Field Ecology 101--Part 1

As part of our summer homeschool program (our poor children just don't get a break, do they?), we joined forces with BYU professor Hal Black and his former graduate student Josh Heward to participate in a bear trapping study in the Book Cliffs of east-central Utah the week of June 26-30. Kevin made arrangements to teach in person Tuesday to his students at Provo College on the way (he usually broadcasts to them from Brigham City), and he pre-recorded his Thursday lectures so that he could come along. While waiting for Dad, the rest of the family visited the Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum on BYU campus and took a look at some stuffed black bears as well as all the other animals.


We drove out after Kevin's lectures, arriving at the top of Pine Springs Canyon around 1:00 AM where we decided to spend the night--we didn't want to wake the others. Early the following morning, around 5:00 AM, we awoke and couldn't go back to sleep so we drove down to the DeLambert's ranch where Hal was renting their guest cabin. On the drive, we startled a nice bull elk in a meadow and found a small herd of elk cows and calves.

Home Base, the DeLambert's Ranch, Main Canyon

We set up our family tent near the cabin. The cabin was equipped with a gas stove, refrigerator, sink, and bathroom--luxury compared to what we used to have when we lived in South Canyon 14 years ago while trapping bears for the summer (in those days we had to use the hillside as our bathroom). In front of the cabin was a large pond teaming with birds such as red-winged blackbirds, coots, swallows, some killdeer, and a great blue heron. It also had a healthy population of tiger salamanders and leopard frogs (more on that subject later).

The Traps

The traps consist of two 55-gallon barrels welded together with a heavy-duty metal screen on one end and a sliding door on the other, held up by a rod. (side note: April actually helped build these traps back in 1992--she cut the screens using a plasma arc.) A bag with gumballs and licorice pieces is attached to the trigger mechanism (slightly visible in the photo on the lower right). When the bear pulls on the candy bag, the rod slides out, and the door falls down, trapping the bear inside. We also throw a chunk of rotten meat into the back to attract the bear to the site, and we place a stick of peanut butter halfway into the trap. Megan and Ian were the perfect size for helping set traps. They could easily crawl right to the back to hang the candy bag.

The Bait

Kevin says it's unfortunate that smells are not transmissible online because it is difficult to appreciate the full effect of the maggot-laden, putrid, foul substance that once was a cow. This is used to attract the bears to the traps. However, they rarely eat it--even a bear has limits. The photos below show us removing the bait from the barrel and cutting it into smaller pieces before putting it in a cooler on the back of the 4-wheelers for transportation to the traps.

The Four-Wheelers

Ian's favorite part was riding on the four-wheelers. We used them to haul the traps to the sites and also to check the traps on subsequent days. Erin didn't enjoy riding them as much because they were "too fast." She preferred to ride in the bear truck.

We wore everyone out setting a total of 20 traps the first couple of days. Did our efforts pay off? Stay tuned for the next exciting installment...

June Happenings

Tent

April found this tent on sale for a great deal and got it for the children. They set it up in the living room and slept in it for nearly a week. Now, in theory, we can occasionally go camping in separate small tents where the parents can have privacy.

Happy Father's Day
We celebrated by eating homemade applesauce cake (Kevin's favorite) and opening presents. Each of the children made him a nice personalized card, and for some reason he thought he needed a power sander. And here is a lovely photo one of the children took of Yuki, the wonder dog.

Cherries

Kevin brought home about 17 pounds of lovely cherries from some trees in Brigham City. We spent a few hours washing, pitting, cutting and arranging them on drying trays. The end yield was approximately 3.5 pounds of dried cherries--yum! We use them in trail mix and homemade granola.

Water Party

Our Primary held a water party one Thursday morning. The children enjoyed playing water balloon volleyball among several other fun games with their friends.

Lucky Clover

Ian found two four-leaf clovers in our back yard. Here he is with the first one. We viewed this as a good omen for our upcoming bear trapping experience. Stay tuned...

Trip to Arches National Park--Part 3

And now, here is the installment you have all been anxiously awaiting--The Critters of Arches National Park and Surrounding Area! Megan, Ian, and Erin refined their observational skills and were quick to point out lizards and other animals they saw along our hikes.

