Last night I was kept up by loud rain showers most of the night. I just pretended it wasn’t raining; all the roads to our sites get pretty horrible after a long night of rain. About half an hour into my hour drive in the morning, it was pouring, but there was no way I was going back. Since we finally found a few nests last week, I was hoping other pairs have started nesting also. I headed for our site that has a decent gravel road right through the middle of it. This road had two little rivers flowing down the sides of it, with a nice puddle at the end of it that a few ducks were enjoying. I didn’t find any curlew nests, but did have some promising observations of two different pairs that don’t seem to be nesting yet. Or, their nests floated away. I also saw a male curlew attacking raptors on the edge of one of our sites. Access roads were a muddy mess, so I walked around most of the day. This is a site that is usually full of people shooting ground squirrels (or "sage rats," a new name I learned today), but the rain kept most people away today. One plinker told me he hasn't seen it rain like this in 70 years. What a reassuring thought.
For about an hour I tried to figure out what a particularly sneaky male curlew was doing…I think he is up to something, but he was extremely hard to figure out. Two badgers were really driving him crazy, so he didn’t seem to be revealing much of anything as long as they were around. I'm sure my bright pink rain jacket didn't help, either, but I have to admit that
Frogg Toggs makes the best rain gear I have ever worn in my life. Their gear for men is pretty shapeless and ridiculous-looking but I am a big fan of their women's line.
I saw some pretty cool things today, including a badger that was running around with a dead ground squirrel in his mouth, and a snake I’ve never seen before. I can't decide what it is. It is probably a Gopher Snake, but it reminded me of a not-so-friendly
Bull Snake that I encountered once in Kansas. Your snake ID help would be appreciated.
Gopher Snake? Or Bull Snake?
Also, while walking through some native bunch grasses, I flushed a Horned Lark that flew off in a crazy injury display. Alex and I found a Horned Lark nest in Nebraska once like this, so I started looking around, and found this little nest at the bottom of some bunch grass. At first all I could see was a big yellow puff ball.
Then the puff ball opened to reveal two horrid yet cute-looking baby Horned Larks.
Lucky for them, a break in the clouds gave them some warm sun to sit in and they yawned lazily as I snapped a few photos. I wish I would have GPS'ed it so I can go back when they look like
this...and
this.
Two Horned Lark chicks
You are a much better blogger than me, my dear!This is a great way to journal your research and I applaud you for keeping up with it!
ReplyDeleteBTW, your pictures look fabulous! What camera do you use? I've been following Tyler around on some of his field sites and on occasion I'll see some wildlife to document, but my camera does not do them justice.
PS: I hope the rain stops soon!
Thanks! I just have no life...so I blog :o) I go through some periods where I really don't post much, but I see a lot of stuff at this job so there is a lot to write about. And I work 8 hour days usually with 2 days off a week so I am not over-worked (like most other jobs) and I actually have the time. I have a Canon Rebel T2i, and I just bought the 400mm lens to go with it (good for far away stuff). But any rebel with the smaller kit lenses are great for wildlife. I'd love to get a macro lens one day, too!
ReplyDeleteThat's a typical Great Basin Gopher snake (Pituophis`melanoleucus deserticola) aka bullsnake. Very common in Idaho. You and Alex have great photos and blogs!! Keep up the good work!
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