Amy's Field Seasons 2007-2008

Welcome to 2010!

2010-01-11T15:44:00.005-05:00

Well, it's 2010 already! The blog was severely neglected during the last few months of my research, but I stumbled upon it again today and felt like it needed some closure...

So, my thesis was completed and successfully defended on Earth Day 2009 (April 22)! It was incredibly rewarding to be able to see all the results come together and make my hard work worthwhile. If you need something incredibly long and boring to read, check out my thesis in electronic format: http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-05042009-150307/

I attended the most recent (and my last) "dog-and-pony" show down at the Powell River Project on September 9, 2009 (9-9-9!!). This year my research was the Field Tour highlight, so my advisor and I got to lead a tour of some of my field sites and talk about what we did and what we found. It definitely neat to be able to talk with some miners and other state agency folks to see what they thought about the results of my research. And, of course, it didn't hurt to have another delicious steak/ potato/salad dinner. :)

And the work still isn't done! Right now I'm working on an extension publication for Virginia Cooperative Extension about my research, and also putting together a manuscript for a peer-reviewed wildlife science journal. I decided to move my office around the corner, pick up a couple of new advisors and start all over with a new project! Stay tuned!

Salamanders, birds, bears, and bees

2008-09-11T22:03:00.004-04:00

I got to visit my study areas last week for another (and potentially final) salamander cover board check. My advisor accompanied me this time, so it was nice to show him around more down there and help him see what I've been doing. We actually made out pretty well- caught three salamanders, one longtail and two slimys. After spending most of the day in the field, we attended the annual symposium dinner, basically what they call the "dog and pony show" for the year. I pretty much have to show up, say hello to some folks, thank them for funding my project, and turn in my annual progress report. Oh, and the dinner is awesome- steak, potato, and salad= very good. I almost got roped into doing a tour of some of my study sites, but one of the forestry professors who does a lot of his work there is retiring, and they wanted to give him the chance to host a tour. I wasn't disappointed!

While in the field, we saw some excellent bear tracks in the mud, and then later, saw the bear! We didn't see many at all during field season this year, so that was a treat. And luckily we were in the car, which was also a treat as opposed to surprising the bugger in the field. The only negative of the day (well there was two) was the oppressive heat (gets pretty hot on the mine sites without that lovely canopy cover) and my encounter with some form of stinging insect, most likely a yellow jacket I think. I hadn't been stung in so long, I actually had forgotten how badly it hurt. I got stung right on my finger as well, so my whole hand swelled up for the evening, which was really fun at the "dog and pony show." "Hi, nice to meet you, yes, my hand is huge."

All in all, it was a good, but very long day. We didn't get back to Blacksburg until almost midnight that evening. Unfortunately my advisor was the photographer for the day since he has an awesome camera, so I don't have pictures yet. But there should be some good ones, so I'll be sure to post them soon.

I'll be keeping up with the blog sporadically- I may have another trip down to Powell River Project next month for an extension program about birds on minelands. Apparently this group thinks that birds don't use these areas, therefore it would be my job to tell them otherwise:)

August salamanders and snakes

2008-08-09T07:29:00.006-04:00

Well things have been primarily office-based for the last few weeks. I was able to turn in my progress report last week, which was a huge relief! Although, that means that now it's on to the comprehensive report and associated documents (a.k.a. the thesis). Eeek.

This past Thursday, we made a day trip down to the sites to check coverboards. Salamander activity is generally slow in the heat of summer, but it has been rather stormy, so we thought we'd give it a shot. We found only one salamander- a longtail, and proceeded to continually torture him by trying to stage the perfect picture. We also flipped over one of the boards and found....a SNAKE! Luckily, it was a worm snake (very small and completely harmless). Therefore, we proceeded to barage him with pictures as well (see below).

I've got one more official trip down scheduled for September 3. Each year the Powell River Project site hosts a symposium, which is like a workshop where all the researchers doing work there come together to talk about results and stuff. Plus, there is a social and dinner that takes place at the pavilion on site (right next to the field house we stayed in for the first 10 days of the season). Since I just finished and don't have a whole lot of results yet, I'm going to check coverboards in the earlier part of the day, and then hit up the social to schmooze the coal mine executives (and thank them for the funding!).

Enjoy the pictures!

For more info on the longtail salamander: http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/wildlife/information/?s=020033
For more info on the worm snake: http://www.uga.edu/srelherp/snakes/caramo.htm

Me and the longtail salamander

Longtail salamander, Eurycea longicauda

Some coverboards in action (this array is where we found the longtail).

Worm snake, Carphophis amoenus

Bye bye birdies...

2008-07-21T17:50:00.006-04:00

I'm afraid I've been negligent with my blog over the past couple of weeks! It's been busy to say the least. Well, 10 days after my last post we finished the bulk of work associated with field season. I was away for a few days in there for a wedding, but other than that, we really crammed the work in! It stormed a little bit the last two days we were there, so we were able to get in one more frog count, and one night salamander search. Unfortunately, the salamanders weren't too active and we only found a few.

We came back to Blacksburg on July 10, and since then I've been all over visiting and collecting Abby (my dog) from my parents. I'm now spending some time in the office organizing data and preparing my 2008 progress report, which is due in early August. Since I've already got one progress report under my belt, should be a piece of cake (*knock on wood)!

I have to say that "the end" came as a relief this year. Work is physically and mentally exhausting out there, so I was desperately in need of a break. Although, it is kind of bittersweet, since my coal mine experience is "almost" over. I'll probably regret saying that as I wade through the data and begin to write my thesis...

I've included a few more pictures for you! We'll likely be visiting the sites a few more times for salamander work, so I will continue updating, although it will be a bit irregularly:)

Box turtle enjoying some mud.

Looks like the Hokie bird himself has been here....(gobble gobble).

They're always watching....waiting to get a lick at the car...

These big rock walls are typical of older mine sites that weren't formally "reclaimed."

Rattlesnake Video

2008-07-01T17:21:00.002-04:00

Birch Knob Observation Tower...and a Timber Rattlesnake!!

