ring-round-the-rear

Today started out like usual...16 billion gs and no pd's. At 10:25, however, I had an unmarked dog come up behind me at burrow XO. He took one look towards the front of my tower, and decided to go exploring...down the hill and away from me. I almost immediately lost him in the long grass and sage. With John and Erica's help, however, we were able to herd him back up to XO, and trap him there...at least I hope. There are more holes in that area than in any other part around my tower...I was not entirely confident that he wouldn't find a creative way to escape.
Soon after he was ensconced in his surround, I watched a golden eagle that had caught a small bird over the lake. He was flying low to go enjoy his meal when he was mobbed by a pair of crows. They hassled him until he dropped his prey, and then they dove down to enjoy it. Talk about being opportunistic! After the crow incident, it was fairly quiet around my tower, and I say fairly because of all the waterfowl arriving in to the refuge. According to one of the pamphlets, the refuge is home to some 3000 birds from now until early June, many of them rare in other places. I am super excited to see some species of birds that I have only seen stuffed in the lab; so far the majority of the immigrants are Canada Geese and Crows, which are interesting but not really exciting. I'm looking forward to the phalaropes, avocets, and buffleheads to name a few.
At the end of the day, I had a very late pd come up. It was obviously completely disorientated, as it came up at 5:15 pm, and then just gazed dazedly around. It was bedtime for all the other dogs, and so I had to find out who this late dog was. After staring at it for 20 minutes in the fading sunlight, I was able to determine it had a 2 on its side, with a thick black band on its rump. Her official name is Ring around the Rear 2, and she was the first one to mate last year. Can't wait to see if she repeats herself again this year! She might get to, as 2 is being quite the explorer lately, and might come back over to consort with her...