Field Work is all Fun and Games . . . until you're Wet or Dirty

Or lost or bug bitten or injured or hot or tired or annoyed by your coworkers or homesick. Now is that not a grim sounding expedition or what? It's not that bad, mostly these things add to the enjoyment.



We are officially done with the bat work for the summer (crap, normal sleeping schedule here I come?). K.H. decided to get some real work out of us. She put Db and I on a special one night mission - to do a Black Swift survey. In case you know nothing about Black Swifts, here is a link:

Black Swift Surveys

In Utah, Black Swifts are a Tier II Sensitive Species, which basically means a "species of concern". There is only one known colony in Utah, so I was excited to see this "unusual, mysterious, and sought after" bird. Plus, the method did not sound too bad at all. K.H. told us to hike two miles, in the mountains (for once), just before dusk, and sit at the base of the waterfall looking for birds until dark. Then all we had to do is hike the two miles back and go home. Sweet. I have done virtually no hiking this summer, since all of my work has had road access.

However, this romantic scenario was not to be. We hiked the two miles . . . in the rain! Then we sat at the base of the waterfall, shifting from gambel oak to gambel oak looking for some shelter, unsuccessfully. As an aside, I did manage to look at the acorns in curiosity as to whether they are ripe enough for black bears, affirmative. After two hours, the rain stopped and it began to get dark. No birds at 8:00 p.m. Still nobody at 8:30 p.m. At 8:45 p.m. the bats show up. Not a good sign. So no black swifts at the one colony site they "occupy." K.H. does not yet know the news. So either I am really incompetent, definitely possible, or something else is wrong. I'm not sure. Maybe they migrated for the season. Anyways, this is the stuff character is built of.