ground squirrels are not that smart

Sitting in a tower all day, you get used to its specific idiosyncrasies; such as how it reacts to wind. There's the chatter of the support wires for prolonged wind, and the jarring/knocking of the entire box for wind gusts. As it was gusting today, I was looking through my binoculars without resting my elbows on my seat so I didn't get sea sick (or wind sick) from all the banging about. What I witnessed during this particular bout of movement in my tower was quite amusing. X6un was sitting on a burrow mound with her eyes shut, and she was facing the wind. She was in the alert position (i.e. up on her hind legs with her front paws clasped in front of her), but she wasn't alert in mind, just in body; although her body was quite slack and relaxed. Just as I was observing her rather relaxed posture, a sharp wind gust rattled my tower....and...knocked her on her butt. She fell with a startled thump, much like a surprised toddler when they lose their balance; the look on her face was much like that as well. She got carefully up, sort of looked around to see who had witnessed her humiliation, and then situated herself on all fours on the burrow mound. No more mishaps for her.
Not soon after X6un bruised her butt, I watched another couple of rodents have a mishap, or as we like to call them, an episode. One was intent on catching the other to either kill it or get into some serious play fighting, really not sure. Sadly, I never was able to find out..as the pursuer careened into a burrow marker. So focused was he on catching the opposition, that he failed to notice the obstacles. How unfortunate.
At days end, we went about wiring traps open, as we have a technician coming in a week from today with a portable ultrasound machine. We have girls that mated a little over two weeks ago, and we're going to take a look at how things are progressing. In other words, we'll be able to assess things more intelligently than: 'she appears to be getting fat'...sadly, though, many of the dogs are trap shy. We've decided as a way to encourage them to set foot in trap and 'take the bait', so to speak, we're going to be wiring the traps open overnight. That way, they can trot right on through and not be caught. We'll progress on from there, as we do need to catch some dogs before the guy gets here, just because several have not yet been marked. Let the games begin!

BEWARE!! Pictures of dead and de-capitated creatures in this post!!

The day started off with 5STR heading off for the ridge; as 92 was still playing the part of big (emphasis on big) bully. Soon after she left, the otherwise quiet day came apart at the seams...
It began with a lot of flapping, hopping, and squawking. I ignored it until it reached such a decibel that it was impossible to do so. I knew it was a pair of crows, fighting over what I thought was something dried up and gross (as is usually the case) on the ground. This was my consensus after a quick glance, until all pd's and gs stood at alert, and it grew dead silent in the field; even 2 had shut up to gaze over in the far corner. I leaned out, and got a prime view, as the crow took off with a slightly decapitated ground squirrel. I watched in fascinated disgust, as it towed its prey over to (ironically) the pd crossing sign. It deposited it, chased off a few would-be stealers, and started ineffectually pecking at it. From the look of the body, that was how it had been killed, by ineffectual pecks that happened to hit the correct body parts for death.
I needn't have worried about poor ways to kill, as I was about to witness a very quick efficient way to do so: with a bear hug.
29 is a big rusty colored fluffy guy. He's not as bear-like as 2, but he looks somewhat like a teddy bear, and his fur is silky looking. He has territorial disputes with 2, which he always loses, but he gets along well with the girls. He seems the nervous teen as he runs, than walks up to RR2 or 50, making little nervous noises as he gets close. He almost always sniffs and runs, even before they have a chance to back-hand him. He's just your average lovable guy. Until he meets a gs who looks at him the wrong way. The screams were what made me turn around. 29 was hugging a gs (the gs had its back in 29's stomach) to himself, and gnawing on its neck, as he curled his back legs around it. Even though I'd seen gs and pd's scuffles, I immediately knew he was killing it, and said so over the radio. The effect was instant: "Tape IT!!" It was over in a matter of seconds. 29 dropped it, and then commenced to cannibalizing the back half over the hips; any protein this time of year is good protein....
Over in John's area, a new drama was unfolding. It included a very big badger and a very unfortunate prairie dog that we'll call AVun. The badger at first appeared to be digging through the snow after a mouse....and then came up with a pd..AVun. He also was efficient at the dispatch, and like 29, appeared to be on the hungry side. Unlike 29, he started with the head.....
At days end, we dissected AVun to see how far along her pregnancy had progressed before her untimely end. Unlike the gs (as there are millions more), I was sad to see a pd go.

