Observation 1

Mixed Zone
5/7/08
8:50-9:19
47 ºF
Weather: cloudy and rain threatening
Wind: slight breeze from the east
Soil: there is still some snow patches under the trees and soil is soggy and muddy on trails but in the sagebrush the soil is dry.

Notes: The area consists of a field of sagebrush and a forest edge. It is located at the base of the putt putt trail on the north edge of town near the elk refuge. In the sagebrush new grass is coming up but most plants remain dead. The shoots are at a size where it is very difficult to tell one species from another. Spring buttercups are the only flowers that I can find and each is no more than two inches. There are a few burrows 2-4 inches wide and signs of ground squirrel tunnels. Many old snail shells litter the ground and in muddy areas there are deer tracks. I think I hear an owl but it may be people calling on the other side of the ridge. Deer scat is on a small track and near it is what looks like fox scat. There are birds in the trees but I can not see them and it is getting dark. Four to eight different songs are in hearing distance. A magpie called as I found a well used elk path. The scat is fresh and piles are every three feet. It seems like a large population of elk migrated through here no more than a day ago and maybe as recent as an hour ago. There are aspens at the edge of the forest and evergreens a few feet beyond. Many of the trees are Douglas firs. I settled down where the trees met the sage brush and listened. Canadian geese honk on the elk refuge and the occasional elk bugle drifts across the edge of town. Most of the noise is made by the town. Some type of owl flies over head shortly after I stop moving. The clouds have done nothing more than threaten and are drifting north. Small insects fly past me, the largest the size of a dragon fly. Most of the natural sounds are the pop and crackle of melting snow. Darkness falls and it becomes too dark to see and most animals have gone to sleep so I return home.

Questions: Why did the owl leave after I stopped moving? (dad says they sometimes follow people to catch the things we scare out of hiding.) Why are the buttercups the only things blooming? Why are these buttercups so small?(Summer buttercups are often up to 12 inches tall, could it be lack of water? or frost?) Why are there so many snail shells in the sagebrush when there are no snails to fill them? Why are all or most of the snail shells in the open and not under tree cover? (possibly the dead leaves and needles cover them up?)