birthday celebrations

06/20/2007

So yeah, driving the ATV is pretty sweet. You can’t beat a morning commute of a half hour ATV ride as the sun rises over the mountains and sagebrush. Definitely not your traffic on 93 into Boston on a weekday. Just me, my gear, the hum of the ATV, and the occasional startled mule deer.
We moved the birthday celebration to last night because Alex and Tamara were heading out this afternoon to go camping before their day off tomorrow. They made a pineapple upside down cake for everyone and even made a fruit salad and stuck candles in it for me. We sang a few different versions of happy birthday, pigged out, then went to bed. I was on the ATV again this morning at 5 am, doing the morning commute to a different route.
Justin, Matt, and I started veg. analysis today. Last night we all had high hopes of completing three points each. As of right now Justin and I have finished one, and Matt is currently in the process of doing his first. They were a bit more time consuming than we had anticipated… although they should get faster as we do more. Today it took me over 2 hours to complete one point. Two fifty meter transects at specific (but random) locations and orientations, IDing all the shrubs that fall under the line, how tall they are, how healthy, etc. And then for both transects, taking a quadrat and estimating percent cover of grasses, forbs, litter, bare ground, etc. and IDing those as well. The wind is what messes with you… twirling your tape and making you lose papers. Ah, fieldwork. This is definitely different than working in the micro lab. But I like it.
~me

A not so big update.

06/18/2007

So I’ve been slacking again in my writing. But in my defense, there hasn’t been too much to report. Just a lot of point counting. We’ve finished round one, and have now moved onto round two with all the routes. And after we’ve done some practice veg. analysis, we’ll be adding that in as well.
Today I learned how to drive the ATV. I putzed around for a while on the roads around the cabin. Tomorrow morning I take it to my route. Driving the ATV is definitely a lot of fun. Add that to my list of newly acquired skills… along with off road driving, a little bit of nest searching, and navigating via GPS.
Wednesday night we’re planning on having a birthday party for Viddy, Tamara and I, since our birthdays are all within 5 days of each other. We may also go to bog hot again… I hope so!

Oh, and those pictures are of my home at Badger mountain in the 6 person tent. My cot is the one directly in the back under the window. Cozy :)
~me

Lions, tigers and bears... well, just lions.

06/11/2007

So add a mountain lion to my list of seen animals…

Justin and I were starting our drive back from Catnip, bumbling along the road when he slammed on the brakes and pulled the truck off suddenly to the side of the road. I looked out the window where he was looking and gawking and caught the mountain lion just as he spotted us and took off. He flew through the sagebrush, and smoothly too. I’m sure the antelope can move that fast, they have to… but it doesn’t look like it with all the up and down movement they incorporate. Swimming through the sagebrush is definitely an accurate description.
I still can’t get over the fact that I’m being paid to do this… Get up, hike, listen to and look at birds and other wildlife, then hang out with some pretty cool people.
Other wild life sightings today include a young coyote pup, and more wild horses. I took the preemptive strike today when a stallion started snorting at me in the distance. Began talking, letting him know I knew he was there, before he decided to challenge me. Essentially the conversation went like this:
“Yeah, I see you. Shut up. I’m trying to work here. Let’s make a deal. I’ll leave you alone if you leave me alone. OK? Good. See? I’m walking this way you @$*$%#*… even though you’re in my way. I’ll hike around you. Now go away.”
It seemed to work. He moved off with his group no problem. No confrontation. I honestly think I should be more worried about the possibly rabid bat that was flying around Badger Cabin in broad daylight and landing on Viddy’s face than wild horses. And now that I’ve seen a mountain lion I’ll probably never see one again. Aaron, who has been working in the sagebrush for over ten years has actually never seen one. I’m still carrying my pocket knife though.
~me

silly horse.

