Spring is definitely in the air! The chickadees have changed their songs, white crown sparrows, bald and golden eagles are flying about. The sunlight is definitely back as well. It is now 10:00 p.m. and I can still easily see the silhouettes of the spruce and birch trees against the sky.
With spring also comes the rapidly melting snow. As temperatures peak near 50 degrees midday the runoff creates tremendous amounts of MUD! It’s everywhere.

The summer field season is just around the corner. The cameras that were placed last autumn will soon be accessed and with their data cards will come many new exciting photos. To recap: last year cameras were placed at mineral lick sites to capture lick usage by Dall’s Sheep. Some of these cameras were set to take several pictures once their motion sensors were triggered, while others were set to take pictures at regular intervals. It’s probably safe to assume that the triggered cameras will present more entertaining photos but the comparison of the two settings may yield some interesting results as well.
Hope all of you are enjoying the season and gearing up for some exciting adventures in the near future. Until next time…

-THill
BLM Central Yukon Field Office
Fairbanks, AK