Trapping Sunday

Sunday, we made some more bow nets, and then decided to go out trapping around 2:30 p.m. We were out until 9:00 p.m. We ended up trapping 6 owls, 2 with geolocators. Slower day than the others, but it was still a successful weekend. So, we ended up trapping I think 31 owls for the whole weekend, 9 of which had geolocators on them. I always think, man I bet those owls are happy to get those things taken off of them. Even though, they were designed to not bother or weigh down the owl at all. One owl managed to get part of his undone, so when we caught him it was hanging from his front as opposed to the back where it is supposed to be. We also did a good amount of burrow maintenance at some of the burrows that aren't currently being used. DJ says that this year won't be a good food year, which means he predicts that not as many young will hatch. These owls take their chances. That's why we see a lot that lay 8, 9, and 10 eggs. He says out of the 10 eggs they lay, there might be 4 that make it. Wow. That's not a great percentage, but in a bad food year, what do you expect?

At one of the burrows yesterday, we found one that had 9 eggs in it, one of them was pipped out. What that means is we could see the egg tooth of the beak and the owl bad broken through the shell, in a matter of hours it will be fully out of its shell. We didn't hang around to see that obviously, but Danielle and I were both very excited to see it, and hear it! That owl was peeping like there was no tomorrow. SOOO cute. Here's a pic for ya...

The egg at the top left is the one that is hatching.

Soo cool! I just might be able to see babies before I leave. I banded my first burrowing owl yesterday as well. I had banded Saw-whet owls before, so I already knew the gist, but I want to band as much as I can. The females weigh more than the males always. Partly because they need the energy more to lay eggs, and then incubate. Almost every time we catch an owl, they bite their tongue with their beak. I hate it when they do that, but it seems to be the norm, and no worries, their tongues heal back fast. 

I finally got to see coyotes here. I can hear them howling at night, but I hadn't been able to see one until Sunday. Oh and I finally saw a mule deer. Lots to see out here. I've seen and heard more birds here than I ever thought I would. Here are some of the birds I have added to my life list since I got out here (I don't really have a life list written, it's all in my head at this point): Western King bird, Harrier, California Quail, Brewer's blackbird, pheasant, nighthawk, Great-Horned Owl, Burrowing owl, Curlew, Meadowlark. I think that's all of them. I may have seen some birds in zoos and the like, but I don't count those. I only count what I see in the wild. Ah, I almost forgot to tell you, so sometimes when we get to an artificial burrow, we cover up the front entrance with our "plunger", and walk the female back into the nest chamber. Once she is in there, we lift the top of the nest chamber open, reach in, and grab her. That way you don't have to trap. So, yesterday we came upon one. I opened up, but there was a HUGE Black widow inside hanging out in its web. I kind of froze. I was like, I can't do this. haha. I told Danielle...there's a black widow, I can't grab her. She kept trying to encourage me that I could do it. I grabbed a handful of grass, swatted away the web and spider. But, I just don't like those spiders..I'm sorry, but they are just plain scary. So, Danielle came and grabbed the owl out of the chamber while I'm standing there like a scared kid. ha. Afterwards, I told DJ about it. He said, we are going to make you do it next time. You gotta get over the spider thing. I thought, you know, he's right. Gotta get over it. Stupid poisonous spiders...Next time I will catch my own owl! And I will have a picture to show you guys! 

After trapping we were all STARVING! So, we went into town and had dinner at this mom and pop sort of place. Kind of like a steak house cafe. It was awesome. They give you a huge plate of fries! Not kidding. I ordered the BBQ Brisket sandwich, they said on the menu, big enough for two. They weren't kidding. It was like an open face sandwich. It was some of the best BBQ brisket I've ever had. It hit the spot. I brought the rest of back with me to eat tonight. It was such a great weekend. Until next time, here are some more pics for ya....

 Poplar tree's are shedding their seeds

 Owl tracks on top of a mound

 My foot in front of the entrance of a burrow..keeping the female from escaping.

 The igloos they used to store the chemical weapons in.

DJ setting up a box trap. 

Danielle and DJ banding an owl 

Danielle and the owl she caught! 

 Me holding this beautiful girl

Measuring the tail feather of the owl 

 Measuring the wing...doesn't she look mad?!

Measuring the tarsus on the owl 

Looking at the brood patch on the female 

 hehe...Smiling at my owlie friend! 

Letting her back in her home..this is a natural burrow btw.

Trapping Saturday

Today, we went out around 10 a.m., trapped until 2:30 p.m., broke for lunch, then went back out at 3:30 p.m. till 8:30 p.m. Long day, but it was such a successful trapping day. We got a total of 14 owls, 3 with geolocators. More great pics coming your way...Oh, Danielle has this awesome SLR camera with a 400 mm lens. She has taken a lot of pics of me, but I won't get them till later this month because she leaves tomorrow, then comes back on the 11th of May. So, I will post those pics then. For now, here are the ones from my camera.

