Since I last posted, we have gotten to do some FUN things.\u00a0 It has been an exciting past month or two, and I\u2019m pumped to share.<\/p>\n
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Cave Swallow Mist-netting & banding in C-bad<\/p>\n
-The other CBG Intern and I had the opportunity to meet up with the folks at the Carlsbad, NM BLM office for their weekly tradition at Carlsbad Caverns National Park.\u00a0 Every week, for the past 30 or so years, scientists and eager interns participate in the mist netting surveys of the cave wwallows.\u00a0 This study was started awhile back in attempts to figure out where these birds nest in the winter.\u00a0 Since then, there has been a vast amount of data collected on the birds and each week more data is added to it.\u00a0 Basically, at the mouth of main entrance of the cave, we set up a large net and waited until we caught about 10 or so birds.\u00a0 It was easy to tell if the birds were older and had been caught a couple times, versus the baby ones, because the little ones squawked and freaked until they tired themselves out! Upon getting about 10 birds, we would take the net down, and carefully try to untangle them from the net.\u00a0 This proved to be quite the challenge sometimes.\u00a0 The older birds would usually just hang there and take it, but the young ones would get nervous and make it worse! Once they were finally untangled, either their existing band information was noted, or they got a new band, and simply released back into the cave.\u00a0 This went on for a few hours until the grand finale – the bat flight.\u00a0 Everyday, hundreds of people come to the Caverns to experience the bat flight.\u00a0 There is even and auditorium style set up at the mouth of the cave for easier viewing.\u00a0 Once it got dark enough, we quickly packed up our belongings and posted up on the sides of the cave.\u00a0 And only a few minutes later, you could hear a very low hum – that grew louder, and louder – until … BATS! And literally millions of them came spewing out of the cave.\u00a0 It was quite the experience, I highly recommend it!<\/p>\n
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How many interns does it take to catch a lizard?<\/p>\n
-Normally, we work with the range department in the office and slowly check our way through a long list of sites-to-be-monitored.\u00a0 Same goes for the wildlife crew.\u00a0 So we decided to mix it up on two separate days, the wildlife crew came out with the range, and then on another day we went out in the field with them.\u00a0 In our field office, there are two different endangered\/threatened animals – the Lesser Prairie Chicken and the Sand Dune Lizard.\u00a0 On the day we went to see what it\u2019s like to be a wildlife intern, they were going to check some traps previously set out for the Sand Dune Lizard.\u00a0 All was going well until one of the wildlife interns caught site of a lizard. For the next 10-15 minutes, all ten of us were crawling, jumping, diving in the sand, and occasionally waiting very still for this little lizard to come back out.\u00a0 And finally, it was captured! We were all very excited and us range interns carefully watched as the proper documentation was taken for this endangered species.\u00a0 After we gently put it away, the pictures were reviewed by the wildlife biologist, only to our dismay, it was NOT a Sand Dune Lizard! So sad, but it was fun in the mean time.<\/p>\n
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Exploring the Recreation Areas<\/p>\n
-Yet another fun thing we did a few weeks ago was a caving trip! A group interns went out with the cave specialists and the recreation planner to inspect the caves.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t my first time caving, but it was my first time caving in the southwest, and it was hot! The cave was in the desert, and even though we were underground, it didn\u2019t get much cooler inside.\u00a0 But it was still lots of fun and I\u2019m happy we got to do it. We saw a few cool things, such as a dead porcupine, and one of the other interns had a very close encounter with a very large rattlesnake.\u00a0 I felt very fortunate to be able to explore the cave at all, because due to white nose syndrome, all of the caves in the Roswell Field Office are closed.\u00a0 However, the cave specialists introduced us to the proper decontamination methods in order to keep the cave in pristine condition.<\/p>\n
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New Mexico Native Plant Society Annual Conference in Alamogordo, NM<\/p>\n
-Thanks to the Farmington CBG Interns (Shout out to Diedre and Henry!) we found out about the Native Plant Conference that was August 9-12.\u00a0 The Native Plant Society is an organization that not only promotes the use of native plants but also gives a lot of support to students in New Mexico pursuing plant research.\u00a0 Myself and the other interns here headed over and decided to camp out at a state park near by, and commuted to and from the conference, which was at the local branch of New Mexico State University.\u00a0 There were a variety of lectures, seminars, and hikes. We also viewed a documentary about Aldo Leopold called Green Fire.\u00a0 Overall the whole conference was a great experience.\u00a0 We chatted with many people who have been in the \u201cbusiness\u201d (or some sort of dealing with plants) for their entire lives.\u00a0 It was an eye-opener for potential career paths and networking possibilities.\u00a0 And, on top of all that, we went to White Sands National Monument Saturday night, just in time to view a meteor shower. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n
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Besides all the extracurricular activities we\u2019ve gotten to participate in, we have also been doing different types of monitoring studies.\u00a0 I definitely enjoy these because it only broadens my scientific horizon.\u00a0 I am also starting a side project here with the Recreation Planner and also the Oil & Gas Environmental Consultant.\u00a0 Together, we are creating a wildflower brochure for at least two of the recreation areas in the Field Office.\u00a0 I am extremely excited and proud of this project, even though it is still in its\u2019 beginning phases.\u00a0 Hopefully the next time I post I will have many more details about the project.<\/p>\n
Hilarious 90’s Style BLM Rap Video… a MUST see.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\t\t