We're getting along....

Everyone decided to be friendly today; 50 especially. She must have concluded that being friendly with someone is easier than having to be on constant alert to chase that specific someone. At one point she and 14 stood side-by-side looking at something (or nothing) off in the sage. They fed together, strolled together, and even went down for the night together. They seem to be 'best buds' just like 30 and 92. RR2 seemed not to share that sentiment, as she struck out for burrows unknown, ending up across the field at XA'. Hopefully she will be happy there.

Watch where you step

It snowed a ton last night, and we ended up going into the field late. We took the Expedition to avoid getting stuck, and managed to make it in to the refuge without any issue. The only real problem was crossing the cattle guard by feel, as the drifting snow had covered the bars. I had flashes of myself falling, and taking out a shin (or two) on the iron. *Wince* Once ensconced, we sat in our towers the requisite amount of time before going back. During this time, we saw more birds (i.e. Northern Harriers and Prairie Falcons) than dogs, and my feet managed to go numb in the 3.5 hour time span. Upon walking back to the car, I reminded myself to walk only where grass was sticking up through the snow; to avoid sliding into a burrow, which are concealed underneath the smooth windblown surface. I was successful in not stepping in a burrow, but it was funny to realize that while I couldn't see the entrances, I also couldn't see half of the markers.
Upon reaching the trailer, we found that our pipes had frozen, but that's not important to the continuing research for the pd's. Besides, why should it be easy?

Being a Bully is Catching

It snowed again last night, but it's supposed to be sunny for at least awhile today. Once ensconced in my tower, I settled into my sleeping bag and waited for my dogs to get up. I'm sort of expecting 5STR to go soon, since she's been up for a few days; she's a grandma, so it might take her longer, although I'm not sure. 50 got up early, but then I had a long wait until the next dog made their appearance. While I was waiting, I focused on the ground squirrels around me. For those not familiarized with the Wyoming Ground Squirrel (gs) they are flitchy, nervous, and neurotic. The scitter around, and then hop up on their hind legs, hunched over to view their immediate surroundings. Unlike pd's, they have long tails that they continually flit, and the more agitated they are, the faster they flit them. I watched two gs get into a fight; they arched their backs like cats, puffed and arched their tails, and growled at each other right before they attacked. As they were fighting, I observed another pair across the field. One was trying to kiss the other one (a form of greeting in both pd's and gs). Every time the one leaned in, the other swatted at his face; lean swat, lean swat, lean swat....fight. The ending not unsimilar to pd's. At a third place in the field, a gs performed a balancing act on a sturdy sprig of sage; it looked like he was hovering in space as he surveyed his territory from his high perch.
When W5un finally came out, it seemed like she might have gone with 2, as they got up late, and 9 minutes apart from the same burrow. Soon after, all of my dogs were up. That's when the trouble started. 92, who copulated a few days ago, apparently decided that she was in charge. She didn't bother any of the boys, but chased W5un a few times before turning to 5STR. She started by chasing her back into burrow XP every time she came out. She then appeared to grow tired of the game, and went off to eat with 30; 5STR took this opportunity to trot over the hill to eat. 92 was after her immediately, and chased her full speed back into XP. It was at this point that 5STR stuck her head out, and began a series of pathetic sounding chirping calls. I asked John, and he said it's not often seen in White Tails, but he calls it a 'defense bark'. It is used when the bullied dog is so much less able to fight or take what the other dog is handing out. It's a bark of desperation, asking to be left alone. 92 largely ignored the barks, shoving 5STR repeatedly into XP, and then always giving a TC afterwards from atop the burrow. She finally lost interest, and I'm sincerely hoping after 5STR copulates, she flattens 92. Not that I'm taking sides.

