Monday 4-21-08

Back to 'work' today, so to speak.
Today I didn't get to run (again). :( I did get up with every intention of running though.
I was up at 5:45am. I had a few edits to do for my school blog so I figured I would do that quickly and then head out the door. I realized that things were going slowly when I noticed that it was 6:45am--my run was finished before it started. I made sure I saved my blog posting every chance I could so that I didn’t have any problems. I finished typing and pressed the preview button. Nicely done, I thought to myself. As soon as I pressed the post button the trouble started. I received an error message so I continued to press post until it completely went away—as though I had not spent the previous night and all morning typing. Arrrrrggh. I’m not sure what I’m most upset about—all that typing and organization or my missed run for nothing.

Today we journeyed to a new place—East Port Medway. This place is much closer than Cook’s Lake so it was nice to have a short drive rather than an hour or so in the 15 passenger van (along narrow, bumpy, hilly, and winding roads).
Our group did a quick transect; this means that we walked about a mile through the area we would be studying. We were divided into two groups; one starting at one end and the other group starting opposite and walking towards the other group. This worked well. We were looking for signs of animals—poo, foot prints, remains (food), habitat disruption (beaver gnawings), fur, among other things. We really saw a lot of things. We quickly learned that there is a prolific pooping coyote (or several) as there was coyote poo everywhere.
Later in the day we did some quadrats (not to be confused with quadrants)—where we stake out a 10meter by 10 meter area and search for poo. We would line up side by side and walk toward the other end. We only picked up and counted snowshoe hare poo. If we found other poo we just identified it and told the scientist. In one 10x10 area, there were 2464 pieces of poo!!!!

After our late lunch we still had quite a bit to do. We set up the traps and then had to place them. Walking through woods (with ticks) where there is no path is difficult. I managed to get a tree branch to poke me directly in the eye. My eye seems to be scratched because it hurts quite a lot and I can’t see anything in it.

While setting out our traps I found a porcupine den!!!!! They only sleep in the dens during the winter—apparently it is still considered winter because it was obviously still residing there from the amount of poo. I took a video of it that I will post shortly.

After dinner we headed out to one of the beaver lodges. Apparently these guys are very reliable so we were excited. We were bundled up but ready. With temperatures in the 20s I wasn’t sure how long I would last. Luckily I decided to wear multiple layers.
As we drove up to our destination we noticed a guy fishing in the exact spot the beavers were supposed to be. We knew that would ruin our chances of watching for them so we went to another lodge; one that hadn’t been observed before. We stayed for 30 minutes and only saw a muskrat. I say only as though I am disappointed—I’m not. It wasn’t a beaver but it was really cute watching it swim.