 Entrance of a burrow with a lot of white wash (poop) on the top.

 Entrance of a burrow that has been plugged by pocket gophers

 Box trap at entrance

Putting flea powder on the owl (it doesn't hurt the owl, and yes they get fleas) 

 Danielle at a burrow

 Banded owl (see right leg) inside a trap

 Old warehouse that is riddled with pigeons

 Warehouse...kind of eery

 Warehouse again...we were looking for Barn owls

 Measuring the tail feather of the owl

Saturday sunset

Trapping Friday

So, after we made two bow nets, DJ decided to take us out trapping...Yes please! So, around 5 p.m. we went out. The owls are most active a few hours before sunset, and then very active at night, as they are nocturnal. So, we went out, learned how to set up box traps to trap mainly females, but sometimes you catch males in there too. We had sooo much fun! We caught a total of 11 owls, 4 of them with geolocators. The geolocators were put on their backs to show where they go when they migrate. But, you can't retrieve the information without getting the geolocator off of the owl. So, we are trying to focus on the owls that we know have one so we can take them off. After each owl we took one off of, DJ would say in his Minnesota accent, "Okay, buddy, thank you for your contribution to science." LOL. Loved it! Most of the owls have already starting laying eggs. Some of have 6, 8, and even 10. Yowza, these girls are busy. We trapped until almost 10 p.m. I know it was only 5 hours, but we were all sooo exhausted and hungry. Hard work. The fun is just beginning. Just wait until the babies get here! Eeek! :) Here are the pics for you! Enjoy! *These pictures never upload in the order I want them to, and I can't figure out how to move them around, so sorry about that.

 DJ and Danielle walking in the sunset. 

 DJ holding a Burrowing owl

 This is me holding my 2nd owl.

 Happy happy! It was VERY windy, btw. 

 Two of the burrows after we set up traps.

 One burrow with a trap at the entrance

 Pronghorn!

Beautiful sunset on Friday

Bow Nets Thursday

So, Thursday it rained pretty much all day. So, we stayed indoors and made bow nets for trapping the male owls. DJ (David Johnson-my boss) made the frame for the nets, and then showed us how to sew the netting onto the frames the right way. We made 3 on Thursday, and 2 on Friday morning. It wasn't too exciting stuff so I thought, oh I'll just blog for both days Friday night after we have made all of the bow nets. haha. Well, our newest addition to the crew is Danielle. She is in her 30's, and very cool. I instantly liked her, and feel she felt the same way about me. And I think it helps that she reminds me of my dear friend, Jen Davis. No wonder I like her ;-) Anyways, I will save the next blog for the trapping we got to do Friday (unexpectedly) cause we had a grand ol' time, and we have some AWESOME pics! Danielle and I both did little dances after holding Burrowing owls Friday night. haha. Great times. Anyways, here's a picture of the bow nets we made.

It reminded me of basket weaving, which I loved doing in high school art class, so after being intimidated by the first one we did, I was set to go after that. :)

Busy Busy

Hey guys, I know its been a few days since I've blogged. Hang in here with me. The past few days have been crazy busy. I hope to fully update you tomorrow. Thanks!

Meetings...smeetings

Today we got a late start due to my boss feeling under the weather. I spent the morning recharging batteries. Oh what fun...ha. We drove 2 hours to Yakima, WA to have a meeting with a lady from the Forest Service. My boss had to go over logistics with her about another job he will be doing up there in June and July. That's right folks. I sat through a 2 hour meeting that didn't really concern me. Except for the fact that I learned a little more about flammulated owls. Neato! From there we had lunch. My boss wanted to go to McDonalds. I HATE MCDONALDS! haha. It's just gross. So, after lunch we then drove another 20 minutes to the Yakima Training Center, which is a military installation. Yet another military base. They do a lot of ground training on this installation, and we met up with the Environmental director there. He and his crew had some sightings of burrowing owls there, and he wants to do some surveys. Here's where my boss, David, comes in. So, this meeting lasted 2.5 hours. While it was interesting information, once again, another meeting that didn't necessarily concern me. I almost thought at one point, you know, I could've just stayed back and did something productive. But, all in all, it wasn't a wasted trip. And despite my whining about meetings, I learned a lot, and we also discussed possible thesis ideas for me for the future. He really wants to help me get into a Master's program. And we discussed different ideas of what my project could be. That's all great and well, but it doesn't mean anything until I make the minimum on the dreaded, dum dum dum,.....GRE. I hate the GRE. No, I loathe the GRE. Never in my life have I been bad at standardized tests, and then comes along the GRE and throws that out. Well, I don't mind telling you guys that the first time I took the GRE I got an 850 when I needed at least a 1000. The second time I took the GRE, which was the revised test, I got a 291 when I think what I've seen is that I need a 300. So, you see that 291 and you think, hey, that's not so bad. It's only 9 points away. Shyeah, right. Tell that to ALL of the Master's program Directors. Doesn't matter. They are sticklers for that stuff.
Blah blah blah, I will retake it for the 3rd time. And the cliche,"third time's the charm," will ring true for me. Believe it!
I saw some beautiful Washington/Oregon countryside today, got home and got to listen to the Great Horned owls hoot to each other. Can't say it was a bad day. Just too much driving for my taste.

