One of my BEST. DAYS. EVER.

I really do love my job!

The most recent jaunt into the woods was a short one. The way transects are located, I had a few scattered farther away from other plots. And also, since my coworker quit, I wanted a short trip to stay energized and pace myself well.

So, Friday, I headed to the Pole Mountain area east of Laramie to do the lone transect over there. A nice pleasant transect to do. And scenery there was incredible. And for the first time in a while, I was able to get all 16 points of my transect done (and done by 9 am, no less!). No weather issues (except being kind of cold) for once. No rain, and the wind stayed relatively calm for the morning (meaning it stayed below 15 mph). Here's a shot of camp at dinner time - with the calmer winds, I prefer to sleep in a tent. It's more comfortable.
From Pole mountain on Saturday morning, I headed west, through Laramie, to go into the Snowy Range to do the first transects in there. Since the weather has FINALLY dried up a bit, rivers have gone down (though the Laramie River is still in flood stage), and the roads have dried, which is more important for me, for access. Sometimes, when I drive these roads, I feel like I'm in a truck commercial. I got to the next transect fine, took my short siesta, made camp, and went to bed. The next day, I did my survey, and once again, I got nearly all the points done - 15 of the 16 - before 9:30. The only reason I didn't do the last point was because the bird activity had died down, which may have been a result of the winds that were pushing 20 mph plus.

Then it was off to my next transect. The usual routine, find a place to camp, take siesta, enjoy the view (the first photo), and get ready for the next day. Which brings us to one of my Best. Days. Ever.
The transect was what I would consider below average for difficulty, meaning pretty easy. Very little in the line of slopes, most of the vegetation was sage shrubland. I was getting a nice variety of birds, so all was going well.

Near one of my last points, as I was walking to my next point, I heard a very deep hooting (think owl, but really really really deep). I knew it was a Dusky (formerly Blue) Grouse male displaying, likely on log. And it sounded very close. So, I peeked around the tree, and lo and behold, there he was! And because I was moving so fast in my transect, I had the time to set my gear down, take my camera out, and stalk him a little bit. He wasn't too nervous, and so eventually he afforded me some good photo ops (though the light was not at a perfect angle).

This was just the beginning of a great day. Grouse are just very leery, so having the chance to watch one display (they open the feathers on their neck to expose a bare patch of skin, pretty cool to see) up close, and even get photos of it (he was behind the log when he displayed when I had my camera out, so I didn't get shots of the display) was a great treat.

From there, it was time to finish the transect, and again I got all 16 points done - I like this trend. Then it was back to the truck to get things packed, eat some snacks and lunch, and head back to Laramie for some more time 'off' (for me, just not being in the field, doing office stuff), but I decided, since we were running into snowpack issues in places, I would scout two transects to see if I could get into them yet.

On the drive out, I saw my first black bear of the season run off the road! Those of you who know of my work in the Sierra Nevada in California, know I seem to have a knack for seeing oodles of bears (and yes, oodles is a scientific term). The suspense of seeing the first one was killing me! It ran off pretty quick, so no photos, but still, that made for large mammal in Wyoming number six (after Elk, Moose, Antelope, Mule Deer, and White-tail Deer. Number seven if you count the badger as a large mammal).

As I was nearing the trail access for one of my future transects, I had stopped the truck to check my map and my GPS location. I looked out the front windshield. And saw a large tan body go across the road about 150 meters ahead, with a long tail. And I said to myself, no way. No way. NO WAY! It just ambled across the road...so I slowly drove closer (there was no way in hell I was gonna follow on foot!) to where it went into the woods. And yep, I got myself another new mammal species. My first ever MOUNTAIN LION. Or COUGAR. Or PUMA. Whatever you call it, it was AWESOME! It even afforded me some good looks while it was tracking something among the trees. I was in awe - I would consider this one of the hardest wild animals to see in North America.

Of course, my only concern now is - it was about 1/2 mile from my trail head that I head to walk on tomorrow (Thursday). Gonna be keeping my eyes peeled! (for safety and photo opportunities).

And yet, that wasn't even the last good thing that day - though by far it was the best thing that day. Maybe for the summer (but I expect to go to Yellowstone in about 1 weeks time, so we shall see...). When I got back to Laramie, and the much needed shower and beer, I even had some surprise money waiting for me in my mailbox! Thanks again (you know who you are). A small contribution to my Peru travel fund always helps.

So, that's it. Part V of my work here begins tomorrow. Backpacking. River crossings. And hopefully more wonderful wildlife encounters are in store.

I was very happy Monday. Hell, I seem to be riding a happiness high that doesn't seem to be ending in the foreseeable future. YEEEEEEE HAWWWWWWW!

Personal Journal Entry, June 5, 2010

For those who care, I hiked in along the Roaring Fork trail in Medicine Bow National Forest. GPS location of camp: projection 13, datum NAD83: 462584, 4683912

Some of the references: I worked in the Sierra Nevada in 2003, 2005, 2006. I hiked in Sequioa National Park in 2006, in Crater Lake National Park in 2005. SEKI refers to Sequioa-Kings Canyon National Parks. CT refers to the Colorado Trail, a 200 mile hike I did in August 2004. Errors are as they are written in the journal. Pictures represent a break/change in my thought pattern.

