Monday, June 13:
Back to the Black Mountains! Olivia and I didn’t reach the campsite until 1515 (military time), but by 1600 we were already back at the HETH study site. I spent the next 2 hours following 0.651. I only got one point, which was disappointing, but I was working in a really difficult area that we call “the gap,” because it is a huge thicket full of young red spruce that is simply impossible to get through.
Tuesday, June 14:
Points I got:
0745 - 1030: I got two points on HETH 1. During this time, I found two Brown Creeper nests. One of the nests had already been found by John and Emma, but I saw another one less than 10 meters away from the first. The habitat was very disturbed, with many fallen spruces and a lot of sunlight. Both nests were in dead spruce trees. Brown Creepers have some of the most fascinating nests. They find a dead tree (spruce, in this case) with bark that is peeling away from the trunk in sheets. They insert their nests between the peeling bark and the creamy wood of the trunk, packing it full of grasses, spruce needles, and other materials. I was lucky enough to see a pair of Brown Creepers foraging and looking for nesting material. I saw one climb onto a large, dead tree split so that it was only 3 meters tall. The golden-rust inside of the tree was exposed; all of the bark from the top of the split tree had fallen off. The creeper climbed up the top part of the tree and picked off a golden filament of the wood. It was fascinating that the bird was using threads of wood as nest material. I wondered why, though, the two BRCR nests are so close. Perhaps one was abandoned, or maybe dead spruces with peeling bark are too rare to be picky about being close to one’s neighbor.
1115 - 1230: I got two points on HETH 2, 0.659. This thrush was so much easier to track than 0.615, and I got a visual when I marked the first waypoint. The second waypoint, I got a visual on HETH 2’s female foraging. I had gone down to a relatively open valley area with middle-aged spruce, and numerous fallen trees that allowed for more sunlight to come through. I saw a thrush on the tip of a fallen branch on the ground, looking around and foraging. But when I pointed the receiver at the bird, it did nothing. However, I knew that the HETH 2 was quite close by, within 10 meters, because the signal was very strong. I lost sight of the female when she flew from the fallen branch, but then I saw her again, this time foraging on a lichen-covered tree branch. The signal, again, did not increase. Soon, the female flew off and the signal decreased, indicating that the pair had left the area. How exciting!
1330 - 1545: Edward and I worked together on HETH 1, and all of our points were within a 15 meter radius of each other. We took turns with the receiver, while the other person would simply try to look around to see the bird. It was crazy how difficult it was to see this thrush. Edward got three points with the receiver, and I got two points. So, in total I got 6 points today.
After leaving the study site after a hard day’s work, we blasted the Avett Brothers in the car. Once we arrived at the campsite, we made a campfire, read, journaled, and ate dinner before going to bed.
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