3/28/15 Observation Pictures

These picture correspond with the post titled "3/28/15 Observation".

A controlled burn.

3/28/15 Observation

       I was finally able to get out into the woods again for the first time in nearly a month. Just walking around on the farm while the sun rose on the eastern horizon seemed like it would be a great stress reliever . Just after getting out of the car I was startled by a pheasant that burst out of the brush next to me. As I crossed the cornfield approaching the timber I spotted a deer feeding in the open. When I was about 100 yards from the deer I heard a crashing and I looked over at where the deer had been. Two other deer had been with it and they were high tailing it to the next county. 10 yards in front of me I noticed a hawk flying up from the ground to a nearby branch. This much activity in the first few minutes, I knew it had to be a good day. I walked part of the way down a hill in an opening in the woods and found a good root system to sit on as I leaned against a tree (it's no fun being out there if you are constantly uncomfortable). I was hoping to run into some turkeys today I never heard any come out of their roost so I assumed I would not be seeing any in this area in the near future. I looked at my watch, 7:30, I decided 30 more minutes in this spot would be adequate. I listened to the owls, birds, and squirrels as they discussed the beautiful morning. At 7:50 I was thinking about taking a nap when I heard leaves crackling to my left. I got my camera and binoculars ready to try to figure out what it was. After a while I thought it was a squirrel but then I caught a glimpse of the animals ears. A deer. I got my camera out and tried to make out the body of the deer through the trees. At one point I was sure I was making eye contact with the deer and that would be the end of the encounter. After a few moments the deer kept moving towards me. I quickly realized that the deer was a button buck, only about 10-11 months old and that his mother was following right behind him. They just kept walking towards me on some game path and before long they were within 20 yards of me. I was constantly trying to take pictures while not attracting attention. They soon noticed something was wrong but the deer could not quite figure out what. First, the button buck started circling right in front of me trying to get down wind of me to figure out what I was. At times the young deer was well within 10 yards of me. After a little while he became spooked and ran back down past the doe. The doe decided that she also wanted to figure out what I was. She took the same route as the other. At times I actually became nervous because she would be six yards away and come walking directly at me stomping her feet. While I was taking a video she also became spooked and ran off the way she had come. When she settled down I heard her snorting to alert everyone else that some sort of danger was in the area. After hearing that, I decided that would be enough for this location. 

        As I walked away from my sitting spot I made up my mind that I was going to check out the surrounding hills with my binoculars to search for turkeys. As I made it back to the top of one of the big hills I looked for quite along ways in many directions. After a while I spotted a tom in full strut about a mile away with a couple other turkeys but that was it for this side of the hill. I went over to the other side of the farm across the road and checked for the same thing. As I reached one of the ridges I saw several dots on a hill across the river, a long ways away. Sure enough it was a flock of 9 turkeys making their way across the field. I went a little bit further when I noticed a couple more turkeys on the river bank, when I looked through the binoculars I counted 4 birds, one of which was also in full strut. When I reached the top of the small hill I looked down between to draws of timber and just across the fence line was a flock of feeding turkeys. I counted 25 of them in that flock alone. I'm excited to see if I can get any closer to them. I think that Monday morning I will go down and try to figure out where they are coming from. On my way back home I decided to take the gravel road that I would usually take to get to the farm. Right now the farm is not accessible by this road, but I still wanted to head down there to see what I could see. Often times we will see deer and turkeys along the road. Also, you can see parts of the farm and I wanted to see if I could see any turkeys on the farm from that angle. When I was coming back towards the main road I nearly hit 7 deer that flew out of the woods and across the road. I also spotted another flock of 20 turkeys. What a day! Once again the unexpected has occurred while I've been out in the woods. That is what keeps me going back.

Check out my pictures corresponding to this post. The post will be labeled "3/28/15 Observation Pictures".

California Pictures

Here are a number of pictures from our trip to California that give some visual aid to my post regarding the trip.

Catalina Experience

      Over the last few weeks I had the opportunity to go to California to do and see some incredible things. For my Energy and Sustainability class 20 students including myself stayed in Los Angeles and on Catalina Island for 12 days. Along with some sight seeing in the area we were able to visit some great places that have to do with environmental science. Even though we were not in Iowa I still think that we had plenty of experiences that relate directly to this blog. I figured that I would discuss all of this on this post and have a separate post used just for the pictures.