We found this fuzzy caterpillar on the hike to Delicate Arch. Sadly, we do not know if it will become a moth or butterfly. We need to hone our lepidopteran larvae identification skills...

This is the most dangerous critter we encountered during our trip, a black widow spider. She was hanging out on her web under a rock in a BLM campground along the Potash Road where the children stopped to catch lizards. We admired her then left her alone to her solitary existence.

Erin got so excited each time she saw a raven, such as this one who was greeting visitors at the Delicate Arch.

This desert cottontail is the only mammal we were able to capture on film (since bats fly too fast in the dark and our coyote and pronghorn sightings were while driving along the freeway). It was hopping close to the trail to Landscape Arch. Most people passing didn't notice it until the children pointed it out to them.











These are young bullfrogs resting in the water by the bridge near the beginning of the Delicate Arch trail. They were not present in the earlier morning (we looked on the way), but for some reason were out later on our return trip around 1:30 p.m. We counted a total of 11 of these non-native frogs!







The Lizards






This side-blotched lizard was basking on the side of the trail to Delicate Arch. It is one of the most common lizards in southern Utah and is named for the dark spot behind the front legs (not very visible in this photo).













The children also saw this sagebrush lizard on the Delicate Arch trail. These lizards do occur in northern Utah as well, but we think they look better on red sandstone than in sagebrush.




















Whiptails were abundant along the trail to Landscape Arch. We counted at least 15 of this species during our hike. They are very active foragers and rarely hold still.












All on her own, Erin found a tree lizard basking on a rock and pointed it out to the rest of us. Tree lizards are similar in size to side-blotched lizards but have a noticeable double row of enlarged scales running down the midline of the back.

April proudly takes credit for this find. We were watching a whiptail that Ian had found, when she glanced over to another bush and saw this beautiful female leopard lizard sitting in plain sight. It was difficult to respect the national park policies and not try to catch it, but we took only photos and left it unharassed.

This female fence lizard was the fifth species of lizard for us to observe along the Landscape Arch trail. She refused to turn her head for the photo, and the male fence lizard took off running.








Since the children were so obedient and good to not catch any lizards in the park, April rewarded them by taking them onto BLM land where they could run unrestrained with lizard nooses in hand. We drove along the Potash Road and the Kane Creek Road, stopping frequently for lizards. The only drawback was the heat of the afternoon. Erin amused herself by playing in the sand while the others caught tree lizards.

Thus concludes our impromptu Arches adventure!

Trip to Arches National Park--Part 2

The following morning we returned to the park for more sightseeing. The morning sun highlighted the rocks in a beautiful way. Below left are "The Gossips" and "Sheep Rock." The children named the formation on the right "Bantha Rock" after the Bantha creatures from the Star Wars films. We do not know if it has an official name.

We decided to start off the day with a hike to Landscape Arch, the longest arch in the world. In 1991, a large chunk of it broke off, so visitors are no longer allowed to walk all the way underneath it. This was a relatively short hike (compared to Delicate Arch), but we spent a lot of time observing 5 species of lizards (see Part 3) and stopping frequently for Erin to dig in the sand.

Pictured below are the children posing in Devil's Garden at the trailhead to the arch and Erin demonstrating how to carry sand from one place to another.

Here is a photo of cryptobiotic soil, which is found throughout the arid high deserts of the Colorado Plateau. It contains cyanobacteria, soil lichens, mosses, green algae, microfungi, and bacteria, which hold the sand together and help prevent erosion. People are asked to stay on trails and not walk on it because the damage can take 5 or more years to recover. We were good and remained on the trails in the national park, which was not always easy with all the lizards running around.

We ate lunch at the Balanced Rock Picnic Area, then we left the park and drove along the Potash Road (heading west) to view some petroglyphs. According to a rock art book, the bear on this particular panel was added years after the original sheep.

The children had a chance to chase lizards outside the park, which was a fun conclusion to our trip. The following morning we packed up camp and drove home, accompanied by frequent protests and screaming sessions, followed by bribes of gummy bears.

