Last week was pretty good. It was ridiculously hot in the afternoons. Friday was cloudy and spitted rain a little (thanks to a certain tropical storm that has since sent rain to flood Norman, Kingfisher, etc.) so while that took away the burning day-star, it made the day severely humid. Ah well.
On Thursday I did the South transect of the Horned lizard census on an ATV. There were several reasons to try this out, but the biggest one is that we weren't having much luck walking the transects. The refuge manager told me he saw several of them while driving, the assistant manager spooked up one on an ATV, a YCC (youth conservation corps) kid spooked up two on a mower. Hmm... Methinks I see a pattern. And, after thinking about it, I remember Dad used to always see them while he was mowing the pastures behind our house. So. I tried an ATV on Thursday. And nearly killed myself.
Let me explain. The south end of the transect (remember this is really an old railway with all the rails pulled up) had three bridges that have since been taken out. So what is left are three very deep ravines. They are all very overgrown. The S. end of the railway also is covered with this thick, big, loose pieces of gravel. Luckily for me, courtesy of refuge law enforcement, an ATV had made its way down the ravines a couple of days earlier, leaving me tracks in the thick grass. I came upon the first ravine and apprehensively followed the tracks straight down the incline (all my logic said to take it at an angle because going straight down brought visions of the atv flipping over me). I lost my nerve going back up and left the tracks and took the incline at the angle I thought I should. Well, I hit a patch of uneven gravel and felt my atv tip dangerously. I panicked a little, and hopped off the atv. I turned off the atv. Walked up the rest of the incline and put down my very heavy backpack. I pushed and pulled my atv back onto level (if still steep) ground. Gave a seconds thought to trying to pull the thing up the rest of the way, but quickly realized I was not Shera (sister to Heman). I tentatively got back on and drove up the rest of the way without mishap.
Okay, so maybe not "nearly killed myself" but still scary at the time.
I didn't encounter any other serious problems with the ATV after that. The other two ravines simply caused a thumping, nervous heart beat, but nothing more.
And, in the end, it was completely worth it because I did manage to get a horned lizard to running. And what's even better is that I managed to catch him. He was not happy to hang out with me, but we managed to get all the measurements recorded and all the photographs taken. Then he was let go to scurry back into the tall grass with nary a grateful glance for not eating him or otherwise harming him. These animals have no manners...
During the hot afternoons this week, I kept myself busy by calling for volunteers for our spotlight deer censusing, that will start tomorrow night. I called one the guy who takes charge of the YCC every summer to ask him. He and I didn't get to spend much time together, but we did chat some before the YCC was done for the summer. After we settled on the night for him to come out, he told me he had heard I was looking to apply for the job here. (It's really surprising - even for a small town girl - how quickly news travels around the refuge, and off of it, apparently) He told me he was glad I was applying, and that while he didn't get to know me very well, he thought I would be great for it, and if I needed someone to put in a good word for me, just to let him know.Sigh. It's so nice to hear something like that. Really gave me a boost of confidence. Still need to talk to the refuge manager about it though...
On Thursday afternoon, the refuge biologist (the guy I've been doing the Least Tern censusing with) and I went driving. He wanted me to see the route we'll be taking for the spotlighting in the daylight. I think about 19 miles of actual census, and the rest will be traveling to the areas. It's hard to believe right now that 19 miles will take about 5 hours to census. There must be a lot of deer to count!
Friday morning, I checked my traps and the two drift fences close to the refuge (nada and nada), and then I went driving with Ron (refuge biologist) again. We drove to the very South tip of the refuge to show me where we'd be censusing there, and we also checked the last drift fence that I don't normally check. We were in his truck, which means that I didn't have my snake tongs or identification book.Sigh. Sure enough, now that I wasn't prepared, there was my first snake in one of the funnel traps. I had no idea what it was, and Ron had a hard time recalling the name. All this time, the snake is striking at Ron - very aggressive! In the end, Ron tells me we better take it in so we can identify it. I look at him with the complete trust of the amateur to the expert, completely confident he would show me how to do something like this. Then he says, "You have your gloves right? You better go get them..."I think, "You want me to do wha.....?" (And to emphasize my thoughts, the snake strikes again. I flinch.Sure, he's not poisonous, but a snake bite is a snake bite!) I take a renewed interest in identifying him on the spot. So I ask Ron again, and finally he comes up with the name. The Great Plains Ratsnake, he thinks. We decide we'll let him go, and because he know what he looks like, we can look him up when we get back if need be. He then walks on, leaving me with the funnel trap and very upset ratsnake. More than a little nervous, I take off the end of the funnel trap and slide the snake out as far away from me as I can. He just sits there, coiled. Looking really cool, if also really menacing. I help check the rest of the traps and by the time I come back, he's gone. (By the way, I did not take that picture. I didn't even think about photographing the guy we caught. Sigh. I'll know better next time...)
After that adventure, I decide to go run the other end of the railway on the ATV. It's not very sunny, in fact, it's a very overcast day. But I thought the Horned Lizards might be out anyway. I loaded up the ATV on the back of my truck (no trailer because then I'd have to figure out how to back the stupid thing, and don't really feel like denting any government trucks in the learning process) and headed out to the north end of the railway.
As I suspected, no horned lizards. I saw a couple of prairie-lined racerunners though. On my way back, I actually spotted a Night Hawk sitting maybe about 15 feet in front of me. I slow down and rumble up to it. He looks at me, but does not move. I pull up right beside him and stop. He looks at me and shuffles over an inch. I swear it couldn't have been more than that. Hah. I love Night Hawks! It was like he was telling me he wasn't afraid of the big bad ATV. Of course, I know it wasn't that. My guess is he knows that his best bet of not being eaten is to stay completely still, regardless of how close danger may come. Because if he stays still enough, a predator may not see him. Hence why they only fly off at the last possible second. It's very interesting stuff.
His one inch shuffle amused me to no end, so I decided to take some pictures. I took several, and then wondered how close he would let me get. As soon as my feet touched the ground, he decided he'd had enough and took off. I hopped back on and continued on my way, only to come upon him again maybe 2 minutes later. He graciously offered me another angle to photograph. When I took what was to be my last picture, he opened up his beak, and I thought "oh perfect!". But then his beak started quivering - no, really! With the quivering lower lip and the big eyes, I gushed like the girl I am, and left him alone. Maybe that's a last defense to would-be predators - "I'm too cute to eat!!"
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