2008-07-01T15:28:00.006-04:00

Yesterday I had some free time, so I took a drive up to Birch Knob Observation Tower in the Jefferson National Forest. The tower is at an elevation over 3,000 ft., and you can see 5 states from it's summit (Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, West Virginia, and sometimes even Ohio on a clear day!). Although the day was a bit overcast, it was still quite a view! I also found a lost dog stuck at the top of the tower, but luckily I was able to call his owner from the information on his tag and let him know where he was. Seems that Kane the dog was from Kentucky and had been lost a few days ago while his owner was out hunting with him. I was glad he was able to make it home safely!

Today we were out doing salamander coverboard checks- the weather finally cleared, as this is the first day in 5 that we have not had any thunderstorms. I think all the reptiles were enjoying the sunny but still fairly cool weather (upper 70s). We found a timber rattlesnake in the dirt road while driving around checking the boards! He (or she) was real pretty, and we were glad we got to see it up close and personal in a safe way.

I took some good pictures, enjoy!

The staircase leading up to the observation tower. There are 183 steps!

View of Pine Mountain from the top of the tower. Pine Mtn. separates Kentucky (left) from Virginia (right). The tower is actually in Va.

View from the top of Birch Knob Tower. Va and then Tennessee in the distance, I think.

Timber rattlesnake, Crotalus horridus. Love the scientific name! He's rattling at us in this one.

Attempting to move off the road after rattling at us for 10min.

Making a break for cover.

The Magic School Bus

2008-06-27T16:01:00.004-04:00

Yup, that's right a big yellow school bus. We found it yesterday at one of my sites called Wildcat Spur. The cows that are grazed on site are transported up the mountain and between pastures in the back of an old rickety school bus up steep, rough dirt roads. I don't know how this is possible, but you can see for yourself in the pictures! If anyone has seen the movie or heard about the book Into the Wild, this bus reminds me of the one the guy lives in while he's in the Alaskan wilderness.

Into the Wild, right here in Dickenson County, Va!!

Long time gone.

2008-06-25T13:16:00.008-04:00

Wow, it's been over a week! I have really been slacking. Well last weekend we were in Blacksburg for some R&R, so not a whole lot has been going on. The weather has been good, so we are moving along with bird surveys (only 4 early mornings left over the next couple of weeks). We're trying to focus on getting some other work completed, since we are planning on moving out around July 11. Depending on whether it rains for the rest of the summer, I'll be back and forth occassionally. Now work just consists of checking coverboards for salamanders, doing some site descriptions, and marking points of interest in addition to my survey points (like human impacted areas, active mining, gas wells, etc.) into the GPS units. In addition to field work, we're trying to get all the data entered into a computer spreadsheet before we leave here to make compiling things easier once I get back to Blacksburg.

Well, I've got some more pictures for you. Hope you like!

Wild horses near our one clearcut site. Seems like we deal with livestock more than wildlife sometimes!

Our friends, the cows. The gate is new and this site is now being grazed as of a few days ago (surprise for me!).

Some butterflies hanging out together enjoying the mud.

Interesting track pattern...

Close up. Can you guess the culprit?

Salamander survey and recreation

2008-06-16T20:51:00.008-04:00

Well, Saturday it rained ALL day, so it was wet enough to do a night search for salamanders and do a frog call survey. We left the house about 8:30pm and completed 4- 20 minute searches in 4 different cover types. We ended up finding 6 salamanders, which is great! They were weighed, measured, and promptly released. When it's raining or very wet out at night, salamanders that normally burrow into leaf litter or underground come out to feed. It's pretty neat that they are just out walking around! Salamander searching is certainly different from our early birding mornings, stumbling around in the woods in the dark, but it's certainly something different to do. We worked until about midnight Saturday, so we were down for the count Sunday morning and decided to hold off on continuing bird surveys until today.

In recreational news, today we visited High Knob Recreational Area in the Jefferson National Forest, and Flag Rock Park in Norton. Both of these places are probably only about 20 minutes away from Wise. High Knob was really neat- there was a high elevation natural lake that was open to swimming, but minimally impacted by people. We were the only ones there, so it was nice and quiet. We saw newts, fish, and even a couple of water snakes (not close by though, no worries)! We also took a 1 mile hike up to the observation tower (supposedly you can see 5 states from up there- VA, KY, TN, NC, and WV) only to find out that the observation tower burnt down awhile back and is no longer there! It was still a really nice hike though.

Flag Rock is a rocky overlook above the City of Norton (not really a city, in my opinion). An American flag is flying from a rock over the city. You can see for miles around from here, it was amazing! The streets of Norton used to spell out the city's name. It's hard to see in pictures, but you can sort of make it out!

Here are some pictures, enjoy!

Longtail salamander, Eurycea longicauda, captured and successfully released during sampling.

High Knob Lake

Flag Rock Viewing area, overlooking Norton, Va

Flag Rock

Can you see that the streets spell "NORTON?" Yeah, use your imagination!

No news is good news!

2008-06-11T15:43:00.007-04:00

Not much new here! Charlotte saw a young bear yesterday while birding- probably a yearling. He was walking around near the road, while lots of coal trucks ran right by him! Yesterday I saw a female turkey and 6 poults (i.e., baby turkeys). I wish I was quick enough to snap a picture, but I flushed them up out of the field and they were gone in a flash.

Birding is going well, it has been hot and dry here for the past week- but the amphibians are in need of some rain! We've got about 3.5 weeks left of birding, after which the breeding season will be functionally over and territories start to break up. Once birds are finished breeding, their detection by song becomes very unreliable, so surveying must be completed by then. The amphibian work could continue through September if the weather stays fairly wet. When it's hot and dry, salamanders are pretty much hanging out underground, and wouldn't be detected in our surveys.

Well, that's about it! More pictures to come soon:)

Coal is loaded up and ready to go!

One of my sites, Wildcat Spur. The grassy area in front was mined- it used to be similar to the surrounding mountains. Currently it is being grazed by cattle.

Coming in to get a closer look (and probably lick the vehicle).

Some Texas Longhorns enjoying the reclaimed grassland.

Longhorn, up close and personal.

Natural Tunnel State Park

2008-06-07T19:00:00.005-04:00

Today we took a little recreational trip down to Natural Tunnel State Park in Duffield, Va. It was pretty neat!