       One of the first things on our agenda was to go check out the La Brea Tar Pits which are located in a very upbeat residential area of Los Angeles. The tar pits are areas where asphalt comes bubbling up from underground. In some places the asphalt would gather in shallow pools and have a couple of inches of water on top of it. Animals would see this as a pool of water and become trapped in the tar. Often times packs of predators would find other animals in distress and attempt to make a meal out of them. More often than not the predators also found themselves stuck. These tar pits have been active for over 50,000 years now and many animals that are found in the tar pits are now extinct. Some of these animals include dire wolves, saber-toothed cats, coyotes, and mastodons (which are like smaller mammoths). There are areas in the park where hundreds of fossils can be seen on top of each other where animal after animal was caught in the same hole. When animals become trapped like this it has the ability to preserve the fossils very well because of how fast they are taken into the earth. There are still times when some animals like squirrels will actually get into the asphalt and become stuck and staff will have to rescue them. Having the opportunity to go back in time and see the remains of animals that roamed the same area thousands of years ago was quite spectacular.

       The next adventure we had that involved this blog was when we headed out to Catalina Island. If you are not familiar with the island it is located about 22 miles off the coast of LA. The Island is 22 miles long and as wide as 8 miles at its widest point. 88% of the Island is protected by the Catalina Conservancy which helps to protect the wildlife on the island. Islands are considered to be very unique by scientists because they are isolated from many outside forces. Plants and animals can change very drastically over a small amount of time even without different species being present. No matter where, islands are always a great location to be conducting experiments and observing. On our way out on to the island seals and dolphins could be seen playing in the water. Also there were a lot of different bird species than we have here. Years ago a film crew brought bison on to the island for a movie. After their budget ran short, there was no money to bring the giant beasts back to the mainland so they were left there. To this day the Conservancy manages the bison population on the island. There are also a few endemic species of plants and animals that have developed into their own species that can only be found on the island. One is the Catalina cherry tree and another is the Catalina Island fox. These species have adapted over time to fit into the island life. One of the major differences between Iowa and California is obviously the ocean. The ocean provides life to a completely different type of plants and animals. Sharks, sting rays, and a bright orange fish called the Garibaldi can all be seen from shore or in the water. My favorite activity on the island was taking a hike to the top of the watershed where our camp is located. This 4-hour, 6 mile hike included a 1776 foot vertical climb up and of course back down. When we reached the top you could see for miles in all directions. The coast on one side, the great Pacific on the other with little islands popping out from the depths. The island experience was tremendous from both a vacation standpoint and an environmental and learning standpoint.

       Back on the mainland we did some more sight seeing, but we also went to the LA Zoo which was fun. Looking back on some of the animals that we were able to see, it becomes apparent how rare it would be to see those species in the wild. It also gives me an appreciation for being able to go out and have the opportunity to see wildlife outside of a cage.

       I could not fit a fraction of what I wanted to from the trip without writing for hours and hours. Do not forget to check out my other post of pictures that relate to this trip!

3/2/2015 Observation

         On Monday morning I went back out to the farm to go for a hike and look for shed antlers again. I had a few hours to spare before school started so I figured a little fresh air could not hurt anything. As I was pulling down the gravel road I saw the same flock of turkeys that I have seen in the field many other times. I had also seen one group of deer on one of the fields along the interstate. I knew the animals were moving. As I was about to pull into the driveway a rooster pheasant ran across the road ten yards in front of me. Pheasants may be one of may favorite animals to see. There are not a whole lot of them around anymore but when you see a male with his bright, colorful head and beautiful feathers that cover the rest of his body it's always special.
         I got out of the car and started putting on my gear. It was a pretty cold morning of about 15 degrees so I layered up. I had pac boots, insulated coveralls, a sweatshirt, two coats, and my Camelbak that included two liters of water, my camera and binoculars and other little things I might use. I put on a mad bomber hat that is lined with rabbit fur to keep the wind off my face, I slid on a pair of fleece gloves and I was off. Their are two pieces of timber on the side of the road I was on and I decided that I would start on the North side and make my way South. (Mindy and I had walked through the most Southern part of the property the day before.) I kept my eyes on the ground looking for sheds most of the time, but when I crept over a hill or around a ridge I always looked to see if I would spook any wildlife. A few weeks ago I ran into a couple guys who said that they were going to check a trail camera they set up. As they were heading into the woods I noticed one of them carrying a bag of something, probably bait, to put in front of the camera to attract wildlife. Today was the first time I saw it. I was looking around and I noticed this green patch in the middle of snow. It was too round to be natural and sure enough when I came up to check it out there was a camera stuck on a tree documenting my every move. Although there was a lot of sign in this area I did not see anything too exciting.
         I went into the second piece of timber (this is where I do a lot of my observation). Before I went to far in I noticed a flock of turkeys taking flight from an open piece grass in the timber from across the valley. While I was making my way to go see if their was any sign that the turkeys left, I noticed some very distinct boot prints in the snow. Due to the way their was ice in the prints I knew the tracks had to have been from the day before because that was the only day it really got above freezing. That meant that someone had been hiking not too far from where my sister and I had been on the same day. I decided to walk a little bit more to the South just to see if anything was in the valley below me. Sure enough, I saw a white flag of a deer flying through the woods. I kept walking to figure out if their were more in the area. As I poked my head over the hill I was shocked to see deer after deer after deer trotting through the timber. I counted fifteen in all. I started my way back to the car when I saw another two deer headed towards the road away from me. I figured that if they were bedded down there I could possibly find some sheds. As I reached the creek a thunderous flapping of wings erupted below me. A turkey had been hiding underneath the ridge in the creek bed below me where I could not see it. I kept moving when another one popped out from beneath me! This time the turkey just ran up the hill instead of flying. It moved back and forth as if it was trying to dodge something as it ran away.
        By the time I got back to the car I had been gone for a few hours and I was sweating like it was August even though it had not yet reached 20 degrees. I drove the car down the road by the farm house to see if the landowners were out, which they were not. I then decided to check for the deer that I had spooked towards the road. Sure enough they were bedded inside the timber just 30 yards from the road but there were four of them now. I noticed one of them had a busted right-front leg. I put the car into reverse to try to get a  picture of them from a better angle and they decided to take off. I was able to get a few pictures of them as they hightailed it across the field towards the same place I had spooked their buddies. I noticed that of the 19 deer I saw not one had an antler. Within just a few months the bucks will start the whole process of growing their racks all over again. It was nice to be able to get out again. I plan on trying to get out in this great weather a couple times this weekend before I leave for spring break.

