Brrrrrrr!!!!

Today was freezing and windy...we didn't go out until 11, and then we only stayed until 4:30, which was late enough in itself. My tower has the great placement of facing South (sunny all day), but today the wind was blowing straight in the entire day. We had originally thought that maybe 3 dogs would come up..and we were surprised to see 10 in all, including 30, who we haven't seen in over a week. What a day to decide to come up! Aside from the pds, there were the gs who were very upset at their shutdown of free lunch, and kept coming up to the closed traps to try and get some food...in one case (4gs--not shocking) the gs tried to climb into the closed trap. What a pig..

Prairie Dogs are Sneaky

Today started with the sighting of a Northern Goshawk, which is a larger bird of prey that has a distinct slash of white above its' eye. So many birds out here!

Getting on to the entrees... I mean...the animals we're studying. Today was the first day that we didn't set traps around W2, and so, of course, we saw the unmarked dog W2un. We haven't seen it for days, but as soon as the traps weren't set, it made it's appearance. Figures. Wilbur walked out to remedy the situation, and on his way back, discovered that he had caught yet another gs, large, and unmarked (yay!). These days, it's becoming harder to catch unmarked gs at his tower, as they are finding the treats in the traps oh-so-yummy. While Wilbur awaited for W2un's re-emergence, John and I marked the gs number 8, and I found that I am slowly getting better at putting in ear tags, always a good thing, as they need to last more than one season, and it's annoying when they get ripped out (usually because it takes most of the ear with it). 8 was actually a good boy during the marking process, and his marker turned out nice to prove it.

Meanwhile, back at the top of the hill, Wilbur was learning the hard way that pd's are sneaky, and they enjoy to frustrate their observers. W2un had appeared a few times, but only in the emergence of a head over the burrow mound. We were starting to give up hope, when 2 sauntered by the traps (2 is a big fat pig when it comes to oats, and especially the oats with molasses bait we're using this year) and W2un just couldn't take it. She (I say she because of the way she reacted to 2) came out, and was unable to resist the lure of the traps. We got her, and it turned out I was right; it was a female...RR2. During his agonizingly long wait, Wilbur also saw H0, another female, a dog that was already marked because she was a yearling, and had been marked in the fall. All together, not a bad day.

Luck 'O' The Irish...and not much else

Today was a blah day as far as gs and pds go. Saw absolutely nothing on that front. Had a short period of excitement when Wilbur caught a gs at his tower, and was able to get down to mark it....only to find it had escaped before we got to it...soooo back to the tower and staring at cloud formations.

Part way through the day I did spot a Peregrine Falcon, always interesting, but it didn't seem to be hunting, just out enjoying the day, so it only slightly distracted me. Aside from the falcon, there was a HUGE herd of elk, but as they were approximately a mile away, they held little excitement; I was looking forward to some fights or chases...something. My wishes were not answered, but at least the day was not too long..

There actually was one point of extreme interest, and that's that Erica (Tall Girl) is coming back to Walden in May!! Woo hoo!

Ravens are in Charge

Today started with Wilbur catching 10gs, which let me see how nice his marker turned out..which is always good. Soon after, I was somewhat bored, and lazily watched a Raven chase a much swifter Prairie Falcon out of the coveted 'bird tree' (it's the only really good perching tree for miles, and it's conveniently located over a pd colony for the raptors) three times. The Raven was either as bored as I was, or just being a pest..I vote pest. Shortly after the avian dispute, Wilbur caught an unmarked gs at his tower, and I noted that they seemed to be viewing the traps as free lunch..they get to eat yummy molasses oats, we might take them to a car here and there, but they'd always get released after a short stay in jail, and then be free to repeat their indescritions with the several other traps spread around. They might not be as stupid as originally thought...
We marked the unmarked guy, turning him into 6gs, the event being completely without comment, which is always a relief, and we went home soon after she and I were done.

Kids Should Know About pd's

Today we went with John to Walden's high school to listen to his talk about prairie dogs. Most of the kids here come from rancher families, who generally greatly dislike pd's, although sometimes it just seems they dislike them on principle. Pd's have the bad rap of breaking horses and cows legs when they step into their burrows, which would then mean that the rancher would have to kill the animal. In reality, there have been no documented cases of such incidences occurring, but ranchers sometimes just need an excuse to shoot the dogs; never mind that most of them are threatened, or even endangered.
The talk started out with much the same response, but by the end, John seemed to be having somewhat of an impact. My personal favorite part of the discussion was the effects of polyandry, which is when a female mates with more than one male. In prairie dogs, that accounts for the female having a larger litter size, thus increasing the likelihood of her genes being passed along. Very interesting.
After the talk was finished, we headed out to the field and a long day. Amy was in a car at the barn, and I headed resolutely up to my tower. It was especially foggy, and it didn't lift until past noon, which is an odd occurrence in itself. The day was a long one..I stared irritatedly at OKun for a lot of the day, as it kept poking its head up and down. My spread traps seemed to be having little affect, may have to go to a surround soon..did manage to catch two birds; one male and one female horned lark, which is always fun...

Ground Squirrels Imitate Turtles!

I caught my second gs today, and went about marking him with Amy's help. The marking today didn't go off as smoothly as the process yesterday, minus of course a loose gs..This particular gs didn't want to stick his head out of the end of the bag, he seemed to find the interior much more to his liking. We tried to encourage him; we gripped him behind the mandible and then by the shoulders. He responded to our prodding by sticking his head out...and then sucking his head into his neck rolls like a turtle, making his ears disappear. We ended up pulling him from the bag, and while he twisted and squirmed, I got his ear tags in, and we got him marked..number 10. What a pain!

Ground Squirrels Move Faster than I Thought

I forgot today was Saturday, until I was reminded...which is always an interesting sign that I'm starting to lose track of the days, and so early into the season.. Anyhow, today was Wilbur's day off, and so I spent a fair amount of time looking up the hill to see what was going on. I was rewarded with a sighting of another dog with 2, and since he wasn't up in arms over it's arrival, I tend to think it was a girl. 2 has a soft spot for girls..
The highlight of today was that I caught a gs, and today could do something about it, since I'd come prepared..John let me go ahead and see if I could mark it by myself, and it soon became very apparent that I couldn't. I was fine with the initial process of obtaining his weight; which is of course the easy part. I took a bag designed for weighing gs, put the end around the trap, and prodded him into it. I had weighed the bag alone (150 grams), and once he was in it, weighed it again (460 grams), which gave me his poundage, or gramage if we're being proper (310! What a porker!). It was only after that ritual that things went awry. Within 2.5 seconds of me opening the bag, I had a loose gs in the car. Fortunately for me, he seemed as dismayed by the situation as I did, and attempted to blend into the upholstery. I simply reached over, grabbed him (he alarm squeaked, I can't say called, because it was so much higher pitched than normal), and replaced him into the trap. I then called John, and somewhat shamefacedly told him that I couldn't handle a 310 gram squirrel; although in my defense, they wiggle like crazy when you do have a hold of them, and I didn't want to suffocate him in a choke hold. John hopped in to help, and in no time, had the squirrel, soon to be number four, in a immobilizing hold, and I gave him his headgear, in the form of ear tags, numbers 1 and 2. These tags are like in the pd's, they are for identification after the dye wears off. John then stretched him out, he struggled for a few seconds, and then gave up. I painted him with nyanzol dye, which makes a nice black marker, and he was a good boy during the rest of the marking process. I think he might be stud of the year....