan province.

The holiday research season (December to February) consists of stereotypic observations, maternal care observations, fecal analysis, and reintroduction program development. It promises to be a cold (burr) and exciting start- as most novel research tends to be. To tackle this new frontier, we’re bringing over some talented individuals with a wide range of wildlife and behavioral experience that compliment our company goals.

With three incoming interns, the PDXWildlife apartment in downtown Ya’an, as well as our office at Bifengxia will be hoppin’ with activity. Sometime around January 7th, I will ask one of the interns to break away from Bifengxia, to go join Meghan in Gengda for some exciting reintroduction efforts. If all goes as planned, the lucky intern will remain in Gengda for about a month. But, as everyone very well knows, plans can change in a moments notice. As we are the only foreign institution conducting reintroduction research, this work is pivotal in establishing a healthy collaboration on future studies.

My shoes will eventually touch down on Chinese soil on Sunday afternoon, leaving little time to prepare for the incoming interns. There are always a few house cleaning issues to take care of before everyone arrives. Between broken appliances, missing keys, cockroach infestations, MOU negotiations, and dinners with colleagues, the time goes by all too quickly.

With the final boarding call announced over the loud speaker, my ability to connect to decent internet service is about to come to an abrupt end. But before I walk down the on-ramp, I take one last deep breath before entering my 14 hour tuna can of recycled air to say goodbye to the states for a few weeks. Believe it or not, I’ve come to appreciate these long flights as they represent the passageway to our life’s work.

Off I go-