Pretty Little Hummer

We recently posted pictures of a male Rufous Hummingbird that claimed the feeder just outside the door of our trailer.  That feeder has been visited by Broad-tailed and Calliope hummingbirds, but "The Boss" is quick to run them off.

I finally got some good pictures of a male Calliope Hummingbird on the feeder.  I think that the bright gorget feathers are attractive because they are streaked rather than the solid colors of other hummingbirds.

At a length of 3.25" and weighing 0.1 ounce, this is the smallest North American bird.

Mark

Living in a Drum...

The monsoon rains began here in early July, and we often see afternoon thunderstorms over the mountains. Sometimes we even get lucky and receive rain here in the valley!  Last weekend an thunderstorm turned into a full-blown hail storm, and it seemed like we were living inside a drum for about ten minutes.

The hail was pea to dime size, and the sound of it striking the roof and skylights was pretty impressive. 

The hail knocked a bunch of leaves and sticks out of the cottonwood trees in our yard, but didn't seem to do any damage beyond that. It all melted off within about an hour, and we know that the plants appreciate the moisture.

Mark

Baby on Board !!

Teri and I took a quick trip over Wolf Creek Pass to visit Pagosa Springs and the surrounding area.  And we found out where most of the Texans travelling though Alamosa and Monte Vista are headed. Wow was it  busy over there!!

We did manage to find a quiet little pond that had some Western Grebes swimming on it. These are large grebes (compared to Pied-billed and Eared) that have a striking black and white coloration. 

As we watched this couple feeding, Teri noticed that something seemed odd with one of the pair. The bird on the left seemed a little "lumpy" on its back.

Sure enough, on closer inspection we saw that a baby was riding on Mom's back. At times it would sit down so low as to be unnoticeable, but then would sit up a little taller for a look around.

As we looked closer, we noticed that several of the birds had babies on their backs.  Occasionally the babies would jump off and swim around a bit, but for the most part they seemed to prefer the free ride!!

Mark

Going For The Gold!

In keeping with the spirit of the Olympics, we’ve turned our job of small mammal trapping into an Olympic event.  We trapped for one week.

Here are the medal counts:

Gold - Kangaroo mouse: 0

Silver - Meadow Vole: 7

Bronze - Deer Mouse: 43

No mammals were caught more than once.

Dabbing a little shoe polish on the tummy of a mouse.

This way we know if we catch this individual again.

The Meadow Voles were very laid-back and seemed to enjoy having their tummy rubbed!

We had three plots of 40 traps each.  The traps were set in a 5 trap x 8 trap grid. 

It was interesting to see the pattern that emerged.  Most of the mammals were caught in traps on the outside of the grid.   

[The parcels include one area where the grasses were cut for hay last year, another where cattle were grazed, and a third where no activity took place.  These land uses result in different amounts of fresh and decadent (decaying) cover.]

The field with no activity and decadent cover caught the most mice with as many as six mice caught in a night.  In the wet field where cattle are grazed, we never caught more than one vole and one mouse in a night, and in the hay field we caught two to four mice each night.

For more information see the July 27th blog post.

Played A Round

One day while we were out geocaching we came across a Disc Golf Course.  We walked the course and thought it might be fun to try it out.

So, we went to the local sporting goods store and bought some discs.  We practiced throwing in the field behind our RV then the next day we headed back to the golf course. 

It’s not all that easy getting those disc to go where you want them to!

It’s a great way to spend some time out in the cool, Colorado, outdoors!

Put Me Down!!

PUT ME DOWN !!!!

We have just started a project to determine how land use practices affect small mammals.

Forty traps have been set on each of three different parcels. The parcels include one area where the grasses were cut for hay last year, another where cattle were grazed, and a third where no activity took place.  These land uses result in different amounts of fresh and decadent (decaying) cover.  

The picture above is of the area that was cut for hay last year.  There is moderate fresh growth, and almost no thatch layer.

This area was grazed last year, and irrigated this summer.  There is a lot of fresh green growth in this plot, with grasses that are knee high on me (thigh high on Teri!!).

This third area was left alone last year.  There is moderate fresh grass in this plot, and large amounts of dead thatch on the ground.

We bait the traps with peanut butter and set them in the evening. In addition to the bait there is a big wad of cotton in each trap so that the rodents can stay warm overnight.  It is getting down in the 40's here at night, and those metal traps can get cold!

Teri baiting and setting a trap

 The traps are left closed during the day, to prevent catching and baking anybody during the warm, incredibly sunny days. 

Each morning we check each trap for rodents. When we find a closed trap we peek inside to see if we have a capture.

Happy little Deer Mouse.  Plenty to eat and a place to sleep!

We then empty the trap into a clear plastic bag to determine what species is caught. 

Deer Mouse

Meadow Vole

We record the species and mark its belly with non-toxic black shoe polish. This is so we can determine if we are catching the same animal over and over.

The tricky part is getting the little rascals out of the bag to be marked.  So far I am zero for two on Deer Mice!  They are quick and jump right out of the bag.  I've re-caught both of them on the ground. The Voles are more mellow!

Marking a mouse with shoe polish

See the black tummy?

Then we set them free.

In the first two evenings we have caught 3 Deer Mice and one Meadow Vole. We will continue the trapping for a couple of weeks.

Mark

New Toy

For as long as I’ve known Mark he has commented that he would like a radio-controlled airplane.  I don’t know why he never bought one before now!

He bought a ‘starter plane’ that was not too expensive and can take a crash (or two, or three, or ...).

We’ve got several hundred acres behind our RV that are perfect for flying over.  For some reason the birds seem to be very interested in the plane!