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Thursday, April 6th, 2018
The Morning Net Training
After our first sleep in the SWRS (South Western Research Station), we got up for breakfast and got ready to learn how to put up capture nets. First used the night before, we didn't have much experience with them, especially due to it being at night and hard to see, so it was decided that we will practice putting them on and taking them down during the day, so when the time at night comes, when it is hard to see, we will be able to quickly and efficiently put them up.
We used a "mist net" (as shown Above) a hair net like object designed to trap flying animals in it without injuring them. The animal would fly into the net then fall into a sort of pocket, holding the animal in place. There were 2 net setups we went through, the first one being a "by hand" setup, where it would be held up on poles by 2 people, each on either side. Simply, you extend the poles with the net on them, moving away from each other to keep enough tension on the net so it will stay up (as shown Below).
The second setup was a hands-free setup, by driving threads into the ground to mount the poles into. They would be held up with two counterweights on each end, holding the poles from falling down. This could be used to setup sneaky traps for some of the smarter birds, where we don't have to be near the net while it still being functional (shown Below). This setup takes longer to setup, but can be very useful to catch birds that can be hard to see or hear.
The Mountain Tree Research Trip
As one of our tasks for the day, we had to take a trip after lunch up to the top of the mountain, getting samples of trees for research. We drove about half an hour up the mountain, with narrow roads and steep cliffs, all the way to the peak about 8000 feet high (shown Below)!
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Walking around the top of the mountain, we could see far in the distance, and every other mountain and desert looked back. We got many tree samples from the partially burnt down forest on the peak (shown Above), then proceeded to move halfway down the mountain to where we followed a small river up to some more tree samples (shown Below). On our way back down, we spotted a couple of deer, and even a cow grazing in the grass!
Once back, we stored away the bags of leaves, getting them ready for organization tomorrow.
Nighttime Captures
Last night was a pretty successful night, where we caught 2 different types of owls! Slowly moving down the road, we lured in the first owl being a Whiskered Screech Owl. This owl was not tagged, meaning it was the first time we've seen this particular owl. After putting a small harmless tag around the owl's ankle we did some measurements, took some pictures (shown Below), then let him fly away.
The second bird was caught about 20 minutes later further up the road. Being a Western Screech Owl, it was a bit bigger than the first bird. Being already tagged, this means it survived the year and will hopefully survive longer. He was a bit more aggravated than the first bird, flapping around at the beginning, but soon calming down. We did some measurements, took pictures (shown Below), then let him go off into the night (which we got a video of)!
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(Video of owl Taking off!)
Final thoughts
Yesterday was a very fun and successful day. We did a lot of hiking and research, marking the first real day being here. We hope that the following days are just as successful, for a fun and educational trip.
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