Buddha

Today was great…aside from seeing several dogs, I saw a golden eagle, which is on my list of birds I really want to see:) Golden eagle aside, I was in yet another tower today, which is by one of the roads in the park, its ok, although I like the one on the hill better (I was in the hill one yesterday). At 10:30 this morning, dog 15 emerged, and decided to tease us by checking out the traps we’d previously set, going as close as to practically getting in one, and then deciding he wasn’t interested. As he was playing with my mind, on the other side of my tower, I had an unmarked dog pop up, and then sit with just his head and shoulders out…which is comical to look at, and of course you can’t tell if he has a marker or not until he comes out….which took this shy guy 45 min. I set six traps as soon as he went back in, which was as soon as he realized he was the only one out in his coterie. And…he was gone for the rest of the day.

Aside from the excitement around my tower, the fattest dog I’ve seen so far (and thats saying a lot) emerged from a burrow behind the hill tower. He was quickly dubbed Buddha, and will probably have some special number or letter depicting that, as he was refered by that name the remainder of the day. Number 30 was also seen again today, although he kept the running in circles to a strict minimum, instead utilizing his time running up and down the hill by his coterie, and along the frozen pond. Again today we caught no one:( There’s always tomorrow!

One last thing…just going to list what we saw today (from all five towers):

total of six prairie dogs

coyote, horned larks, crows, golden eagle, rough legged hawk, and a green elk