5 June 2010

Medicine Bow National Forest
north of Laramie Peak

I. Love. My. Job! In spite of the some of the long days I've had here - only because of the driving - I can't believe I get paid for this!

The point counts in Medicine Bow are a bit more exciting and scenic than the grasslands. For one, there is more topography! I love these mountains! I'm reminded of so many places the past few days. The Sierra Nevada. The southern cascades. Crater Lake National Park. The Rockies in Colorado.

I especially feel a kinship to my trips through Sequoia National Park and Crater Lake National Park. I have a cozy campfire going, for one. The formations of rock and the riparian areas for two and three.

And the lack of human sounds. On the hike here, I would see the dirt tracks of old forest roads - but it is hard to tell if they are even in use. I've been at camp for near 5 hours - and I have just sat and relaxed. A little like SEKI, but I'm not in as gorgeous scenery. But I can't always be.

I've been reflecting on the past year or so, and all the places I've been, and the people I've met. It has been an incredible time! I think of the wonderful people in NZ during my tramps, especially the group my age at the first hut in Nelson Lakes, and what a comfort that hut was. The couple in the second hut (hopeless). Mason Bay hut and all the folks. The Rakiura Track. Some of the hostel folks. My coworkers in Australia. Maine and Adrienne and the gang from Maine Coastal Islands NWR. Missouri. Costa Rica and all the different guests. Panama.

Wow.

And here - wow again. the hike today, though gruelling in the first stretch, was great. To think that I had to hike for work is incredible. The transect isn't overly remote - but I can feel my body really beginning to "chillax" and sort thru things mentally. I have no book to distract me, the camp chores got done in their time. And I'm just waiting for the sun to set enough, but in the meantime I'm enjoying my little fire.

Perfect. No other word describes this moment as adequately as that.

The only thing I do miss is the right company. During the hike, I thought of people in my past. The only perfect hiking partners I've had were Dave Rios and Jacob Cowan from my WIFL work in 2003 (wow? was it really that long ago?).

Jacob by far was as perfect a packing partner as I could have asked for. Right pace. Great guy to work with. Relaxed like me about the bird work (I'm not sure if that's the right way to put it, but anyway - )

Dave was fun too, if only for catching dinner. It's hard to describe just what was perfect about all that - conversations? Appreciation of everything outside?

The scenery of this job, and the terrain, are different (of course) of anything else I've had, work or otherwise. The rock faces are steep, but don't seem as bad as the Sierra Nevada. They seem more "rounded." But, the areas I've driven through recently have had a lot of glacier erratics - it's a different scene from what I recall from Yosemite and areas.

I even feel at times like areas are similar to those long-ago trips to the thousand islands. Of course, these riparian environs are way different from there. And I know now, of course, all the birds by song. Which I realize now is giving me a better understanding of the biology/ecology of these areas.
Today I got one of the best looks, or perhaps the best look, at Red Crossbills. Sometimes, just watching birds "do their thing" is fun. And I know that is why I enjoy guiding so much. Many a time I could give someone that moment, plus the thrill of having someone get a new bird because of me is exciting.
Sometimes I amaze myself and the amount of bird calls and songs I know. I can hear just a smidgen of a song, or a single call, and I can identify to species 90%+ of the time. I can even do this in the areas of Costa Rica I've frequented. It's hard to believe - and yet I still keep learning more.

I got to thinking the other day of what my top wilderness experiences were. In no particular order:

-Dive on great barrier reef. Fish in front of my eyes. Up close and real! Hearing and seeing terns by the hundred in a colony, as well as diving in the water. Nothing has topped all that.

-Karori wildlife sanctuary. Only for being able to see so much native NZ bird life. And somewhat close as well.

-My first bear encounter. Only for the fear/realization that I wasn't tops on the food chain. And because I had never seen a bear in the wild. And I was alone.

-My bear encounter with Jacob.

-My entire trip to Ecuador. I wasn't doing "serious" listing yet. Ecuador started it.

-The first day in Ecuador. Seeing an antpitta, and having no idea what it was. Seeing the trogon on the trail. Priceless. I knew then I was in a whole new environment.

-Coyotes in Mexico.

-Kangaroos at Wallaby Creek.
My favorite spots/moments:
-Columbine Lake, SEKI
-Lightning Spring (?), Crater Lake National Park
-[removed for personal reasons]
-the view from the areas near bowers 27 and 33 [above picture]
-this moment in Medicine Bow
-Edge of Lost Creek Wilderness, CO
-First look at a Jocotoco Antpitta
-First look at a toucan
-Triple life birds in 5 seconds: Aracari, Chachalaca, and Chestnut-Mandibled Toucan. All close enough for photos.
-coming along the pass on the CT near Copper Mountain. The moment when I knew the hill was done.
-New Years Eve 2009 - New Years Day 2010.

