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).