06/09/2007

Yesterdays point count was even more epic than the morning before. As Matt and I were driving to the midway between our two starting points he pointed out a steep mountain with a rocky bluff on top and said:
“That would be awful if you had a point up there!”
In a half asleep stupor I mumbled some sort of agreement. Ten minutes later I was hiking up that mountain towards the bluff. My first point was within 100 m from the summit and the bluff. Awesome. Up and down to all my points. The topography here is insane. The mountains just rise out of nowhere, and canyons suddenly appear in your way far too frequently.
My last point yesterday was even more epic than the first. As I was approaching it I could see a small outlying group f about five horses from a larger herd of probably close to 100 in about the spot I knew I was headed to. They left when they saw me coming. My point count was uneventful, it only got interesting when I started to do the vegetation analysis. As I was walking around, taking stock of what species were there a stallion and 2 mares, one with a colt, accidentally stumbled upon me. The mares turned to walk away, but the stallion decided I was on his turf and it would be a good idea to challenge me. He was making snorting noises and zig zagging, walking towards me, tail lifted high. I immediately began yelling at him, waving my arms around, swearing, etc. he especially didn’t like it when I waved my clipboard around. I had to run at him a few times, and hold my ground. Nothing like being in a staring contest with a huge horse about 3 feet taller than you and who knows how much heavier. Eventually, after probably about 3-5 minutes of our staring contest he reluctantly decided that the small obnoxious yelling human was not to be messed with, and decided to leave me alone. I finished up my site reg. and took off as fast as possible.
Apparently Matt was challenged by another stallion in the same large herd. Except it was during his point count. So the horse was charging at him when he finished, threw down his clipboard, and began hurling rocks and yelling.
I told Aaron about our exploits and his reply was “Yeah… That’s about right… Generally the yelling scares them off.” Awesome.
Today was epic due to the fact that I somehow dropped my compass and then spent the next hour searching for it in the sagebrush and wild rye. Insane. Somehow I managed to finish my counts on time.
It’s off to Catnip for 2 nights tonight…
~me

A point count...

06/07/2007

So I was supposed to have today as my day off until those 2 weather days. I told mom I would call home today… but I obviously couldn’t out here. I hope she doesn’t worry/ is disappointed.
So I did an insane point count route today. The first point was less than .5 km from the road, but it was straight up a steep hill through chest high mountain big sagebrush. The good thing is that I can feel myself getting stronger. I wasn’t winded when I got to the top, and my calves weren’t burning too bad. I’m going to be in pretty good shape by the end of these 2 months, that’s for sure.
So my first point was in a dense stand of mahoganies, which makes it really hard to see any birds, unless they’re 20 m or less in front of you. At least I got to hear a different variety of birds. 3 of my points were like that today. I even heard a Spotted Towhee. By far the most interesting point was the third… I had just hiked down onto a plateau to get to number 2. When I finished, pulled out the GPS unit and compass I found that I had to hike .7 km straight up the closest mountain… and there was still snow up there, and ice on the rocks. It’s a good thing there weren’t too many birds up there (not that I think they would like hanging out there) because my hands were so cold I could barely grip the pen. I was glad to be done with the sight, and super glad that my next bearing moved me out of the wind.
In my travels today I found 2 nests. 1 Brewers Blackbird nest and 1 Brewers Sparrow nest with some rather large nestlings… should be fledglings soon. Their feather tracts had almost completely covered their bodies, not too much pink showing. What was the most amazing was the fact that they survived the storm. I could see them all breathing in their lump of feathers and pink and beaks. Most of all the nest searchers had the majority of their nests fail from the storm. Yay snow in June!
~me

Snow? Bog Hot!

