Salamanders, birds, bears, and bees

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:)