Some info about the tunnel from Natural Tunnel State Park website (http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state_parks/nat.shtml):

Natural Tunnel, called the "Eighth Wonder of the World" by William Jennings Bryan, has been attracting sightseers to the mountains of southwestern Virginia for more than 100 years. Today it is the focal point of Natural Tunnel State Park, a park which offers visitors not only spectacular sights but also swimming, camping, picnicking, hiking, a visitor center, an amphitheater and interpretive programs.

The creation of Natural Tunnel began more than a million years ago in the early glacial period when groundwater bearing carbonic acid percolated through crevices and slowly dissolved surrounding limestone and dolomite bedrock. Then, what is now Stock Creek was probably diverted underground to continue carving the tunnel slowly over many centuries. The walls of the tunnel show evidence of prehistoric life, and many fossils can be found in the creek bed and on tunnel walls.

See the pictures below!

The Natural Tunnel from above.

From above again.

You can see the ski lift along the edge of the cliff. We took this down to see the tunnel up close.

The tunnel observation area.

Venomous things and other tales

2008-06-06T12:22:00.007-04:00

Hello blog readers-

I thought I would provide some more pics for you today (see below). The cicadas are cooking, and so are we, as a matter of fact. It is 97 down here today, which is incredibly warm for the Central Appalachians. We are expecting temperatures in the 90s for the next 5 days!

So I am sure you are wondering about the venomous things as indicated by the title. I had two close calls in the venomous category recently. Well yesterday I was just inches from stepping on a copperhead snake at one of my sites! I am lucky that I saw him and could stumble backwards in time! Really, I think he just startled me more than actually being a threat. Very pretty snake, although this time I didn't stick around to get a picture. I was walking in very tall grass (almost as tall as me now, because of all the rain), so I proceeded for the rest of the morning with extreme caution (probably a bit too much caution, as it took me forever to finish my route).

My second poisionous experience was with this catepillar that has a pretty serious bite. Chris got tagged by one last year and he said it hurt pretty badly, plus the bite swelled up a bit (kind of looked like a beesting). I grabbed onto a tree to help step down a steep area, and then realized that my hand was right next to this thing on the tree trunk.

Other than that, things have been pretty quiet. Today we did some habitat work in a clearcut, which is the worst possible thing anyone could do with all the briars and thick vegetation! We only got one plot done because they take so long, and you end up coming out with tons of scratches. Plus it was really hot out there today with no shade!

Slimy salamander, Plethodon glutinosus, found under a coverboard.

Picture perfect coyote track (the GPS is about 5 in. long).

Eastern box turtle, Terrapene carolina.

The cows must have tipped over their water bucket...

And look what was inside!

The 17-year cicada has emerged!

2008-06-02T20:30:00.003-04:00

So today was the first day that we noticed this deafening trill while we were birding this morning. "Seems kind of early for cicadas," I said. Well believe it or not, 2008 is the 17-year cicada emergence year in the East. Yup their life cycle is SEVENTEEN years long. And of course their mass emergence is tied to my second field season. Hopefully they don't get any louder because we won't be able to hear the birds! Watch out, Brood XIV is back (and hasn't been here since 1991)!

For more info and pictures: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magicicada

The promised pictures...finally!

2008-06-02T13:54:00.005-04:00

Well, we now have internet after 24 days in the field. Hopefully now we can keep a better eye on the weather and save me the aggravation of driving for 2 hours beginning and 4am and arriving to a site on which it happens to be RAINING.

Not much is new- we had our first weekend off this past weekend after 21 days of work. We traveled to Blacksburg to take care of some things there. It was certainly nice to have a break, but really hard to get back to work early this morning! I am hoping that since June has arrived we will see some sunny skies and warm days after this long in the field. This week is the Virginia-Kentucky District Fair in Wise, so we'll be attending tomorrow afternoon! I'll be seeing Bucky Covington perform in the evening.

Hope you enjoy the pictures- I've got to catch up! As always, feel free to post questions or comments on any of the blogs. I'll be sure to stay more current now!

Powell River Project- Virginia strip mining at its best.

The field house at Powell River. And our trusty X-terra.

The "trusty" X-terra. I don't really like driving it- the Jeep was way better!

Cows + X-terra before...

X-terra after. A new meaning of "cowlick." Can't explain why they do this!

A beautiful wild orchid.

Everything's a hassle

2008-05-21T16:05:00.002-04:00

Still no internet!

Overall things are going pretty well. The weather has been wet and cold but it looks like it will be turning around soon (hopefully it will stay that way!). We finished our first full round of bird surveys today (i.e., we visited each point once thusfar), so only 3 more visits to go! It has been relatively wet, so we got two frog call surveys in and have caught some salamanders under the coverboards. I think it has still been too cold at night for amphibians, so I expect more success when the nights are warmer. Since we've arrived, most nights and early mornings when we bird have been in the 40s. Not ridiculously cold, but still cool enough that the wildlife are not ready to be active:)

We did have our first bear sighting yesterday. The weather was cool, overcast, and breezy- just what bears like! He was very close to the active coal mining, which surprised me a little, but did move off when he saw us coming. We saw him from pretty far away, so I don't have any good pictures of him. It was a lone bear without cubs (medium sized, so I'm just assuming it's a him).

We are now staying at the house on UVa-Wise campus, which is right in the town of Wise and close to "civilization." By civilization, I mean Wal-mart, Kmart, Applebees, Pizza Hut, and McDonalds. That's about it! Charlotte and I are living with another girl from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va. She is working as a physical therapy intern at nearby Norton Hospital.

I'm sorry for the lack of pictures, we hope to have the equipment we need to set up the internet at the house soon. I'll be sure to post the backlog of pics then! My time on the internet at the library is up, so I've got to go!

Where have you been?

2008-05-16T16:52:00.002-04:00

Sorry about my lack of blog writing! We have been staying at a field house right on the Powell River Project mine site since we arrived. On Monday we will move into the house on the UVa-Wise campus which has internet (yay). Things have been going ok so far, the weather has been questionable every day which makes scheduling work difficult. So far the only "problem" we had was a power outage for a few hours, which turned out to be a power company issue instead of us shorting out the house.

