Sat, March 31, 2007

BB, TR, VS, and DC trap at the NER.

Tom goes to get the banding kit from Bryan's car and returns to wait up on the hill.
Several SAGR were strutting on the hillside below Tom and efforts to flush them in the direction of the traps proved futile. The birds foraged in the gully and flew over the hillside, but did not go particularly close to the trap. Trapping was called for the day.

Friday March 30

D, B, T, and A trapping with whoosh net at the Refuge. They took a shot at one bird and missed.
Vince radiotracking in Kelly Warm Springs area for presence of SAGR. 23 males strutting at Moulton Lek. T nest searching in town. A triangulating SAGR.

Thursday March 29

Trapping to no avail at the airport with the dropnet. M SAGR walked under the net a few different times. Aly from the park service started with us today. Bryan and Aly went out radio tracking. Tom went to town to do some nest searching for CORAs.

Wednesday March 28

Bryan and Vince set up whoosh net at the airport. Derek meets us after first light. We take down net soon after due to the poles being too close to the runway. Bryan and Vince went out radiotracking in the rain. D, B, T, and V set up poles for dropnet at the airport in high winds for early morning trapping. Bryan and Vince meet Rob and Tyler from RVRI to assist with satellite transmitter on adult M GOEA.

Tues, March 27, 2007

Large simultanious sage grouse monitoring. VS at Kelly dump, 0 birds in morning, 6 flew-in later while radiotracking. TR at Refuge lek; one group of 6 females, one group of 2 males, and one group of 1 male, 3 females. Talked with Joe of Fish and Game, gave a large amount of information. Typically no concentrated lekking area at Refuge, usually very scattered with much foraging in the canyon.

Mon, March 26, 2007

Derek and Bryan trapping at the Kelly dump with two net launchers. Vince and Tom at Refuge. Tom spots 12 sage grouse at point above Grand Canyon and Vince does not see any satellite leks out on the flats. The sage grouse are only around for about 5 minutes after light, and then fly to the N/NW. Derek and Bryan set off both net launchers. Catch 11 grouse. 1 male gets away during processing before it is processed. 6 radio transmitters are put on 6 females and 4 males are processed and banded. Good signals coming from all birds that afternoon.