Since returning from Yellowstone, the order of the day was to get the last transects done. And in spite of a minor hiccup (well, major in some sense), they are all done now.There were about 8 transects left to get done in just over a weeks time, with some help from my boss who was going to do a few. So I figured, no problem!
I had done an excellent job this year (notice the past tense...) of not getting stuck in snow or mud, in spite of all the rain. There were some dicey days in Thunder Basin National Grassland when it rained, once for about a day straight. But when the rain stopped, the roads became pretty easy to drive on. After that, I had a few transects in the Laramie Peak region, but it stayed nice and dry the whole time. Though I had to get pretty wet for one transect, fording a stream/river 8 times on my way in and out and during the transect. Actually, for the most part, the rain has been sporadic, and only once did it rain during a transect that I had to call it quits on it - and it was because the bird activity dropped right before the rain began, not because it was actually raining.
Well, with only a few transects left, and oodles of afternoon time, I took the scenic route to one of my transects. And (finally?) got stuck. In dirt though, not mud, which actually made it harder (the rear wheel struts got buried into dirt and sod about a foot deep). So, I hit the "HELP" button, help arrived, and we eventually got the truck out. I did my transect the next day, and then decided my body needed a few days to recover, so I headed back to Laramie.
I consider that a minor hiccup, but it took a lot more work than we thought to get the truck out. But, thankfully, the rest of the transects went smoothly, and I was even able to enjoy some nice scenery to help break up the monotony and the drives. And some fun wildlife too.
In the Snowy Range west of Laramie, I was keeping my eye out for moose, because I had seen one on one of my drives out from a transect (but was unable to get a photo). And lo and behold, in the same willow patch, she was there again!
That was the day I got stuck. Due to the amount of snow they got this winter, along with the late season snowstorm in June along with frequent rain, I had a transect to do that had a "minor" road closure issue. One reason I got stuck was that I was exploring different ways to access the transect. The following is a fantastic illustration of a "dip in the road":
The open stretch is about 100 feet wide. The part of the road that was near my transect was almost to this point. I could see cracks in the road near my transect, and also sections along the downhill side had collapsed. Needless to say, I trod very carefully. And possibly due to my lack of sleep the night before, or just getting used to seeing them, I saw a black bear while at my first point about 40 meters away, and I don't think my heart rate went up very much. I seem to be having this knack for seeing those animals (and FYI: when I am working or alone, my first thought is always SAFETY, not photos of the bear).So, after I finished that transect, it was back to Laramie to rest and recover, and wouldn't you know it, my housemate was actually not in the field! I actually had company for the weekend! So we made the most of it. Rodeo, street dancing, and beer tasting, all in downtown Laramie. It was a fun way to recover from what is now known as "Michael's Fiasco."
I began the training for the next part of my job out here on Monday (I will be doing habitat measurement for Lynx), then I was able to leave on Tuesday afternoon to wrap the bird transects up. Awesome scenery, and thankfully not a huge distance of driving, though one transect took about an hour to get to, though it was only about 6 miles in on a dirt road (the road was in pretty poor shape).
From Centennial Ridge, a view of the Snowy Range:
So from there, I had a longish drive to my next transect, BUT, I had already scouted the transect about 3 weeks earlier, to check on the river height (I had to ford a river to get to it). So I could take my time, and I did. The photo at the beginning of this post is Lake Marie, with Medicine Bow Peak as a backdrop. Just below this lake was the following cascade, Lake Marie Falls:
Incidentally, I could tell there would be nice fishing there. I could see the trout in the stream and the lake! I had a nice time up there, and it was a good place for a picnic lunch since it was cool (about 50 degrees F), a little breezy to keep the mosquitoes away, and just plain pretty. Then I headed to my next transect, and for the first time in a while, I wasn't driven batty by mosquitoes. And I got to enjoy a sunset over my transect. And relish the aspen groves, the first and only transect I have done that was dominated by them at nearly every point.
This transect also gave me a fantastic view, and photo opportunity, of a female Dusky Grouse at a point. Probably because she had a few chicks in the area, that I also spooked up.
And I of course took pictures of the wildflowers, many of which are coming into full flower now. Since I have to identify shrubs and trees on my transects, I have been provided with a plant book for the summer for identification aid (funny, though, that the oak you see in the above photo didn't make it in). So I have been able to take my time to identify the flowers in my spare time. The following are Mule's Ears (Wyethia amplexicaulis); Colorado Columbine (Aquilegia coerulea); and Monument Plant or Green Gentian (Frasera speciosa):
And so, day to day, the transects were getting done. Unlike the crew here last year, I have lucked out INCREDIBLY in being able to get nearly all the points done on every transect. The weather has been much more cooperative. And so, on Saturday morning around 10 am, I was all done:
Some summaries. The life birds during my bird work, in order [W means world life bird, so new for me completely; US means new for the United States, but I had seen it before elsewhere, like Mexico]: Harris' Sparrow (W); Clay-colored Sparrow (W); White-winged Junco (species not new, but the subspecies is) (W); Red-necked Phalarope (W); Long-billed Curlew (US); Mountain Plover (US); American Three-toed Woodpecker (W); and Red-naped Sapsucker (US). Two additional new birds were in Yellowstone, Barrow's Goldeneye (W) and Trumpeter Swan (W).I also saw a few new mammals, including Moose, Badger, and Mountain Lion (I still can't believe that one!).
So, that's my report for now. I am modifying this blog site, so that you can subscribe to it, as well as getting some web links on it. More specifically, the links to my flickr photo pages (that have many more photos of these trips) and some of the other places I have worked, or will be working (such as Bosque del Rio Tigre Lodge in Costa Rica, which has a great on-line newsletter).
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