Hiking in Dixie National Forest

The endangered Pygmy Rabbit, it was no longer than six inches from nose to tail.

Rattlesnake eating a squirrel on the Spring Creek Trail

Rattlesnake, Part II

This week was filled with much of the same kind of work as last week. We went out to do vegetation monitoring one day, and paragrine falcon and golden eagle monitoring for a couple days. Something new that we got to do was a Mexican spotted owl survey. The owl is highly endangered, but the BLM biologists know of a place they have nested in the past, so we went to check it out. On our way through the canyons we all of the sudden heard the sound of a rattle! Yes, we came across another rattlesnake! But we soon realized we were in no danger of being attacked, as it had a squirrel shoved half way down its throat! Our supervisor said she never sees rattlesnakes unless Lily and I are with her. We're either good luck charms or bad luck charms; I suppose it depends on whether you want to see a rattlesnake or not. We didn't end up seeing or hearing any owls, but the trail went through some cool slot canyons, and the sunset made the rocks a beautiful glowing orange, and we had to hike out in the dark, with our dorky little head lamps on. Another new thing we did this week was a riparian habitat assessment. We basically determined the health of a little mountain stream. While doing this, we saw two pigmy rabbits, another highly endangered species. The literature says these little creatures require a sagebrush habitat, but there was minimal sagebrush at each place we saw the rabbits, so a habitat study is sure to arise from these sightings.

Watching a golden eagle nestling

Petrified dinosaur tracks, petroglyphs, and the summer solstice at Parawan Gap

Pronghorn Antelope

California Condor, the largest bird, by weight and wingspan, in the the world

Hiking in the slot canyons of Kannarra Creek

Week Two

My second week was great, we were in the field and out of the office all week. Our week started out with vegeatation surveys for three days. After identifying them for three days, I know my desert plants like the back of my hand! Later in the week, we did a couple paragrine falcon surveys. We went to an active nest site and observed two adults for a few hours. Although we did not see any young, we suspect that they have some who are too young to venture out of the nest. We'll continue to monitor them and not the dates that the young emerge and fledge. We also checked out a new site of a potential paragrine nest. It was the middle of the day, so we didn't see any activity, but we'll be going back this coming week to check it out again. We also spoted a golden eagle nest, with a nestling in it. His parents had just brought him lunch, so we watched him eat for a while. On Saturday, we went to Zion National Park, where some of the rangers put on an event to see wild california condors, the largest bird in the world (wingspan 9 1/2 feet), who are experiencing a very successful comeback. Thier numbers were at one time down to 22, all of which were in captivity. After successful breeding programs, many were released into the wild, and there are currently around 300 individauls, about 150 of which are in the wild and breeding successfully. In the park they've had five chicks hatch in the wild just this year. In the evening, we went to Parawan Gap to observe the summer solstice the way the Native Amercans did. The sun sets right in a gap in the mountains on the longest day of the year, and the area was sacred to many different tribes of Native Americans. Also in the area are numerous petroglyphs and petrified dinosaur tracks, wood, and plants that are visible in the rocks.

View of Zion National Park from across the valley

Red-tailed hawk nest, about three feet in diameter, 10 feet off the ground

The Greenville Bench, burned by a prescribed fire that got out of control last summer

Prescribed burn to open up the understory

First Week!

My first week as a wildlife biologist was an exciting one, for the most part. On our first day out in the field, we had to clear a site of a future wind turbine. The energy company is about to put up a test tower on BLM land, so we went out to check for raptor nests and other concerns we might have about how the test tower might affect wildlife. It was all clear, so we gave the go-ahead for the test tower. Oh yeah, and we surprised a rather large rattlesnake on the way back to the truck! It was hissing and coiled up, ready to spring at me. Luckily, it didn't, and I got my first lesson on what to do when you encounter a rattlesnake. The next day we went searching for red-tailed hawks. There was reportedly a nest with nestlings in a recreation park, so we went out to find it. After journeying through the forest, we eventually found the female, then the male, but we couldn't find the nest, although we knew we were close, since the parents were squawking at us and circling around. While searching for the nest, we saw a third hawk flying with the parents and realized it was their offspring. The BLM likes to keep track of the reproductive success of raptors by counting the number of offspring to fledge, so although we didn't find the nest, we knew at least one hawk had fledged. We also checked up on a site where golden eagles were known to nest, and sure enough, there they were, and they had one nestling in the nest, almost ready to fledge. Our final project for the day was to locate a red-tail hawk nest that the division of wildlife had found. We found the gigantic nest in a juniper tree, with signs of ealier use, but no recent use. Today we went on a tour lead by the forestry service of an area that has been managed with prescribed burns for the last five years. The area that was burned last year showed little signs of succession (new growth), but the foresters were expecting good recovery next spring.