Rides, ramblings and rants on a motorcycle.
- We are scientists, too!
11.27.2014,12:31 PM
Turkey Day on the Refuge
As I sit in my 'home on wheels' drinking my early morning coffee on
Turkey Day catching up on correspondence, I hear the air boat out on the large
marshes across the road and RV 'Village' on the Refuge. One of the biologists
is out this morning picking up dead snow geese. They are carriers of and susceptible
to avian cholera. With the prolonged unseasonal cold weather we've had here,
we're seeing early mortality of snow geese. I also wonder how much stress
levels from extremely high human visitation with the recent Crane Festival adds
to increases in mortality rate, possibly compounding overall stress from cold
temps, lower water volume, and less corn/feed access than in previous years.
One of the biologists mentioned last week that recent mortality incidents are
earlier and greater than normal.
During the Festival I was fortunate to accompany as an aide a
six-hour Sandhill Crane Behavior class. The instructor was crane biologist Paul
Tebbel and his associate. Our group of 15 Festival participants was out by one
of the 'Crane Ponds' in the dark at 5:45am to watch the 'fly out'. The 'fly
outs' and 'fly ins' are the daily celebratory attractions for people from all
over the country as tens of thousands of snow geese and nearly 10,000 sandhill
cranes take to the sky in the morning and land in the evening. We chose one of
the smaller marshes for a closer and more personal view of the cranes. It was
indeed magical and awe inspiring despite temperatures in the mid-20's. Even the
cranes were reluctant to take flight until the sun warmed them a bit. We could
see 'bracelets' of ice on their legs when they moved around in the marsh.
Paul has been involved in sandhill crane biology and conservation
for decades. Formerly the director and manager for the 1400-acre wildlife
sanctuary on the Platte River in Nebraska (the bottleneck for sandhill crane
migrations), he is now head of the Effie Yeaw Nature Center north of
Sacramento. His expertise is crane behavior and he has conducted workshops here
at Bosque del Apache Refuge for 20 years!
He is one of the best naturalist instructors I have had the fortune
to meet and work with! His casual approach to imparting information on biology
and animal behavior elicited a genuine and more personal interest from all
participants. I especially enjoyed how he and his associate demonstrated the
crane's pre-flight signals between crane family units (forward leaning and
looking back to see if other family units were attentive). The two presenters
mimicked the crane behaviors accompanied by a human speech interpretation:
"Look, Junior, I'm leaning forward now! It's time to fly! Are you paying
attention? Is Mom there, too?"
I learned more about cranes in those six hours than I could ever
accumulate from reading literature! And I now have a greater personal and
scientific understanding of cranes, as well as an increased overall
appreciation of how special they are. Not just because they are 'big and
pretty' (the most common response to Paul's question to participants why people
are interested in cranes), but also because they have extraordinarily complex
social behaviors. And bird/animal behavior is my primary interest (second to
biology).
The Festival overall was a huge success for all involved:
participants, the Refuge, the Friends of BdA, and the volunteers. It was crazy
busy for us all, but well organized. Every single Refuge staff member worked
long hours and every day along with the rest of us, and it was truly a great
'team player' experience. Even the Refuge Manager was on board daily with
smiles and encouragement. All the vendors and auxiliary representatives from
public (federal and state) agencies and other non-profit organizations (e.g.
wildlife conservation and rehabilitation groups) were tremendously friendly and
interactive with both Festival staff and visitor participants.
Now that the Festival is over, all of us get a chance to relax and
enjoy more personal time. I volunteered to help conduct raptor surveys every
Saturday, which I enjoy immensely. Especially when pointing out one of the bald
eagles to visitors that may be around me when surveying the two main
marshlands. Folks are thrilled to see them.
I have to admit that I have grown very fond of our smallest falcons,
the American kestrels. And giddy with excitement when close to a rehabilitated
female kestrel ('Gertrude’). Additionally, I now have the opportunity to see
many of the male duck species that nest at Malheur NWR in all their winter
plumage! One of my favorites is the male bufleheads; they look like large
floating black and white Nike sneakers. The only waterfowl missing here from my
‘Favorite List’ is my old friends, the loons. They are a very rare occurrence
here.
Since serving the wildlife refuges is my new retirement 'career', my
intentions are to improve and expand my professional capacities that will
enhance my skills and performance as a naturalist and a biologist. This
was my goal upon retiring: to devote myself to the conservation of wildlife and
contribute to enhancing the connection between wildlife and people.
Labels: New Mexico, wildlife refuges
