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!
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