afternoon in the cities

I took another trip down to the cities on Tuesday. It was a quick trip (just for the afternoon) but I got quite a bit accomplished.

First stop was Dodge Nature Center. One of my Hamline assignments was to talk to people that have environmental careers. I talked to Pam the Animal Care Coordinator for the center about her career and how she ended up at Dodge. It was a really interesting conversation and gave me lots to think about in terms of where I go next.

After that it was on to Target and Panera. Every time I go to the cities, I feel the need to visit at least one of these places. I got a fabulous mocha at Panera and wrote an entire paper. Next, I met Amanda and Heidi for dinner at a cute little place. It was nice to enjoy a beautiful evening on a patio with good company.

All in all, it was a short trip but very productive!

kits!

Today, 3 red fox kits were dropped off at the Audubon Center. They appeared healthy but their mother had apparently been killed by a coyote. Based on the weight of the little guys, they are probably only 2 or 3 weeks old. After spending the night here, they will be off to the Wildlife Rehab Center in the cities. (http://www.wrcmn.org/)

just arrived

into a new carrier after being checked out

feeding time!

bed time!

Flashlight Party!

On Monday evening, I went out on an owl survey with a bunch of the other interns. This survey is part of ongoing owl monitoring in Minnesota and Wisconsin through Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory. (http://www.hawkridge.org/research/springowl.html)


Each person or group that volunteers is given a route. They are then responsible to go out in early april to conduct the survey. The route is 10 miles long with volunteers stopping every mile and documenting which species were heard in a 5 minute time period.

At the end of the evening, my group didn't hear any owls. We did have a run in with a home owner, who upon seeing us, asked if we were out having a flashlight party. We also got to hear numerous fun frog calls including the spring peeper, wood frog and cricket frogs.

CRANES!

They are back!

In the past week, I have seen 10 and heard numerous pairs union calling. While at the Sherbunre NWR, we saw one walking down the gravel road as if to show off his painting skills. For the past couple mornings, my walk to the barn has been filled with the trumpets of cranes unison calling as breeding season approachs. There is just something about these birds that brings a smile to my face. They are large, graceful and completely intrigue me.

For some unknown reason, I could not find a good picture of a crane (that wasn't behind a fence). So, here is a picture of me out on a crane capture in 2008 when I worked at the International Crane Foundation (http://www.savingcranes.org/). As you can tell my clothes, it was quite the ordeal to get this juvenile bird. In the end, I got to hold my first crane and our little buddy got some fancy new jewelery.

"When we hear his call, we hear no mere bird" Aldo Leopold

Sherburne NWR

Earlier this week, the interns went on a trip to Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge for one of our Hamline classes. It was lots of fun and the first trip where all of the interns were present. We had to pose and get a group picture in the "eagles nest."

While on the refuge, we got to see a TON of birds and prairie plants. As an extra bonus, our tour included several parts of the refuge that are closed for breeding season. Over the course of 5 or so hours we saw multiple bald eages, red tailed hawks, norther harriers, trumpeters and CRANES!! We saw 10 cranes in total and 1 was already painted for breeding! So much fun and probably one of my favorite intern outings so far :)

Grayson!

Today, while in the car for an intern field trip, I read a really cute story about a baby grey whale.

This is a true story about a 17 year old girl who went out for an open water workout off the coast of California. At the end of her work out, she had a baby grey whale following her so she couldn't get out of the water. The book recounts how she swam  in the channel for several more hours to try and reunite the whale with its mother.

It was a quick read and a feel good story with a happy ending. This also makes me wish that I lived along a coast so I could see even a couple of the fun critters she talked about!