Richland, WA

Today we went to Washington to check out burrows with a Biologist from Fish and Wildlife and her volunteers. It was about an hour drive to meet them, then a lot of driving to the different sites throughout the day. Then we drove to the Fish and Wildlife Refuge office, met tons of people, and finally headed back to the Depot. While we were in WA, we were in the area of Hanford, which is where the first nuclear reactor was built in the U.S. back in the 40's I think they said. Anyways, they made all of the people in the area move away so that they can build the nuclear plant. Long interesting story short, they have turned the "buffer area" of the plant into a nature monument that is managed by Fish and Wildlife. That's where we were today.

I learned today that after downing caffeine for 4 days straight driving here, then yesterday not having any at all is a perfect formula for a massive headache. I woke up with it this morning. Then we did so much driving. Something I will tell you about myself, me riding in a car+long distances= sleep. So, you can imagine me trying to stay awake in the car ride today. Oh man. It was a struggle. Stupid caffeine and your addictiveness.

So, when I got home the two "kids" Great-Horned owls were in the tree right next to my building. So, I took some more pictures of them in the tree. Still not great great shots, but I got a fairly good shot. Here ya go...

And the work begins...

Today, we went out and checked on several burrows. It was exciting seeing the owls for the first time. Also to see their eggs, for the ones that are nesting. In one burrow, we counted 10 eggs. WOW! Anyways, my boss, his name is David Johnson. He is the Director of the Global Owl Project. He captured with his hands 3 of the owls at different burrows. He let me hold one, and put it back down in it's burrow. That was AWESOME! They are only barely bigger than the Northern Saw-Whet owls I banded in Wisconsin, so it wasn't intimidating trying to hold it properly. After that, he showed my around the town that the Army Depot we are living on is adjacent to, went grocery shopping...cause a girl's gotta eat, and then made banding kits. Then, we went back out and checked on more burrows. Oh, and just a fun side note....we have a family of Great Horned Owls living in our backyard...wanna see?

 You can only see one in this pic.

But, if you look closely, you can see 2 in this one.

They were 3 after I stopped taking pictures. They are huge owls! Two of them are juveniles, which means they are still going to get bigger. It's neat here so far. I gotta day though, the temps need to go back down. It was 84 today! And it is hot! They don't really have humidity here, so its really dry. I think the temps end up going back down later this week. Oh and one more thing, I'm staying on a military base that is soon to be closed (more on this base in a later post---it's got some neat history). So, they play Revelry in the morning at 730 a.m., some other song at 5:00 p.m., and Taps at 10:00 p.m. It's sooooo loud! Looks like I won't need an alarm while I am here. 

Pictures and Videos from my Drive

Okay, I'm just gonna upload the pictures and videos I took of my trip driving here, and I hope I can remember where each picture was taken. If I don't, Sorry! Enjoy! Also, these were taken by my phone so sorry for the poor quality.

 One of those fun little ground squirrels at the rest stop in Utah

 The sign for the Wind sculpture you will see in a few pic ahead at a rest stop in Nebraska

 Utah

 Utah

 Wind Sculpture in Nebraska

 The entrance to Sierra Trading Post Outlet in Wyoming

 Me in Utah

 My breakfast view at the hotel in Wyoming

 Utah

Utah 

 Utah....ignore the GPS

 no clue

 Nebraska....I think

 view from my room at the hotel in Wyoming

 The surroundings from the hotel in Wyoming

 Utah/Idaho

 Utah

 Utah

 Utah

 Wyoming

 Not sure...Utah?? Windmills! 

Last, but not least...the sunset 30 min before I reached my final destination in Oregon. 

I did not get pictures of the National Park and mountains that I went through in Oregon because I was just wanting to get there, and plus it was very very windy driving through the mountains. I didn't stop much, and I had to pay the most attention through there. Sorry! But, I will do my best to get some while I am here this summer. Oh, and none of the videos came out that great so no videos other than the squirrel one I already posted.