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Conservation at its best!

So this is going to be a quick one! This morning was exciting because I got to go out and do an aerial survey for sage-grouse! Conser...

Thursday, May 8, 2014

Field stats: Week 2

During our second stint out we were in the field for 7 days (April 18th - April 24th). This time we helped out with some aerial surveys for sage-grouse that were being conducted in the Powder River Basin.


Collected various types of data at 12  sites in both the Powder River Basin and Bighorn Basin
Went to 11 sites for presence absence surveys of which 9 had birds
collected 92 samples at 8 sites (42 feather and 50 fecal samples)
collected ambient sound at 4 sites

Collecting feathers at a lek near oil and gas development


Here is a list of the wildlife we saw:
Birds
Greater Sage-Grouse (shocking.. I know)
Long-billed Curlew
American Avocet
Northern Shoveler
Mallards
Canada Geese
Horned Lark
Western Meadow Lark
Short-eared Owl
American Robin
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Great Blue Heron
Red-tailed Hawk
Bald Eagle
Raven
American Crow
Red-winged Blackbird
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Golden Eagle
Cedar Waxwings (large group)
Common Grackle
Northern Flicker
Killdeer
Sandhill Cranes 
Black-billed Magpies
Cedar Waxwings
Strutting Greater Sage-Grouse

Mammals
Pronghorn
Mule Deer
White-tailed Deer
Cottontail Rabbit sp.
Yellow-bellied Marmot

Other cool stuff

Chorus frogs
Grasshoppers are out!
Indian Paintbrush
Flowers are starting to bloom!
Chorus Frog. This is a photo of a frog in 2011 in the Medicine 
Bow National Forest. I am unsure if this is a boreal or western 
chorus frog.

This picture of Indian Paintbrush was taken during my first 
field season (April 2012) on a morning with a dusting of snow