I'm at the public library right now, and there is a time limit on how long you can use the computer, so I've got to go! I will write more next week and post some pictures- I've already taken quite a few!

And we're back!

2008-05-08T14:14:00.005-04:00

Well the end of the semester is here and it's time to get going once again. We set sail tomorrow morning. Only issues thusfar have been trying to get a 4WD vehicle to use for the duration (I've already been over to Enterprise 3 times). For the first 10 days this year, I won't have internet access. We are staying at a research cabin before moving back to the house on UVa-Wise campus from last summer due to availability issues. The cabin should be ok, and is convenient as it is on one of the study sites, but makes for a farther drive to the other location (~ 2 hours).

This summer I will have one technician working with me. Charlotte is a junior wildlife student. Charlotte, Chris (my tech from last year) , and I went down to the study sites for a weekend in early April to scope out the sites, remark points, and check coverboards for salamanders. It was incredibly wet (roads were REALLY muddy) and we did actually find some! We're hoping for a wetter summer than last to focus on amphibian work.

Blogs might be a little bit on the light side early on until I get better internet access, but I hope you'll stay tuned to see how things are going. I'll of course post as many pictures as I can and keep you updated!

Day 60

2007-07-11T16:35:00.000-04:00

Well, after 5,000 miles of driving, 2 flat tires, 500+ bird survey points, and only 4 cases of poison ivy, it's finally here: Day 60 and the end of our adventure (...or not?).

Tomorrow we will move out of the field house and back to Blacksburg. I am hesitant to say that I'm "done" because I'm nowhere near finished! Now comes the "not-so-fun" part-- putting the information into the computer and using statistics to see what it tells us. Plus, I get to come back next year and do a 2008 field season all over again! And anyway, we still have salamander stuff to do through September of this year.

Well, we finally got some rain (figures, on the last day!). It rained all last night and through this morning. We got to fit in our last hour of birding this morning before the rain started up again, and got soaked while doing our last coverboard check. Boy was that fun! This evening we will most likely go out to do a final frog call survey to finish up.

So, don't be disappointed, the blog is not finished! Things will just be a bit slower now. I will probably come down 3-4 times to work on some salamander surveys, so I will try and take more pictures and write about what I'm doing.

So I thought I would leave you with some beautiful sunrise shots (not sunsets- it's not over!) to celebrate us not being "done."

Day 58

2007-07-09T11:56:00.000-04:00

Only two more days of work left! Hard to believe Day 60 is right around the corner. We've been working pretty hard trying to finish up so we can all enjoy a couple weeks of summer before school starts again on August 20. Actually this past weekend we took a quick trip back to Blacksburg to drop off Lupita since she had to get back to Mexico. Chris and I will check out of the house on Thursday!

The past few days have included some amazing up-close ruby-throated hummingbird sightings. The flagging that I use to mark points is orange, so one actually flew right up a few feet from my face this morning, checking out the "orange flower." I would love to get a good picture of one, but they are just too quick. The best pictures can be taken while watching a hummingbird feeder (see my mom for these, she's got some good ones!

http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/224/_/Ruby-throated_Hummingbird.aspx

Chris also had another black bear sighting the other day, a young male probably. I think they are pretty skiddish in the area where we work because it is really remote and they don't come into contact with people very often. I guess that's good for us! Most of the time I think they know we are there, they just stay out of our way.

Modeling some ticks! The newest fashion!! Please note, my right leg was in the grass for a matter of 15 seconds while standing alongside the road, and this is what happened!

How many can you count? Chris holds the record for the most ticks crawling on him in one day- almost 100. Definitely won't miss these guys!

Day 53

2007-07-04T14:10:00.000-04:00

Happy Fourth of July!

Well we have 5 more early mornings of birding left in the season! We have to be finished by around July 15 since that is the end of the bird breeding season, when males stop singing as frequently and birds typically roam around more. Following the end of our birding days, we'll check coverboards one more time and check all of the plots to make sure that flagging is in place since these points will need to overwinter until I come back for more bird surveys next year. Granted, most of them will probably get lost (or eaten) before I need them again next May, but we might as well get them ready.

So what's the deal for the rest of the summer? I'll have to come back a few more times in August and September to check coverboards since salamanders will stay active for a few more months into the fall. If the weather works out right, there may be the potential for some night searches, but I really hope not since I will be starting school and won't be too excited about the 3 hour drive down here.

Box turtle in a puddle!

Rasnick Cemetery- a small family plot on top of a mountain. Immediate off to the right of the picture is a 100 acre clearcut (all trees were harvested and sold). I was told the Rasnick family sold out their timber and then sold the property to the landholding company that I am working with currently.

Day 49

2007-06-30T21:50:00.000-04:00

So Thursday we decided to take a day to sleep in since the weather forecast called for storms that evening. It stopped raining right before dusk, perfect conditions for our first frog call survey!

Frog call surveys are kind of like our bird surveys in that we visit several points (during frog surveys we target water bodies) and stay for a few minutes to listen for frogs calling. It actually was pretty neat-we had spring peepers, green frogs, fowler's toads, upland chorus frogs, and bullfrogs. We got to watch two beavers for awhile in one of the ponds where we stopped. We also saw a barred owl that we spooked driving up the road, and two barn owls near one of the frog call points. They have this eerie call that just sends chills down your spine!

Listen to the barn owl here! http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/2/_/target.aspx

Find out more about the barred owl! http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/3/_/Barred_Owl.aspx

Yesterday we went to the farther site and did some birding at the pasture plots- its always fun to herd the cows off the plots first- and today we went birding at our two clearcut sites that have been harvested within the past 2-5 years. We're using a couple of clearcuts to compare the bird communities between areas with harvesting disturbances and coal mining disturbances to see if there are any differences.

Tomorrow we will take our last real day off for the rest of the time we are here. We will finish with bird surveys in about 10 days since mid-July is the end of the breeding season. We'll move out of the house here, and then I will return a few times later in the summer and fall to check for salamanders.

Our farther site, PALS (Public Access Lands for Sportsmen) is open to the public for hunting use. This is a scene from a hollow (or holler in the local lingo) that was mined around 10 years ago and reclaimed.

Nice white-tailed deer track next to my clipboard.

