The First Official Stint 'Out'

Because of calving, I come up to BC in early May.  But we really don't get to the hard fieldwork until mid-July for this project because of the bug issue.  The hard fieldwork meaning taking animals out into the woods and collecting foraging data.  Hard because it's a lot of data collection (I start work at dawn and work until 9 or 10 at night each day), because there are all kinds of things that can (and do) go wrong, and because my critters don't have the safety of 'basecamp' protection (high fences and smooth wire electricity which packs a heck of a punch for any predator who thinks about coming close). 

So it's a bit deflating to be this tired and this burnt out when the field season is really only just starting.  The ache of wanting to be home is creeping in way earlier this year than past years...and I need to shake that off.  It's too early...there is too much more time left to let myself go there. 

I typically don't share many pictures from the field season...so thought maybe I'd share a few today and introduce you to my group of animals (the group that I collect data from day to day).  Most of them are in the final stages of shedding their past winter coat and starting to grow their new winter coat.  So they are still a big straggly looking...


And to get a flavor for it all...this stint:

-- we had to 'run' from wolves.  Didn't see them (although saw 2 pups last week) but when you hear them, you know they are without a couple kilometers of you and we just don't chance it with these animals.

-- we worked in one of my favorite parts of our study area...the mountainous region outside of Chetwynd.

-- we got rained on more than once and otherwise experienced fall-like temperatures which is messing with my internal clock.

-- we saw double rainbows more than once.

-- we got run out of our last pair of pens because of bugs...we got into some high elevation stuff where bugs haven't died down yet.

-- we worked in a location where huckleberries were abundant.  between kristin and I, while waiting for animals to feed, we picked almost 4 gallons of berries.  Now, these don't have the flavor of NE Oregon berries (although same species) but they are still good and I'm grateful to have those for winter. 

-- one of my 2-year-olds decided she needed to test my dominance.  She caught me unawares once and almost took me out.  Suffice it to say, we've re-established that I'm top dog and she's behaving herself again. 

-- day length is shortening enough that when I get up at 445, I'm starting to see some sunrises.  Going to bed too early for sunsets though but in a couple weeks, those will get earlier and earlier.

-- we reached 100 total caribou pens for the project, bypassed the 1 millionth bite that Kristin and I have recorded on caribou so far, and reached 75 macroplots of vegetation clipping for the year (almost 250 for the project).  All this on a study that almost no one thought we would actually succeed at since the obstacles were so great from the very beginning.  Not bad eh?

All par for the course with this work.

Heading out again shortly for round 2...will try to get a book challenge update scheduled to post while I'm gone. 

Hope you all are enjoying your summer!

SW of Chetwynd.  Beautiful area and the wildflowers were in full bloom.  This was before animals came out and Kristin and I were doing some veg work.  About 15 minutes after this picture was taken, the skies opened up and we got completely soaked.  15 minutes after that, not a cloud in the sky...high elevation weather for you!

Some Aster spp. after the rain...

Same area, different view...

No idea what these plants were...invasive weeds most likely...but there was a sea of them and it was pretty beautiful.

This is Doppler.  Daughter of Dot and White.  She's a dam-reared 2-year-old that is good enough we can use her for this work.  BUT...she's the one that likes to test dominance with me now and again.  I think you can see her orneriness shining through!

This is Daphne...a favorite of the bottle-raised animals.  She's 6 years old and has the biggest set of antlers of all our caribou minus the bull.  She's got quite the personality!

This is Wind...looking a little rough here but still in the process of shedding.  She is the daughter of Whistler and White and is another dam-raised 2-year-old.  She is a gentle soul...very different than the strong/almost bullying personality of both her parents. 

This and the next photo are Mimi...one of our bottle-raised girls.  She's 6 and in my opinion, the prettiest animal that we have.  She's stand-offish...a loner...a bit stubborn...  perhaps that's why I like her so much.  She always knows where I am at and she stays within sight of me.

I think you can really see her beauty in this picture...

From our third pair of pens...

double rainbow from our 4th pair of pens...right after a pretty harsh, but short, downpour.

Daylength shortening enough to see a sunrise...this at 0445.

The other direction from the double rainbows...the mist still visible.

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Now playing:  What It Is by Mark Knopfler


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