Autumn has always been my favorite season, a gradual transition marked with cold nights (great for sleeping), gorgeous days (great for fieldwork), and some of nature's most incredible displays. Waterfowl and songbirds begin their migration southward, bringing unique visitors to stock ponds and riparian corridors. Pronghorn, elk, and deer enter the breeding season, utilizing their ornamentation, grown since early spring, in an unending battle of strength and willpower, all for the chance to reproduce. And as the amount of light in the sky decreases, deciduous trees kill off the chlorophyll in their leaves, giving the other pigments- yellows, oranges, and brilliant reds- a chance to shine.
This week has been relatively mellow. Despite freezing, intense winds on Monday and Tuesday, my fieldwork has been relatively easy this week. I'm still ensconced in the tedium of vegetation surveys, but the finish line is on the horizon. Monday marked my last day in the southern part of Niobrara county. As a result, my surveys during the last three days have been much, much closer to the field office, cutting my driving time from two and half hours to less than an hour. Next Monday I have a final day of surveys close to 'home' in Weston county, then two marathon fieldwork days near the Montana border. Should things work out as planned, I'll be finished with veg surveys next Wednesday, and I'll have the opportunity to take next Friday off.
After that, I'll only have a month left before my work here ends.
For your enjoyment, here is one of the photos I took over Labor Day weekend (as always, there are others at www.flickr.com/photos/jaxzwolf). I might head over to South Dakota and Custer State Park this weekend to see if I can't track down some ducks, or perhaps, if I'm lucky, chance across some good old-fashioned rut action.
Devil's Tower
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