06/06/2007

So today is day 2 of 2 unplanned days off. The weather just wasn’t cooperating for field research. Woke up Tuesday morning to pouring rain and wind. No one worked that day. Everyone either went to Alturas CA, or Cedarville CA. Matt and I did the Cedarville run, which explains how I got all that blog posting up. We also bought some groceries, (since I’m now not going to have a day off until next Friday). Last night it was still raining, so I moved into the big tent. There were 6 of us in there on our cots on the platform. We stayed nice and toasty… even when we woke up to about an inch of snow on the ground. So we had today off too because when we should have been point counting it was still snowing and howling wind… Not exactly conducive to listening and looking for birds, if they’re even out.
So we slept in, until 7:30. It was luxurious. Then Aaron told us to go to bog hot for the day. It’s awesome when your boss essentially tells you to go play for the day. So Matt, Berti, Viddy, Patty, Justin and I crammed into a truck and drove to the hotsprings. The springs were actually a creek, with water pooled at one end, which is where we entered and hung out for a bit. It was like bath water. Then we decided to crawl upstream… the further up the creek we got the hotter it got, until you couldn’t stand it anymore. We swam back after a bit of hanging out and basking in the sulpherous massaging bubbles. I started a trend on the way back when I discovered that there was clay on the bottom of the creek in certain parts. I drew a mustache on my face, joining the guys on the crew who have decided that they’re going to grow mustaches this summer to fit in with all the ranchers and cowboys when we go into town. The mustache quickly escalated into tribal face paint, and then a full face mask. Everyone followed suit, and we swam the rest of the way back to our clothes and cameras with the clay drying on our faces. We frequently reapplied to make sure I could get good pictures. They definitely are awesome, although not all should be posted online… haha.
We’re planning on going back sometime at night to hang out there and check out the view of the stars. Who knew Nevada was so beautiful?
I’m off to hang out for a bit in Badger Cabin and take in the live music before bed… then up at 4:10 tomorrow, to finally do the point count route that’s been delayed for 2 days.
~me

Catnip, Badger, and Rattlesnakes

06/04/2007

So it’s been far too long since I wrote… almost a whole ‘nother week. I’ve been busy… and having fun as well as working hard. Just for example, this morning I woke up at 4 am, and was hiking by headlamp to my first point at 4:30. That’s 7:30 am for you my east coast readers… I arrived at the point right on time at 5:40 am, 20 minutes after sunrise, and began my count. Then I hiked to my other four points, did a quick vegetation analysis of each site, and hiked back. I arrived at Badger cabin at 10:30 am. Then I napped, ate, entered data, and hung out for the rest of the day. Until now.
Let’s see, what highlights from last week? Well, I went into Lakeview on Friday. Called home and talked to Mom and Andrew. I also called Bri and Jan. Jan had arrived safely in WY and was getting ready to head out and stock up on supplies for the summer with her boss. It was good to hear everyone’s voices again. It’s kind of strange how I miss people more out here in the time span of 2 weeks, but while at college I didn’t. I think the realization of the distance is what makes it just seem a bit extreme.
The night before my day off we had a group barbeque at Badger. The food was excellent. A juicy cheeseburger (or 2) was exactly what I was craving. Ten Matt, Aaron, and Berti broke out their guitars, and Alex brought out the mandolin. We had a sing along/ jam session until it got dark and the blue moon began to rise and appear from behind the clouds. I slept in the next morning… 7:30 am. When the sun heated the tent up until it was uncomfortable. This is definitely a desert. Very cold at night… 20 degree mummy bag zipped up with all my clothes shoved in with me as wadding to take up airspace, but as soon as the sun rises it heats up. So you’re hot hiking and comfortable hanging around in a t-shirt and shorts. That’s the one blessing of having to get point counts done early. By the time I’m about finishing up the hurried hiking to get points done in 2 hours it’s just beginning to warm up.
This Saturday and Sunday Matt and I camped out at Catnip because we had 2 days of counts there. On Saturday when we were done for the day we drove to Catnip reservoir, ate lunch, and then I went for a dip with the ducks. Unfortunately they did not want to swim with me as much as I did with them.
Later that afternoon when I was sitting and reading Matt was out around the reservoir with his video camera. He’s planning on making a movie and submitting it to some film festivals. He’s already got some great footage. Anyways, what I was getting to was the fact that as Matt was looking for things to film and walking through the tall grass he almost stepped on a western diamondback rattler. He must have jumped about 2 feet in the air. He then of course began filming it. Later when we were driving to our camp for the night we spotted 2 horned larks mobbing another rattler. Maybe he was trying to get into their nest, who knows. So of course we stopped, Matt got out his camera, and began filming again. I got some great pictures as well. Matt even got a great shot of the snake striking the camera, & yawning so you could see its fangs. So add that to my list of wildlife seen so far.
That’s all for right now, so I’m signing off…
~me