30 July 2011

I am not certain the cause - dementia, lack of students, rushed shed-building - but I was not well-prepared for this trip. Firstly, I left the PIT tags in my office. Secondly, I realized today that I left the SD cards for the trail camera in my desk at home. Oh well, I did bring a microphone that makes phenomenal recordings of mongoose on my iPhone. They are also very easy to transfer to my laptop. I guess I can't get everything done with my "short" crew this trip.

Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge is getting a new road that makes it enjoyable to drive to the beach at the end of the peninsula, but it looks to be a headache when the Refuge is open and traffic increases. One can easily drive 40-50 MPH on this one-lane road - and people will!

Gate into SPNWR

The light tower now has a guard rail!

I miss the old road with its car-devouring potholes and oil-pan eating rocks. The trip back was almost as exhausting as the field work itself. But some things haven't changed despite our never-ending desire to improve on Mother Nature's handiwork - the Black Necked Stilts still hang around where the road runs adjacent to the end of the salt pond.

End of the salt pond

Black Necked Stilts