Yesterday, Alex and I drove toward Inkom, Idaho to start out first night of Flammulated Owl Surveys. Our goal was to complete a survey grid consisting of 4 points on the western edge of the Caribou-Taghee National Forest, and complete 4 road points afterwards.
When we arrived at 6:30, it was snowing on the mountain. Luckily, our points were about 1/2 mile below the fresh snow. Unfortunately there was still some snow pack left, and it was just enough to get into your boots. The mountain was pretty steep...just looking at it almost gave me an asthma attack, and I don't even have asthma. The closest road to our first point was almost a kilometer away. This doesn't sound far, but we had to hike up and down a few steep slopes and slide down a few snow banks to eventually get to our first point around 7:45 pm. It didn't help that at the bottom of each slope was a small raging river. It was time-consuming to find crossings, but we saved ourselves from wet feet. We crossed mostly through shrub-steppe habitat and thick riparian areas, but our first point was surrounded by a clump of Aspen and Douglas Fir, with a tangle of undergrowth. It looked like really good Flammulated Owl habitat, and a few Ruffed Grouse were drumming nearby. We moved through and did vegetation surveys on the second point, which was more out in the open sage and rabbit brush. Between the second and third point, we had pretty energy-draining nearly-vertical climb that kicked my butt, and had me really regretting that beefy-five layer burrito I scarfed down earlier at Taco Bell. About half way up this slope we flushed a Dusky Grouse, and through my huffing and puffing and random swear words, I could hear a few Green-tailed Towhees calling as the sun set. Points 3 and 4 were our highest elevation points, so the plan was to start owl surveys at them (half hour after sunrise) and work our way down slope to points 1 and 2. Unfortunately, there was a massive ravine with a few cliffs between points 3 and 4, and the slope above it was a steep snow bank, likely to turn to ice after sunset. At that point we didn't have time to turn back and find a new route, so we sat at point 3 for about 20 minutes, while I pretended my peanut butter crackers and granola bars were big juicy hamburgers. We didn't hear any owls at our points, and only really heard a far-away dog barking down in the valley. The hike out took about an hour and a half. We got tangled up in a few riparian areas, but eventually found our way back to the road and our truck. We made an attempt to get to the road points, but gates blocked our way. Our truck started smoking around 1:00 am, so we decided to call it a night and head for Pocatello where we could get it looked at in the morning. My body wasn't quite ready to stay up past 1:30 am, but hopefully over the next few days I can get back into a nocturnal schedule. I am unsure if I am sleepy today or not, but when I look at our topo maps for tonights surveys, I just want to curl up in my sleeping bag and take a nap!
I really like nocturnal work; I spent a few months back in 2008 tracking Northern Saw-whet Owls (look up the 2008 archives!) at night in Pennsylvania with Scott Weidensaul. In fact, I thought about Scott a few time last night as we bush-whacked through some thick underbrush. I think the best nights tracking saw-whets were when I could actually hear the Saw-whets talking around me. So I am looking forward to coming across any owls on our surveys, and hope I get to hear a few saw-whet "toots" at some point. It obviously can be extremely challenging to walk around at night, but the owl encounters always make it worth it. On top of that, we had a great view last night at our highest elevation point, and I can honestly say I would have never climbed that mountain if I wasn't looking for owls.
No photos today!
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