Snowstorms, Life Birds, Job Offers...just a typical field work week!

Well, the first week out here shaped up to be really interesting. All that I had hoped for and more! I guess I'll start at the beginning, always a good idea, eh?

I arrived in Laramie on Friday night. Saturday was the normal first food shopping of the field season trip, where I dropped nearly 300 dollars on food and supplies. But I think I might be good for a little while. Then Monday my boss and I left Laramie bright and early to head to South Dakota for training and a general "bird nerd gathering."

The weather on the way wasn't all that pleasant, so we weren't able to enjoy the views all that much. It caused us some concern for the training, but a long term weather forecast boded well for the end of the week. I'll get there in a minute.

Our training was on a nice little reserve, Whitney Preserve, located in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The land is owned the The Nature Conservancy. We did our training first in Custer, SD. My boss and I didn't realize that we had passed Mount Rushmore on the way there, otherwise we would have taken a quick stop to look. Though with the lousy weather, it is hard to say whether we would have seen it or not. I digress. Following our training in Custer, we all headed to the reserve for a general gab fest and dinner, and making camp (well, a few of us anyway).

Daylight hours are already getting kind of long, so in spite of the cold and the rain, some of us got out to bird. This was actually somewhat work related, because the best way to learn bird songs is to, well, be outside to learn them! Within 5 minutes of stepping out to bird, I was stoked.

World bird number 1.226, North America Bird Number 426: Harris' Sparrow!
World bird number 1.227, North America Bird Number 427: Clay-colored Sparrow!

I hadn't even realized the Clay-coloreds were so abundant there. I hadn't seen them before, and because they are wintering down here still, I didn't have them on my study list. Apparently, though, they like to sing their heads off! Not quite breeding grounds frequency, but fairly often. So once I learned their song, I realized they were everywhere.

Coming here to Wyoming, I had a list of about 7 birds that I was hoping to see that would be new for the world and/or North America. These two weren't even on that list! So I'm already ahead of the game. Woo hoo! [for the curious: McCown's Long Spur (world), Chestnut-collared Longspur (US), American Three-toed Woodpecker (World), Long-billed Curlew (US), Mountain Plover (US), Virginia's Warbler (World), and Sage Sparrow (World)].

The next day was more training, mostly getting outside in the morning and practicing point counts in a group. And trying to get a feel for where everyone was with learning bird songs and calls. The weather was mildly disagreeable, but not overly so. At least for me. Maybe I just know how to dress for weather for bird work? It seemed I was the only one who didn't look about 20 pounds overweight with all the layers we had on...and I had 4 layers on! Still though, I'm missing the warmth of the tropics a bit. I have been told it WILL get warmer...I will believe it when it comes.

Tuesday evening, we knew that we were due for some white stuff...also known as snow. Also known as typical May weather. Oh, wait, no, that ISN'T typical May weather! At least not for there! It was pretty awesome waking up with snow around my tent. I guess the other benefit is that the snow meant we could wake up a little later...like 2 hours later than planned, at 7:00. So, we continued with more training, and bird song practice.

So, it was training, training, training, all week. Thursday we all headed to Wind Cave National Monument in the morning (still in South Dakota), to practice real point counts, and see where our weaknesses were. In spite of the two inches of snow on the ground there, the Western Meadowlarks were very happy. Every point at least 3 were singing, with many more singing behind them. Aside from them, however, not much was around. Upland Sandpipers gave us some pretty cool displays, though. And every point had something new to offer to challenge our skills. Slooowwwwwly, it warmed up, and the snow disappeared. We even started to see a little bit of sun, which had been doing a good disappearing act all week. After our points were done, a few of us went over to chase some birds that were offering great looks (Red Crossbills, and yes, they have a crossed bill!). One of these was another "lifer", as a subspecies: White-winged Junco. Who may have had a nest, since he was carrying food in his bill. Apparently, they weren't bothered by the snow all that much!

Thursday afternoon, my boss and I left for our first work related point count, in Thunder Basin National Grassland (administered by the US Forest Service). Beautiful sunshine! And wiiiiiiiide open spaces. I cannot recall if I ever have seen such wide views, even during all my trips to various mountain ranges. One got a real good idea how daunting the late 1800s would have been for the homesteaders. You really would have to be self sufficient out there. There wasn't anything nearby. See the photo above for an idea of how wide open it is.

The culmination of our week, though, was the next morning. Thursday night, after we bird watched for a little while, we settled in to make our dinners, enjoy the solitude, watch the sunset and listen to the bird song. As we sat cooking dinner, we started to hear some faint popping noises. From very far away. We were hoping for a wonderful view of it the next morning.

How cold and long has the winter been? We discovered Friday morning.

We woke up early. I won't say bright and early, because the sun was not up yet! We geared up, and headed to our transect. As we walked, we could hear the popping again. We walked slowly, looking for what we knew was somewhere nearby. Finally, I spied it, on a slight ridge, near a cattle water pond.

Greater Sage Grouse. On a lek. In full display mode. 10 males, 5 females. The "popping" noises are made during displays, air sacs in the breast that, well, I don't know exactly how they do it, but they make some fun displays! I had never seen this before, and this was a real treat to see. We watched them for 10-15 minutes, to really soak it in, and continued on our way. We could still hear them from about two kilometers away. So even though the display is not overly loud, because the air was so still, it was able to carry far enough to hear on the transect in spots.

Normally, by this time of year, the grouse would be finished with their mating, and the females would be on nests. But this winter has been long and cold and brutal, so apparently the females haven't finished with their nesting yet. A wonderful start to the point count, and heck, to start the field season, and a wonderful way to end the week.

So, overall, you could say I am finally getting used to the cold. I think having the right clothing helps, because I don't feel overly cold or anything. When the wind blows though....brrrr! Eventually, it should get nicer, but snow is still in the forecast for today, for Laramie and the surrounding mountains. But that's fine by me. I will eventually get to enjoy my wonderful playground here.

Besides, I have my next job to get warm, at least with thoughts about it. In early September, I will be heading to one of the locations on my "must do before I die list": Amazonian lowlands, more specifically, Iquitos, Peru. I will be there all the way into December. More details as they come.

Happy trails, all! I hope to drop another line next week sometime! [and apologies if this was kind of dry...it's been a while since I wrote]