Never send a 4x4 to do a boat's job

Sunday, May 30th: Had to take Chelsea to the airport in Orlando today so that she could fly back. I certainly had a great time getting to see her. I decided that since I was about half way there, I'd head up to Gainesville for the night and pay my rent. I dragged a TV and my old Xbox down to save me on the days that it rains. I managed to forget the important things, however, like the Crockpot I'd been dying to use down here and an extra pillow.
Tuesday, June 1st: Took advantage of the day off in Gainesville yesterday to sleep entirely too much. I finally headed back to Kenansville around 1500. Today, I got to go check Wood duck boxes. This usually means going out on an airboat. However, right before I got back to the office after checking bluebird boxes, the law enforcement guys came and took our airboat as usual. Grrr...This meant that I got to drive my trustworthy four wheeler to the boxes. The box locations were loaded onto my GPS and I was given a mirror to look inside. Most of the boxes are only about 7ft tall and have a hinged door to peek inside. The first box I was to check was right on Jackson slough next to the water's edge. I plowed a path through the bushes and reeds to get to in via the four wheeler. Upon arriving at the box, I noticed that it wasn't 7ft tall, but closer to 11 or 12. To make matters worse, the box's door was on top, not on the side. I cut down a small tree, and went about tying the mirror onto the end of it so that I could peer inside to check for eggs. My choices for material to tie with were limited to spanish moss and orange marking tape. I chose the marking tape and sure enough, the mirror came off as I was trying to peek inside and sat precariously on the edge of the box, threatening to fall inside and crush whatever was below. I decided to head back to the office and figure something out.
I'm sure I looked quite ridiculous riding down the road on a four wheeler, carrying a cut down tree and a ladder, but I needed them both to do this job. I hauled the ladder up to the box and after only an eternity of looking for a place that wouldn't tip the ladder over in the mud, I retrieved the mirror and looked inside to find 3 duck eggs. It's a good thing the mirror didn't fall in.
The rest of the day didn't go much smoother. The second box was even more difficult to get to than the first. It required me to cross a bog, losing the GPS again in the process. I'm either getting very lucky or more skilled at finding the GPS in the four wheeler tracks. I found it after about 40 minutes. The brush approaching the second box was actually so thick that I couldn't drive the four wheeler any farther and had to walk it in my hip waders. The box was of course, the same brilliant design as the first with the top-opening door, and it was a chore to balance the ladder in the reeds to peek inside. Overall, the second box took close to 2 hours to take care of... only to find nothing inside.

Later in the day, I opened a box to find a screech owl staring back at me. He seemed rather upset that I'd disturbed him.
The box numbered "Box 3" was rather interesting. I got within about 30 yards from it before I looked at it and just turned back to the four wheeler, laughing to myself.
The final box I checked today was yet another pleasant nightmare. It was in a creek surrounded by cypresses, literally in the water. The person designing these boxes was obviously some evil genius as it was, again, another top opening box with a latch securely placed on the side facing the deeper water. Climbing a ladder in thigh deep water is something I certainly don't do every day and I hope not to again.

After work, I drove over to a cypress dome and hiked out to it to set my crawfish traps. They're placed pretty deep inside, but I'm hoping to at least catch something. I'm using some old, shriveled Vienna sausages for bait, the crawfish's natural food of choice.

Thank God for 4x4

Thursday, May 27th: Woke up early and had to go do sex checks on two different areas this morning. This was particularly interesting as it was my first time getting to do it on my own. All I needed to do was get the band combinations on the adult birds, and sex the chicks. Easy stuff...right?

I arrived at the first cluster and looked at my map to find where the nest tree was. According to the map, I was to park right where I had stopped the truck, and walk 1/2 mile north to where the tree was. I wouldn't usually complain about this, but I was by myself and had to carry a spotting scope, a tripod (that doesn't retract), the peeper (which only weighs about as much as a small child), the camera battery, and a notebook (the straw that broke the camel's back sort-of-thing). The reasoning behind this walk was that the tree was inaccessible from the road since the firebreak right in front of me was impassable and the other way was blocked by a swamp. Laziness set in, and I decided to go for it.

Thanks to some 4x4 low, a steady hand, countless prayers, and my pride (getting stuck would require me to call for help on the radio and therefore everyone would know I flubbed up), I willed the truck through the bog and out the other side onto dry ground. Feeling immensely proud of myself, I consulted the map to see how far I had to go before turning to reach the nest tree. It was then that I realized the road to the tree was actually blocked on both the east AND west sides by swamp and there literally was no way to get to it since the road connected to nothing. Perfect. Now to just drive back through the bog and walk the 1/2 mile.

I made it through and trudged the distance to the nest. Since nothing is ever easy for me, there was a new adult bird present in the area which meant I was responsible for getting its band combination. I usually have the cheat sheet with me for when I see birds in the area that have been seen before. That way if I see: Yellow, Silver; Yellow, Blue, Yellow and there's a bird that's been seen in the area as: Orange, Silver; Orange, Blue, Orange, I can usually guess that's what I saw. Since this bird had never been seen before, there was no way for me to check. It amazes me how a bird can manage to show you only one of its legs for over an hour. I finally packed everything up, frustrated, after only getting two of five colors.
The next area wasn't any better. There was, yet again, another new bird in the area and after chasing it around for nearly a mile over the course of an hour and a half, I only got two colors again. I did, however, get to watch that new bird nearly get eaten by a Swallow Tailed Kite. I watched quietly and waited until the Kite finally gave up chasing it and soared off. Not much of a point in getting combinations if the bird is trying to get itself eaten.
The last area to check was in the far north section of the WMA. To my surprise, I found pitcher plants all over the area, many of which were blooming.
After looking inside the tree, I headed back for the office. Not wishing to go the long way around, I decided to go through a mud hole that recently got an ATV stuck. Shrek and I somehow plowed through it and I made it to the road. Using the 4x4 is becoming so commonplace that I'm surprised at the end of the day if I don't require it at least 8 times during work hours.

Finally got a (blurry) picture of two Osceola Turkeys!
After work, Chelsea and I headed into St. Cloud to pick up groceries since I had literally run out of food on Tuesday. Chelsea finally told me what the big surprise is: I'm going to Sea World! I'm extremely excited and I know that work will probably feel like it's taking forever tomorrow. We'll be spending the whole day there so I've gotta be sure to charge my camera. I'll have lots of pictures.

Suicidal Wildlife

Tuesday, May 25th: Headed out with Cliff this morning to do a sex check on some RCW's. After properly identifying the adult birds present in the area, we took the "peeper" camera and looked inside the next to determine the sex of the chicks. Male RCW's have a white/red circle on the tops of their heads when their young and females just have a white stripe. Once we finished with the check, we left to go take care of banding chicks at other nests.
As Cliff and I drove off to the next area, something occurred to me. Whenever Cliff is behind the wheel of a vehicle (and I don't think it matters what kind of vehicle), animals seem to get a death wish and literally dart out in front of the truck. I never seem to have this problem but I witnessed it first hand as countless animals of all shapes and sizes attempted (and sometimes succeeded) in committing suicide under the truck. After a while, we passed a herd of cattle. I made the smart comment, "Careful, one of these cows might try and dart out". No sooner had the words gotten out of my mouth then a cow darted in front of us. Luckily, Cliff had been working on his brake and pray technique all morning and we stopped before hitting the suicidal beef.

Tomorrow I have the day off. I get to drive into Orlando and pick Chelsea up from the airport. We're going to go meet with some friends for lunch and dinner and shop around. I need to pick up a few things from BassPro while we're there. Chelsea is staying until Sunday so I'll get to spend time with her all weekend too.