50 is a bully

I'm beginning to think that I won't be seeing the sun until spring comes; even though the calender says that its technically here. Today was a fairly typical day as far as the weather goes; sunny (for a very short period of time), followed by cloudy, than overcast, than omg, that cloud looks scary, to blizzarding, to somewhat nice. This erratic weather pattern does nothing for researchers. It puts some dogs down in the middle of the day, some dogs get up late, some go to bed early, some get back up after going down at 1:30, and then just when it appears like the coast is clear to go, either 36 or 2 decides he needs to get back up to stretch and sit in the snow.
Aside from the interesting weather, there was some noticeable occurrences. The first was an absolutely immense flock of geese flying over my tower on their way to the lake. The refuge we do research at is a wildlife refuge, but most of the wildlife are birds. Which is awesome! Apparently in the summer, 3000-4000 birds flock to Arapaho to mate and raise chicks. We've already seen Canada Geese (getting to be a daily thing), various ducks, and one Sandhill Crane. Losing my story here though; getting back on track, the geese flew over my study area, and every single dog freaked out, running for burrows. Now, I would understand babies running from loud, honking geese, but not adults. They came back up almost as soon as they had gone down, a lot of them looking a little sheepish. Immediately after the geese, an immature Bald Eagle flew low over, and not one moved. I'm lucky I still have a colony to work with..
Shortly after the eagle, a massive Red-tailed Hawk flew past my tower, making me jump in my chair, as I heard the gentle 'swooooosh' of his wings. He landed in the sage to my right, and I watched his individual tail feathers flex and separate as he landed. He stared into my eyes before taking off after a few seconds balanced in the sage.
At this point, it was blizzarding. Most of the dogs had had the good sense to disappear down burrows, with the exception of 50. I watched her through binoculars, as she chased than flattened what I first thought was a ground squirrel, except it didn't move like a ground squirrel. I realized it was a dog just as she chased it down a burrow, than proceeded to keep it down by herding it. I suddenly didn't like 50 very much, as I realized this tiny dog probably had just gotten up, and hadn't eaten yet. I liked her even less as she chased it, biting it and dragging it down when she finally caught it. I disliked her for being a bully, but also because I couldn't see the number on the dog; just that it was marked.
The snow finally started to come down so hard that 50 decided to call it quits. Ten minutes after she disappeared, I watched a bedraggled pd climb out of a burrow to eat by himself in the disgusting weather. He turned out to be a little loser male, 14, which made me smile; he was so small and cute. As I watched him eat out in the nasty wind, I realized he'll be just fine since he was functioning just fine in weather that sent even 2 down..even though 2 did get up later to go for a stroll after everyone had gone to bed..

Wile E. Coyote

Lasagna is what got me through the day. It wasn't in my hands or even my mouth yet, but I knew it was coming. John's wife Judy is an amazing cook, as I found out yesterday when she made sourdough bread from scratch. It was good that I had something to focus my attention on today, as it was an otherwise slow day. I was waiting in anticipation (desperation?) for the dogs to do something other than eat. The exciting part of their day was sniffing each other, with a kiss thrown in for mental stimulation.
As the day was creaking to a close, I happened to look at the lake in front of my tower, and then did a double take. A coyote (this one reminded me of Wile E. Coyote in the intelligence department) was walking across the frozen lake. I use 'frozen' in the loosest sense of the word, as the edges are currently thawed to water, and the rest was just barely passable as solid; less than a week ago it was open water. I watched in fascinated concern as the coyote nonchalantly crossed the widest, and presumably the deepest, part of the lake unscathed...and then packed up to go back to the trailer. Lasagna!!