Picture A Day: Challenge Accepted

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Picture A Day: Challenge Accepted: I would like to give an introduction explaining the objective of this blog. Anyone who knows me knows there has to be a reason why I would g...

The Boreal Owl babies are getting big!

We first check Boreal Owl boxes on May 26th.  Since then we've gone back every other day.  Since the boxes are located out the Elliot Highway, north of Fairbanks, AK, the farthest occupied owl box is about 89 miles away from town.  Here is a family photo of the chick is box EL 29. They will be fledging within the next 2 weeks.

Family Video at EL 15

First full week of monitoring Boreal Owls 2012

Well, we have our first full week of monitoring Boreal Owl boxes on the Elliott under our belt.  Our undergraduate from the Mount, Jen, has arrived, and has begun taking buccal swabs from all of the chicks.

Of the 11 occupied boxes on the Elliott, we have an average of about 5 chicks per nest.  We started out with a total of 50 chicks, but 3 have perished.  One chick was born with a deformed bill, and we didn't think it would survive, and it didn't.  The other two chicks are just gone from their box.  We're not sure if the box was predated or what.  So, we currently have 47 chicks and 2 eggs that still need to hatch.  Here is a family photo from box EL 15.

The older chicks are now in the wet, projectile poop stage, which makes handling them an adventure every day.  In order to check all of the boxes every other day, we are travelling about 182 miles round trip and it is taking us about 10 hours each day.  So, we teach our classes in the morning, get on the road by 1:30pm and are back home by around 11pm.  Exhausting, but exciting as hell!  You can tell it's a good day, when your student falls asleep on the way home - even on an incredibly bumpy dirt road!

Video of Property on Pheasant Farm Road

Here is a quick video of the property we are interested in outside Fairbanks, Alaska.

First Week In Fairbanks 2012

Since we flew to Fairbanks instead of driving up this Summer, we don't have a vehicle of our own to use to get around town. We've been fortunate this year to use our good friend, Michelle's, 1990 Suburban to tool around town.

It's a great truck, and Dave feels right at home behind the wheel.  In fact, I haven't driven yet!  This has been a very hectic week for us.  Not only did we begin our Boreal Owl study for the season, and start teaching our summer classes at UAF, but we also headed out to look at some land.  Yep, we've decided to retire in Alaska...at least during the milder months!  LOL!  I haven't quite convinced Dave to spend an entire year up here, but I'm working on him.  I've got about 15 years to convince him!  We'd found a listing for a few acres out Chena Hot Springs Road, about 20 miles northeast of Fairbanks and decided to head out there to check out the property.  The lot we are interested in is off Pheasant Farm Road.

Once you turn south onto Pheasant Farm Road, the dirt road winds down through the boreal forest to the farm land we're interested in. As we turned down the driveway heading south, the land is on the right.

At the end of the driveway, you hit Baseline Road.  We turned around and looked back north up the driveway from where we had just come and snapped the photo below.  The land we are interested is now on the left side of the driveway.

As you scan to the left, you can see the entire area we are interested in. There is a cluster of trees about 200 feet long and then ag fields to the west.

The buildings in the distance belong to our neighbors to the north.  The drive way is just visible along the right side above.  The next photo was taken just left of the trees above - looking at the NW corner of the property.

This last photo is of the SW corner of the property - about 6 acres of woods along Baseline road. The dirt path along the left edge of the photo below is Baseline road.  Really, it's a road.

Can't you just imagine a little log cabin nestled in those woods?  All together the property is about 40 acres with about 30 acres of tillable land.  We're going to be farmers.  Funny, Dave is the same age his dad was when he bought his farm.  Weird..... :-) In the winter, the northern lights are visible all across the sky here. It's paradise.  I think we'll put in an offer.

Boreal Owl Study - Day 1 (Part 2) 2012

We left Fairbanks at 1:15pm heading up the Elliott Highway to check occupied Boreal Owl nest boxes.

The highway is paved until you reach the turn off for the Haul Road (Dalton Highway) leading up to Deadhorse, so it's pretty smooth sailing. But, once you reach the intersection of the Dalton,

the Elliott becomes a dirt road.

We decided to drive all the way to the farthest nestbox and then work our way back toward civilization.  So, 89 miles later, we pulled over to the side of the road at the spot marked on the ADFG GPS unit for box #EL37.  There are no shoulders on the road here, as the highway has been built up about 20 feet to keep it from crumbling into the permafrost.  I hopped out of the truck, grabbed our gear bag, strapped on my bear spray and started reading the GPS unit.

100 feet to box.. I started walking West.  118 feet to box...oops, I'm walking the wrong direction.  I turned around, now walking East...100 feet to box, 97 feet to box, now I'm down off the road and standing in the mossy, mushy undergrowth of the boreal forest.  Dave picks up the ladder and follows.

The forest will fool you.  From the road you think you can just walk right in, but once you get down on the ground, you feel like you are walking on spongy cottonballs that are going to give way into some big wet sinkhole!  Plus, the vegetation is really thick, so you must constantly circle around shrubby bushes and small trees and other, unidentifiable organic matter.  Ewwwww... and Coooool all at the same time!

47 feet....23 feet... we should be able to see the box by now... but nothing.  "There it is,"  Dave says, and off he goes.  Where?  Dave, where is it?  I don't see it.  Wait up!  That guy has legs longer than I am tall, and I have to jog to keep up with him - and he's carrying a ladder!  LOL!  As I climb through an unusually thick clump of brush, I see the nestbox and mommy owl is watching us.

Great!  The box is occupied.  I walk up to the nestbox tree and quickly plug the GPS coordinates into our new GPS unit.  Since the original GPS unit we are using to locate the nestboxes belongs to ADFG, we had to get our own GPS units so we can use them every day to monitor the boxes.  Under the watchful eye of mommy owl, I quickly type in the coordinates.

Fortunately, Dave volunteers to climb the ladder up to the nestbox on this tree.  The roof of the nestbox is screwed shut, so you must take a powerdrill with you to get the screws loose enough to remove them.

Plus, as you can see, the ladder is wider than the tree, and the tree moves in the wind and with the weight of the ladder against it.  Check out Dave's face when he opens this box! LOL!