These deer flying across the hillside.

One of two bald eagles that were sitting in the field near a deer carcass along the highway.

3/1/15

         March brought a little bit warmer weather today. I took my little sister Mindy with me to go for a hike in the woods to see what we could see. It was still a little too cold for the two of us to sit as the sun went down. We started by walking through a grassy area the runs along the Raccoon River. We were hoping to flush some pheasants out on our way to the woods. Halfway through I noticed something in the patch of snow in front of me. This was not new snow so there were plenty of deer and coyote tracks around, but I could tell that this track had been left within the last couple hours. I told Mindy to come check it out. I soon could tell they were deer tracks and by the the snow sprayed in front of the tracks I could tell that the deer was running. (In the snow, old tracks maintain their overall shape but you cannot see key markings, new tracks appear to be clear, crisp, and concise). We decided to follow them for a little ways. We soon lost track of them as we found less and less snow. Soon we started heading back towards the woods. I told Mindy to keep an eye out for deer antlers that they would have recently shed. (I love finding these pieces of bone, each antler can tell quite a story). There were tracks all over the area, mainly of deer. Some were very fresh, others could have been days old. In the woods we walked under a few tree stands a hunter had used during the fall and we made our way up the hill as branches and snow cracked beneath our every footstep. Before we headed back towards the car to look at a different spot I wanted to check an area in the timber where I often encounter deer and turkeys. We crept across a bean field and peeked into the timber. Nothing. I decided to sneak along the edge of the woods and see if anything would jump up. We stopped for a moment when it happened. Not five yards away a turkey flew into the air, crashing its wings against the tree tops as it flew away. That bird could have stayed motionless and I would have never known of its presence. We went to check out the scene where it had just been and we found only a feather and a set of tracks leading up to it. We decided to walk a little further just to see if anything else was in the area, the whole time I was looking for a shed antler. At one point I heard at least one more turkey fly up somewhere in the distance. As we walked through the timber I could not help but notice that there were turkey and deer tracks everywhere. I am excited to see all of this turkey sign. With all the time that I spent deer hunting in this same woods this fall, I never saw this much sign.
         We made our way back to the car and drove up the road to a different part of the farm that over looks miles of land. I pulled out the binoculars to see if anything stood out but nothing did. We got back into the car and went a couple hundred yards down the road to another spot. I told Mindy that there was a place where the deer bed down. Just as the documentary I discussed talked about deer living on the edge, that is precisely the area I was going to. Its an area in between timber and corn where the farmer has laid massive piles of brush together. My dad and I have discovered that this is a prime bedding area where deer can escape into woods for safety or get up and start feeding at a moments notice. As we crept over the hill top I half expected a deer or two to jump up and run in one direction or another as I had seen so many times before but no such thing occurred. We went a little further just past the first barbed-wire fence when I saw something that looked like thick pieces of grass sticking up about 60 yards away. I asked Mindy for the binoculars and it only took me a moment to know exactly what they were. I immediately gave the binoculars back to Mindy and rushed over to pick up the antler that a deer had been recently cast. It was not huge by any standards, it had four points, a deer that was probably a few years old. Finding that single piece of bone made the trip worth it. I hope to get out again soon and hopefully find more of these antlers. I see a few days with 50 degrees in the ten-day, I'll have to circle those on the calender!

A feather from the turkey that flew into the air next to us.

Deer hair that was caught in a thorny branch.

Mindy walking back to the car under a bright blue sky.

The first shed antler that I found so far this year.