Mountain Adventures, part I

Wow, what a change the past week had. No longer did I have too many Lark Buntings too count on every point. No longer was I being distracted by the numerous Western Meadowlarks singing on every point.

But also, no longer did I have those easy flat grassland transects to walk anymore. Up and down hills, there I went!

All in all, it was a very pleasant change. I didn't realize how fit I had been getting till I got to my first transect. In spite of the serious elevation change from point to point (my first 4 points went up about 1.000 feet total, in 750 meters of horizontal distance), I got my transect done quite fast, I thought. I did have some fun river crossings for that first one too. Thankfully, New Zealand (and McCloud, CA in 2005 and 2006) gave me plenty of experience to draw on for that. The water was still cold, though!

And I have been able to get some new birds as well! I didn't realize until I checked my list when I got home yesterday, but when I saw an American Three-toed Woodpecker about 17m away on my fourth point on Friday, it was a new bird for the US, and the world! Then yesterday, though I had been hearing Red-naped Sapsuckers on a few points, I finally found one to look at right after my last point was done. That made bird number 430 for the US. The American Three-toed Woodpecker was number 429 for the US, and number 1.229 for the world.

The best part of this recent jaunt into the Laramie Mountain range (northeast of Laramie) was the backpack trip I had to do - for work! Yep, I got paid to go hiking in the woods! The transect was about a 5 mile hike (about 3 hours of walking, with numerous pauses) in from the nearest road, so the most efficient use of time, so one doesn't have to walk in the dark, is to walk in the night before.

This was one of the reasons I signed up for this job.

After that transect, I headed to my next one (a long drive away, though only 20 miles or so as the raven flies), got that done, and came back to Laramie.

I can't really adequately describe how much I enjoyed that backpack trip. So my following post will be from my personal journal entry from that night in camp (June 5).

Have a good one all!

And now, for the mountains!

Well, it was a busy couple of weeks I had. Looking on my most recent post, it has been longer than I planned on getting another one up. Attribute that to long drives between transects, which should not necessarily be the case anymore.

I got all my grassland transects done, in Thunder Basin National Grassland. There are still a couple of transects left that will have grassland type birds, but these will be at a higher elevation, so there will be a slightly different mix of birds to be seen and heard.

Thunder Basin, all in all, was fun. I was able to get three new birds out if it, no less! I saw my first Red-necked Phalarope in the world near one of my plots, when I was doing some leisure birding looking for new birds. With the help of the landowners for one of my plots, I was able to see my first Long-billed Curlew in the United States on their land. Finally, on my last transect in the grassland, I found my first Mountain Plover in the United States. Both the curlew and the plover I had seen before, in Mexico. But my US list now stands at 429 species (I think).

The landowners for that area were incredibly kind. There was a little more rain than usual this spring on the grassland, so the water table is high. They were kind enough to show me how to get to the plot on an ATV, and let me use the ATV the next day to get to the plot, so that I wouldn't tear up the land with my truck. On top of that, they fed me dinner (yum yum) the night before I did the transect, and fed me lunch the day of the transect. It was a nice change from the usual PB and J I had every day! It was a pleasant break from all the camping.

Then, the day long storm came. It made driving very icky, such that I couldn't even get to one of my plots, even on improved gravel roads! So I drove all day to the other side of the grassland, where it was drier: a relative term, because it was still raining over there too! But the next day was the only day I couldn't do a transect, because there was WAY too much wind!

But the day after that, I had a very pleasant night.

It was my first nearly windless night in a week. And the view (in spite of the oil wells) from up there was fantastic! And it was a nice change, sleeping in the tent, instead of in the truck. I can make a flat bed in the truck, but the tent does feel more comfortable. Just an overall really relaxing night, which was what I needed for the home stretch.

From here, it was off to the last few transects, and to help train the other technician who began work that week. My last transect (with the Mountain Plover) was a great one to end on. Slightly different mix of birds, because there was a prairie dog town right in the middle, and a riparian cottonwood stand. And it was finally warmish, such that I needed on less layer of clothes. Of course, this meant that I had to be aware of something that I nearly forgot was out there:

It gave me a bit of a fright, but, well, that's nature for ya! I'd rather deal with bears than snakes, overall, only because bears have a harder time hiding underfoot.

From there, it was the exciting rocking trip back to Laramie, and get some much needed chores done. But not before another exciting animal on the way home:

This was not the first badger I ever saw, but rather the third. The first, unfortunately, was roadkill the second day of the trip. The second was looking for food near one of my plots the day it was raining, so the pictures didn't turn out all that well. But this little character didn't seem to mind us too much, while it took care of digging out its burrow.

Laramie provided the much needed chores and rest and relaxation. From here, it is off to the mountains! The Laramie mountain range, to be precise, about an hours drive from town here, and then another hour or more on dirt roads. Woo hoo! I'm also excited because at least one plot I have to backpack in for, which is one of the reasons I signed up for this job.

I hope all is well with everyone. I'll try to make sure I have a post up as soon as I get back...this trip will not nearly be as long as the last one (plan is only for 3 nights).