View down the railroad tracks- straight ahead just a few miles is Kentucky!

Day 46

2007-06-27T18:35:00.000-04:00

This week has been pretty slow- nothing real exciting to report. I found a deer tick in my head today (the bad ones that can carry Lyme disease), so hopefully I got it out quickly enough. We went birding the past 3 mornings since the weather was good- we also did salamander coverboard checks but didn't find any this week. We had a little bit of rain on Monday evening, but not too much. There is a chance of thunderstorms for tomorrow, so hopefully we will get enough rain to go out salamander searching, or at least go out and do a frog call survey since we haven't been able to yet.

As usual, some pictures of interest. Most of our days aren't too long now that we have all of the habitat data collected. Now most of my days entail sitting in front of the computer for a few hours inputting data. We've got about 2.5 more weeks of intensive stuff before I get to go back to Blacksburg! As long as the ticks, bears, snakes, etc. don't get to us first!

Holy kudzu! This invasive vine takes over EVERYTHING. For scale, the path in front of the brush is a one-lane road. This thing is huge.

Frog tracks! Not often seen- these could be green frog or wood frog most likely.

The promised picture of the water truck next to our Jeep! HUGE!

Day 43

2007-06-24T19:49:00.000-04:00

Well, I'm sorry that I haven't written in awhile! I got to take this past weekend off and head down to Cumberland Gap National Historic Park with Scott to visit my friend Tom who is working on a black bear project in eastern Kentucky. Cumberland Gap is unique for 2 reasons- 1. the park includes parts of three states-Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. 2. Daniel Boone's Wilderness Road is found here, or the route that early pioneers took to cross the Appalachian range and establish settlements in the wilds of Kentucky.

We got to see several great overlooks, tour the Gap Cave by flashlight, hike up to Tri-Peak and sit in Ky, Va, and Tn all at once, and camp in the campground at the national park. By far, the best part of the whole weekend was the food. Tom took us to Heavy's BBQ in Tennessee. It literally was a shack in the middle of nowhere down by the river that served barbeque and rented canoes. And it was the best pork barbeque that I have ever had! We also went to Webb's Country Kitchen in the town of Cumberland Gap (also in Tn) for a night of bluegrass music and excellent country cookin'. It was so nice to have a real weekend, and I definitely enjoyed my trip down to Cumberland Gap!

Scott and I at Cumberland Gap.

Tri-Peak- the border of Va, Tn, and Ky.

Hike up to Tri-Peak- I am in all three states at once!

The Wilderness Road that pioneers traveled through the Appalachians.

Wilderness Road State Park in Va- they had a living history museum of John Martin's frontier waystation along the Wilderness Rd. around 1775.

Coal is life down here- for me and the locals.

Day 39

2007-06-20T11:24:00.000-04:00

Salamanders!

It finally rained yesterday for a few hours, so we were able to go out last night for our first salamander search. Basically, this involves setting a designated time limit (mine are 20 minutes) to search at each point of interest for salamanders. Most are small and cryptic in coloring (except for the bright orange ones), but they are out foraging when the leaf litter is wet, so all you have to do is walk around and look for them. This is definitely an interesting situation- stumbling around in the woods in the dark while it's wet and raining! I guess is was something different for us to do, but it certainly clashes with our birding schedule of getting up early in the morning. Needless to say, we didn't return to the house until 1am, so there was no way I was getting up at 4am to go birding!

Coverboards in action!

Northern red salamander, Pseudotriton ruber

Southern two-lined salamander, Eurycea cirrigera

Red-spotted newt, Notophthalmus viridescens

Eastern box turtle, Terepene carolina, laying her eggs along the side of the road!

Day 36

2007-06-17T18:02:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the lag here! I got to spend this weekend back in Blacksburg taking care of bills, apartment stuff, and paperwork at school (and missed out on a few days of blogging). At least yesterday I got to spend the day by the pool! It was a nice relaxing weekend and I did get a lot of the business-type stuff done, which was nice.

Not too much new with the field work. We got to have a 3-day weekend (definitely great) but I think we'll all be dragging tomorrow morning. This week we will start doing coverboard searches for salamanders more regularly since we will have some more time once we finish habitat surveys on Tuesday. By the end of the day Tuesday we will have completed our 400 habitat plots! WOW! Best of all, I have a visitor coming this week! Scotty is coming to visit next weekend and we are going to Cumberland Gap National Historic Park to visit my friend Tom who is a field technician down there (working on black bear stuff). Very excited for a little side trip!

Some pics for your enjoyment (these were all taken by Fangyee, the student from Taiwan that visited us last week):

This is what happens to overworked grad students.

A very attractive shot of Lupita, Chris, and I doing a habitat survey.

Red-spotted newt, Notophthalmus viridescens

The infamous ticks that love us so much.

Day 31

2007-06-12T19:45:00.000-04:00

Wow! It has now been almost 5 weeks since we began- and there have been lots of neat wildlife sightings, and, of course, lots of headaches and early mornings.

Today's headache was our second flat tire (sorry folks, I didn't stand around and take pictures this time...I had to help believe it or not!). Not only did we get a flat and had to change it in the middle of the woods, we also broke the handle to the jack and had to take a ride all over southwestern Virginia to find a replacement this evening. I have to thank the nice mechanic that handed us one for free and told us not to tell his boss. Seems like there still are a few people that will help others out without expecting anything in return. I am certainly grateful, because he told us that to replace the handle would be about $89! Ridiculous! I guess now instead of having a universal jack design, car companies make theirs specific so you have to buy the replacement parts from Jeep, for example.

And my team was so enthusiastic that we dropped the Jeep off at the Ford dealer to get the tire replaced and took Chris' truck out to the closer site to do habitat plots. I was a little disappointed thinking that we would lose a day of work (even though we did get our bird surveys in this morning before the flat), but everybody came through for a productive day anyway.

Not much else new- no new animal sightings yet! My poison ivy is starting to get a little better, which is a nice relief. Few more days of work, then a short trip to Blacksburg!

Mountain laurel, Kalmia latifolia

Day 29

2007-06-10T13:04:00.000-04:00

I think this is multiflora rose- not sure though!

So, anything new with me? Just more poison ivy! Yaaay!

