Week 4/5

 Over the past two weeks I've learned so much! I've done my first couple of solo runs when it comes to setting up traps and am finally really getting into species identifying. It's definitely becoming much easier to differentiate between Culex tarsalis and Culex pipiens! And all the Aedes species. I've really fallen in love with the color pattern of Aedes dorsalis. I didn't realise that the native host of West Nile Virus was birds. Because of that the Foy lab at CSU does a lot of work with both mosquitos and birds. I went out with the Foy lab and learned how to catch and hold birds. One of the members of the lab also did a demo of how to draw blood from birds. Hopefully in the future I’ll get a chance to learn how to do a bird blood draw. That way I can help do West Nile Virus testing directly from birds.  

Outside of the lab the public health work had been super interesting. I've been doing  mostly outreach this week, specifically in senior education. I've been able to talk at senior citizen lunches and pass out DEET wipes for them. I also have started making Tick tool kits to give out to people who visit the Weld Country fair. 

Me and a cute little sparrow