![\"One](\"https:\/\/dev-clm-blog.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/P1040280.jpg\")
<\/a>One of our collections sights while El Capitan in the Guadalupe Mountains looks down on us.<\/p><\/div>\n
As September has come and Fall quickly approaching, I\u2019ve written a surveying protocol for Scaled Quail (Callipepla squamata<\/em>), which is a common game species in states such as Texas, Colorado, Oklahoma, and of course, New Mexico. We just want to get a good idea of how their populations are so we can make appropriate management decisions regarding quail harvesting. As I\u2019ve said, it\u2019s been a \u201cwet-ish\u201d year, so we suspect their populations to not be of concern as there should be more resources for the quails to take advantage of. I\u2019ve also written the protocol setup in the form a pilot study for a potentially longer observational study. My mentor and I\u00a0want to look at the effects of sprayed areas on quail populations. Will there be a significant difference in the number of quail observed along roads that have been sprayed with herbicide versus non-sprayed? Simple, but hasn\u2019t been looked at too much. I should say–the herbicide is used to reduce the cover impact of shrubs such as mesquite (Prosopis spp.<\/em>) and shinnery oak (Quercus havardii<\/em>) as they compete with grasses and other forbs that cattle eat. We\u2019ll see how it all goes. I run my first test run next week!<\/p>\n These next several weeks are also going to be focused on the goal of bat monitoring within our field office. We want to conduct a few bat counts of some local roosts we know of that contain colonies of Mexican free-tailed (Tadarida brasiliensis<\/em>) and the cave myotis (Myotis velifer<\/em>) bats. We also had the idea to take a video of the exodus of these bats for future reference and for the potential ability to get a more accurate estimate of\u00a0their population’s numbers. I\u2019ve read papers on the estimation of some bat colonies varying from millions of individuals to only a few hundred thousand. A big difference, and from what I\u2019ve read, it\u2019s mostly due to the complications of quantifying a (sometimes) blur of objects circling yet gradually leaving their caves in large numbers. If time allows and if we are able to capture a good video of an exodus, I may try looking up some strategies for estimating myself.<\/p>\n As for recreation, I\u2019ve been busy (perhaps a bit lazy as well). The busiest was when I drove the 9 and half hours up to Leadville, CO to visit a couple friends. We camped out and successfully summited the second tallest peak in the contiguous, Mt. Elbert \u2013 a devious one. It had a deceptive peak that tricked pretty much all of the hikers we saw that day, though, we all endured. Very worthwhile and beautiful vistas! On another solo trip I went up to Ruidoso, NM to hike a trail in the Sacramento mountains \u2013 lots of burned trees, but, yet again, all so beautiful nonetheless\u2026<\/p>\n Vista from “somewhere near the peak”<\/p><\/div>\n Mt. Elbert summit<\/p><\/div>\n Lincoln National Forest \/ Sacramento Mountains<\/p><\/div>\n Until next time!<\/p>\n Armand Cann I suppose it won’t surprise you that there was no reprieve from the summer heat of August as opposed to the inferno that was July? Yeah, I wasn\u2019t very surprised either\u2026 It\u2019s OK, my body handled the intensity much better … Continue reading <\/a><\/a><\/a>
\nCarlsbad Field Office, Bureau of Land Management<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"