Yeah I've got a good sized splotch of it on my arm now- so much fun. Probably a result of the poison ivy patch that we did habitat surveys on with my advisor on Thursday. So far no one else has come down with it though!

Not much else is new really- yesterday we did a bunch of habitat surveys, which I was really glad to get done. We have about 30 more points to do habitat surveys on (which is 120 more actual plots), so I think we should finish the habitat stuff within 2 weeks. However, it has been really dry here, so we have not had any good weather for salamandering (what we wildlifers call the process of performing a salamander search at night in the rain). Most of the time, if the conditions are not right, the salamanders will stay buried in the ground until the soil and leaf litter is wet enough for them. The birding surveys are progressing very well, since each day has been clear for good birding.

Today we are taking a day off to catch up on some sleep and get a few things done. Next weekend I am taking an overnight trip back to Blacksburg to work on a few things with my current and new apartment, banking, etc. since I can't do much of that out in the sticks.

Well, its back to birding tomorrow morning! There is no significant chance of rain this week, so the drought continues (that was the headline story on the newspaper here, which is appropriately called the Coalfield Progress). Check back for more updates later!

The cattle eating one of my plots. You can see the orange flagging in the tree- I had an orange flag in the ground, but they ate it!

This is the water truck- he waters the roads to keep down the dust and carries water to the mining site for coal cleaning. I wish I had another car in this picture for scale, because the truck tires are bigger than our Jeep!

Day 26

2007-06-07T17:35:00.000-04:00

So my advisor was down last night and today to visit and check up on me (i.e., my boss making sure I'm doing my job). My technicians did a good job of defending my work thusfar! He was mostly pleased with everything- we'll have to move a few points and re-save them into the GPS units since what I have is not accurate enough. He did help us with some habitat sampling problems we were having in areas that we too small or too steep to sample appropriately. Anyway, apparently the solution to that is to just shrink the plots, which means we still have to climb the slopes. I fell a bunch of times today while we were doing some habitat stuff- once was about 15 feet down a cliff on top of Lupita, haha. Good thing it was funny and no one was hurt!

So a few people have asked me for more information about the coverboard surveys. Basically, all a coverboard is is a rough sawn piece of wood (about 1" x 2" in size and 2" thick). These are placed in small groups (for my study its 6 boards to a group) in areas that we want to sample. Really, they are best for long-term studies since the longer they sit in the woods, the better artificial cover they provide for salamanders. Most salamanders hang out under cover objects and will only come out to forage when the soil is very wet (since they breath through their skin they can suffocate if their skin dries out). Also, many species are very territorial, so only 1 salamander may inhabit each board. Anyway, once the soil under the boards gets moist and cool, it will be great habitat for salamanders! I know what I do is kind of different, so if you ever have any questions, post them on here or email me and I'd be happy to answer them!

Coverboards before they were laid out at the points.

Also, the fair was great! And so was Billy Currington! I'm thinking about going back tomorrow night to see Danielle Peck:) See some pics below.

Virginia-Kentucky District Fair, Wise, Virginia.

Cute Momma and Baby donkey at the fair.

Billy Currington concert! He's the guy with the backwards cap.

Day 27

2007-06-05T16:50:00.000-04:00

Another bear encounter! This time alone.

I had 9 points to visit along a back road while Chris surveyed a few in another area (Lupita was sick this morning, so she didn't come out). I had the jeep since my points were farther apart, so I was driving to my last point, and I see a black object (a beef cow?) lumbering along on a hillside. No, it was a bear, and a good sized one! As I watch, I realize there are two bears, the second one was huge- one of the biggest ones I've seen alive in the wild, probably 400 lbs. or more! Holy cow (well, not a cow- a BEAR). And both of them are in my last plot. So I reach around to get my camera from the backseat, and right at the same time I run over an old plastic bottle in the road, which makes a loud noise and spooks the bears. If I had got the camera more quickly, I would have had a good picture of them both, because they were CLOSE. Sad to say, no picture to go along with this bear story.

Other wildlife sightings included a black snake and a box turtle. Chris and I did a salamander check at all of our coverboards- nothing yet. It rained for about 15 minutes yesterday, but the boards are not saturated (i.e., the soil underneath them is still dry and is not good habitat for salamanders yet). The longer the boards are out there, the better the habitat.

We came back a bit early today because I'm about to head out and check out the Virginia-Kentucky District Fair and see Billy Currington tonight! Luckily tomorrow we are only taking habitat data and not birding, so I don't have to get up as early! My adivisor and another Tech student are coming down tomorrow to check on things, so we'll see how much additional work comes out of that visit!

Day 24

2007-06-02T19:26:00.001-04:00

Well, June is here! Good because things are moving along, but a reminder that more has yet to be done!

Well the most exciting information to report is my slight case of poison ivy (which we walk through, and end up getting all over us every day). I'm really glad that its a very mild case, and it hasn't caused me much trouble at all except that I can't wear my watch on my wrist. We found the largest patch I've ever seen of it today- it had to be close to an acre- so knock-on-wood, we'll all get by without any problems.

We worked pretty hard the past two days (yes, we work weekends)- its been really hot and we've been out there doing habitat surveys and looking for birds. I'm excited because the Virginia-Kentucky District Fair is taking place here in Wise next week! Billy Currington, Danielle Peck, and some other country artists (as well as bluegrass bands, my new southern influence) will be playing there. I hope to get some time in the evenings or maybe a half day to spend at the fair!

Check it out at http://www.vakydistrictfairandhorseshow.com/!

Day 22

2007-05-31T17:55:00.000-04:00

So those of you who have been following my summer adventures know that we are due for a new blog today (since I am so very faithful to writing one every-other day).

The Jeep tire has been replaced and, even though it took two hours at the shop (everyone and everything moves a bit slower here in Wise), we were back in business yesterday. Today we had a really productive day- birding this morning and then we did 4 habitat points, for a total of 16 vegetation plots. Pretty good.

Funny story- Lupita is getting very good at identifying the birds and plants/trees we see, even though she's not familiar with them being from Mexico. Today, she was helping to measure some trees and usually if she is unsure, she brings a leaf sample to Chris or me. So she shows us a leaf sample while standing next to the tree she pulled it from and wants to know what it is. Our answer was, "Well the tree is a dogwood, but the leaves you are holding are poison ivy!" She couldn't believe that is was really poisonous, but we assured her that if she didn't wash her hands soon, she would be very sorry she touched that plant.

