The weather here in Northern California has finally started warming up, but with no humidity I have found it is still quite pleasant.  Seed collections are occurring frequently now, with new seeds ripening every week.  I have been able to get out to collect with a couple of other CBG intern groups.  The company has been good (thanks guys and girls).  We had an awesome opportunity to band Greater Sandhill Cranes two weeks ago in Modoc National Wildlife Refuge with the US Fish and Wildlife Service.  This was  a very cool experience, although slightly less technical than I had assumed.  You spot “suspicious” looking cranes in the field as you’re driving by, slam the vehicle into park, and sprint out to them hoping to find a juvenile crane in the grasses.  You then grab the crane, and glue a sequence of bands onto its leg.  It’s not rocket science, but they can learn a great deal about the cranes from doing this.  Breeding site preference, age, mortality rate, and other types of information are all recorded from the simple bands.  I am attending a rattlesnake seminar this month on rattlesnake courtship (seems a very dangerous and entertaining subject) and will be tagging along on a survey for Spivey frogs on the 30th.  Life is good.