1 pack of gummy bears = approximately 300 miles of child appeasement

Trip to Arches National Park--Part 1

We have been suffering from a severe case of Spring Fever. When April suggested taking a camping trip to Arches National Park, Kevin said to "go for it" even though he would be unable to make it due to his teaching commitments. After asking a couple of different families if they would like to accompany us and being turned down due to their previous commitments (we lack the skill of planning our spontaneity in advance), we packed up our camping gear and a lot of food and took off Monday, 11 June.

Two hours into the drive, just past Provo, when Erin was screaming to get out of the car, April wondered if she had perhaps been a bit too ambitious in thinking she could attempt this solo. However, we found a lovely picnic spot near Utah Lake (known to us from our BYU birding days) and appeased her for a little bit.

A few hours later (after minimal fussing on Erin's part due to entertainment provided by Megan and Ian as well as her taking a nap), we arrived at our destination. Our first priority was to find a camping spot before dark, so we drove along Highway 128 and found room at the first BLM campground, Goose Island. Our tent was too big to fit underneath the tamarisk trees, so we set it up next to the picnic table.

After a quick dinner, we drove through the park for a brief overview. We stopped to see the famous Balanced Rock, drove around the Windows area, and looked at the trailhead to Delicate Arch, which we wanted to hike in the morning. During the night, it sprinkled a fair bit, but our tent was dry by sunrise.





The morning was pleasant and overcast. We stopped at the Visitor's Center on the way in, and then headed to our big hike for the day.
















The trail to Delicate Arch is 3 miles round trip. The children were full of energy, excitement, and enthusiasm--even Erin walked for a good portion at the beginning. Once in the pack, Erin attracted much attention from a group of Japanese tourists who acted as though they had never seen a cute curly-haired little girl riding in a backpack on her way to an arch. Unfortunately, our nice cloud cover dissipated before we arrived, and consequently the heat factor increased. Nonetheless, we made it and the children were impressed with the arch. As we sat across from it and ate our lunches, we watched people taking turns being photographed beneath this famous landmark.

After lunch, we walked around the bowl to get closer. Megan and Ian only wanted to sit at the side--they were not comfortable walking all the way under it due to the drop-off. April then carried Erin underneath where she promptly sat down, got into position, then pointed her finger across to the other side and said, "Mom, go take my picture." April explained that she couldn't leave Erin all alone sitting under the arch to go take a picture, whereupon Erin pointed again and started yelling insistently, "GO OVER THERE!" She ended up in a full-blown tantrum over the situation, much to the amusement of other hikers and the embarrassment of her mother, who carried her away kicking and screaming. This is the only picture of Erin under the arch, taken by her mean mother who wouldn't leave her alone next to the drop-off.













On the return hike, enthusiasm had waned somewhat and the heat became more of a discomfort. Overall, the children did a fantastic job hiking and finding critters (see Part 3).

We next drove to Sand Dune Arch to cool off and rest. It is only a 3-minute walk from the parking spot, and there was plenty of shade and cool sand, in which we all enjoyed digging.






We spent a good hour playing in the sand and recouping from the morning's exertion. April was lying back watching the sky and noticed clouds starting to gather again. She suggested to the children that it might be a good time to leave, but they begged to stay longer. Within a few more minutes, the wind began to blow hard and we were caught in a sudden sandstorm (due to the sandy location). Erin started screaming, and April grabbed her and carried her to the car. We got sandblasted pretty good--sand was everywhere, in our noses, ears, hair, etc. Mom emphasized that consequences occur when children do not obey immediately...




















The wind continued blowing and soon the rain followed. We drove over to the Windows section and the children wanted to see Double Arch, (the arch featured at the beginning of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade). We walked over to it while all the other people were leaving due to the sprinkle of rain. We had the place all to ourselves while waiting out the storm.

We returned to camp, cooked some dinner, then went for a walk to see the Colorado River. We watched some bats come out at dusk, which Erin thought was really neat. All three children fell asleep without any fuss that night.

(to be continued...)