Not much else is new really- today we saw a yellow-billed cuckoo up close which was pretty cool. They look like they belong in the tropics or something. More of the same tomorrow- but June is here! Only 6 more weeks of intensive stuff before I can catch a break:)

Some views from "my office". These were taken at the top of a mountain of rocks with a 78% slope. Always a good time climbing at 6am. The sunrises are great though, I hope to catch a good one on camera soon!

Day 20

2007-05-29T18:55:00.001-04:00

Six ticks and a flat tire. This is today's story.

Well we had a couple of days off last weekend since I got to go back to NJ for my friend Lisa's wedding for a day, which was a nice visit even though it was way too short. Anyway, today was back to work. And we were tired. Really tired.

We had a pretty good day in the field overall, its really started to get hot here. Today it was over 90 degrees by noon, so we were REALLY hot out there. Birds surveys went pretty well and we did more habitat sampling on 10 year old reclaimed mine site. I took a neat picture of a hardened track in the mud (along with my gps unit for scale, its about 5 in. long). We actually think this is a cat track, probably a bobcat, since there are no claws visible. The larger mammals really must get around on that site- we see scat and prints everywhere (bear and coyote, mostly). Luckily, we haven't run into any aggressive ones yet!

So we're getting ready to leave and there is this extremely steep and rocky road that we have to climb. Seriously, its about 2000 feet elevation done in maybe less than a quarter of a mile- its crazy steep. So we get to the top and I take off the 4-wheel drive since we're on a regular gravel road (we've done this many times before). Anyway, we drive a little ways down the road, and pop! there goes the tire. Good thing Chris and Lupita were expert tire changers. They changed the tire (in record time I might add) and I supervised (and took pictures). Luckily since we are using a rental car, the cost of the new tire is covered, but we have to wait until tomorrow morning to get it done. So my schedule for the rest of the week is all messed up since we won't be out early enough tomorrow to survey birds. It's always something.

Chris and Lupita working on the flat tire on the dirt road in the middle of nowhere.

Speaking of pain in the butt- the ticks were really bad today! I had tons of spray on my clothes and still had to pull six ticks out of me when we got back!! Nasty little buggers. Not one of the nicer parts of the Great Outdoors.

Day 16

2007-05-25T19:15:00.000-04:00

Well, we've been here about 2 weeks now. Things have been busy, I think the project is progressing along. We're expected to be finished bird surveys by mid-July since that is the typical end of the breeding season, but salamander surveys can be done into the fall, so I'll be making some weekend trips down here in the late summer and fall. The habitat data collection is also going well- I have around 100 points, each of which has 4 associated habitat plots that take about 15-30 minutes to count trees, shrubs, grass species, etc. It's a lot of work, I guess that's really what we spend most of our time doing. Everyone hates doing habitat stuff, but we all joke about it to make it a little bit easier (Lupita's new one is "No trees, no shrubs, no problems!" after Kenny Chesney's song "No shirt, no shoes, no problems.")

This morning while doing bird surveys we found a nestling Carolina chickadee on the road. He was really cold and almost dead when we found him, so Lupita carried him around for a bit to warm him up. Then he seemed to perk up once he got warm, he was eating pieces of apple from us (we even fed him the ticks we pulled off us!). He seemed to be doing ok, but when we got him back to the house, he kinda just got quiet and died. I'm assuming the mother bird probably pushed him out of the nest when she realized something was wrong with him. The unfortunate truth in the bird world.

"Chicky" the Tickeater.

Tomorrow we will again do a bird survey in the morning at the site closer to Wise (we get very excited about this because we can sleep til 5am and still get there by 6). This time I'm remembering my camera to take a picture of the sunrise!

Day 14

2007-05-23T17:50:00.001-04:00

Well today was interesting! We decided to take a day off from birding and focus on some habitat data collection. Yay for sleeping in until 7am today! This morning we ran into a bobcat in one of the forested areas adjacent to the mined areas we are working on. We were walking down the road and I guess we startled him and he ran away from us and back into the forest. I wish I was quick enough to snap a picture, but by the time I recognized him and thought about it, he was gone. That's a pretty lucky sighting since bobcats are very elusive.

We also had our first poisionous snake experience (see first black bear encounter in earlier blog). We approached plot 24 to take some habitat data. Its really brushy and full of thorny stuff. We were sort of making our own path through the vegetation and I spotted him right next to where we were walking! It was funny because Chris must have walked right by him and didn't see him! He was a copperhead, and I've never seen one with such a bright colored head. So needless to say, we decided to survey plot 24 another time! Of course we didn't leave until I could snap a few pictures!

Day 12

2007-05-21T18:32:00.000-04:00

Well today was an early morning! No bear sightings this time though. I think we were all dragging a little bit this morning (being that it was Monday and we were coming off of a relaxing weekend...and the fact that we had to leave the house by 4:30am). Today we sampled some pastureland and did some habitat plots (I was proud that we did 20 of them, even though there weren't any trees to count).

Saturday we decided to take a day off, and I took a ride to Breaks Interstate Park. It's one of only two state parks in the U.S. that has shared management and involvement between multiple states. So Breaks is right on the border of Virginia and Kentucky, about an hour north from where I am staying. But it was certainly worth the ride! The views were spectacular and it was a clear and beautiful day. I even got some recreational birding in, where I wasn't constantly counting individuals and estimating how far away they were from me.

Yesterday we spent a half-day laying out more artificial habitat coverboards for salamanders. The boards aren't too big, but they are rough-sawn timber so they're pretty heavy, and its hard to carry them up hills and over rocks. We did pretty well setting them up too! Things have been moving along!

The weather predictions for this week are good, so chances are we're in for some good birding!

You're looking at Kentucky!

Now you're looking at Virginia!

Pictures!

2007-05-19T10:15:00.001-04:00

The field house on the campus of UVa-Wise in Wise, Virginia.

The faithful Jeep Liberty.

A black rat snake we found on the road.

The male bear at Wildcat reclaimed mine site.

A fuzzy view of him through my binoculars.

Day 9

2007-05-18T16:32:00.000-04:00

Well today we had our first inevitable black bear encounter (and second, and third?). This is our story.

So we left the house at 4:30 to get on the site to start birding at 6am. We stopped the jeep on the road and walked about 100 yards up a forested hill to the first bird sampling point. When we came back to the car about 10 minutes later, there was a pretty decent sized male bear in the road ahead. I think we startled him a bit, and he ran a bit, then turned and looked at us. He ended up just sauntering away, deciding that we weren't too menacing.

So what about the second encounter? Well...Lupita and I dropped Chris off at his first sampling point and continued driving down the road. Little did we know a large momma bear and two cubs were right over the slope of the hill where we dropped him off (we literally drove right by them!). Chris said he was nervous about being between the cubs and mother, but it turns out they all took off when they saw him.

And third? Well kinda. Lupita and I drove down the road to our next point, and who do we see? Mr. male bear again munching on some greenery not too far from our first plot. We must have caught him earlier on his trip out of the forest and into the reclaimed mine. They really must like all the vegetation and berries they can find there, and obviously we're likely to run into them since we're there at dawn when they are active. He didn't seem to mind us there though, we got out of the car and were looking at him and obviously making some noise, but he continued eating away. I kept an eye on him while Lupita did the bird survey to make sure he didn't come over and surprise us!

So today was bear day (although we did see alot of birds too!). Tomorrow will be our first day off since we've been down here. Not sure what I'll end up doing, hopefully something fun and also getting some much needed sleep.

I did get some pics of the bear for those of you who are wondering! I am working on setting up the high speed internet, then hopefully I can post them!

Day 7

2007-05-16T16:35:00.000-04:00

Well, yesterday we got up and did another round of bird surveys. The best part was hearing a barred owl! Lupita and I heard it at our first point around 6:10am, and it was unmistakable (really close too). Then we had to take a trip up to Blacksburg (a 3 hour drive) to pick up the coverboards for part of the salamander study. What a pain! So we drove 3 hours to pick up 100 boards that barely fit in the Jeep with us and to meet with my advisor who says "add more points, survey 400 habitat plots on top of wildlife surveys, blah blah blah". Even more work, yay. I did get to stop at my apartment for 20 minutes and pick up some things I forgot and to bring my car down here with me.

Today we decided we were all too tired to get up and go birding at our site that is 1.5 hours away. Instead we started laying out some salamander coverboards and working some habitat plots at the closer site (only 20 minutes from Wise). Good thing we did through because we got a rain storm about 2pm. We got soaked since we wanted to finish the plot before we left!

So tomorrow we'll have to go survey the other site for birds and lay out more coverboards. That means we are leaving the house at 4:30 am tomorrow morning. So I better get to planning tomorrow's schedule and get to bed!

Sorry about the lack of pictures, I hope once we get high-speed internet at the house I can upload some.

Day 5

2007-05-14T18:41:00.000-04:00

So today was our first day of sampling. When I say sampling, I mean we go to points that I have selected previously because of their cover type or age, and we look and listen for birds. The hardest part is moving between sites (and of course remembering all the bird songs!). So overall, today went pretty well. We were all dragging when we woke up this morning. It's certainly hard to be functional at 5am! We saw quite a few birds and were only unable to identify a few. We also saw some huge bear poop! Hope we don't run into that guy any time soon. This afternoon we did some vegetation data collection on some plots in the areas we sampled. We see what kinds of trees and shrubs are there and what the cover is like on each site. It takes some time to get good at it, but we did pretty well.

So tomorrow we'll go out for birds again tomorrow. Then we need to head back to Blacksburg and pick up some coverboards that weren't ready when I left last week. Coverboards are rough-sawn pieces of wood that provide artifical cover for salamanders (and typically make them a bit easier to find).

More to come later!

Day 3

2007-05-12T19:53:00.000-04:00

Hello friends-

I apologize that I haven't written sooner- we are still without internet at our field house! We're all pretty bummed since we wanted to stay in touch with many people (but hopefully it will be hooked up soon?). So for those of you who don't know, I should fill you in about what I'm doing. Here it is in a nutshell:

I am living in Wise, Virginia (10 miles from the eastern Kentucky border) and working on two sites that have formerly (and are currently) being mined for coal. I have two assistants working with me from Virginia Tech- Lupita, another graduate student from Mexico, and Chris a wildlife undergraduate student. Basically I will spend this summer and next summer looking at wildlife communities on these sites after they have been through the required reclamation process under law. We will be looking at different types of reclamation type (e.g., forestland vs. grassland), age since reclamation, and vegetation cover composition and structure. Now for the wildlife part- we'll be sampling birds, salamanders, and frogs on most of these sites to find out what species are there and how many.

So that's it. Sounds easy, right? haha. I dare you to get up at 4am everyday to be out on the sites at sunrise to count birds. Or to memorize a hundred or so common bird songs. Or to stumble around in the dark while it's pouring rain searching for salamanders. So wildlife research isn't for the faint of hearted. Not a surprise.

I really hate ticks! I've rarely ever found one on me, but myself and my field assistants have been pulling them off us left and right. The areas where we work are very rocky with tall grass, perfect for little buggers like ticks and poisonous snakes! Fun stuff.

Our field house isn't too bad at all. We are staying on the campus of the University of Virginia's College at Wise, a smaller satelite campus of the larger UVa. The house is close to campus, has 3 bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen, and a nice yard (it's supposed to have internet!). I also am using a vehicle from Enterprise as our field vehicle (since VT didn't have any 4-wheel drive available). So we got a 2007 Jeep Liberty- really nice! I feel badly that we have to get it so dirty and put so many miles on it. She'll be well broken in when we turn her back in August.

So the past few days have been spent getting settled in the house, marking out plots for sampling, and practicing our birding skills together. We will get to start officially sampling in a day or two! Unfortunately, the birds don't get many days off, so neither do we! Busy busy busy.

Things have been really stressful (since apparently, I am the one in charge?), but it's going alright thusfar. Well, I will write more later- I'm having some trouble posting pictures, but I'll try to get some up soon. Peace-