| 15 July 2007: Checking Traps/ Radio Telemetry |
| Waking up at 1:50am to get all bundled up and go out into the cold would not be my idea of fun... ever. Here at Chasico, though, it's worth it! It was really cold early this morning when I met Diego, Miriam, and Steve at the truck for the first 2am trap check. Miriam and I were going to check half the traps and Steve and Diego would check the other half. It was cold because the sky was unbelievably clear. I can't describe how breathtaking the sky was! With absolutely no light pollution there were more stars than I've ever seen. The Milky Way Galaxy seemed to take up half the sky. It was amazing! There is something surreal about tramping through the tall pampas grasses and thorny shrubs at 2am in the morning. Everything was pitch dark except for the bubble of light created by our headlamps and flashlights--sort of eerie. (Thank goodness for GPS!) We were out there looking for wild cats! In retrospect, it seems crazy.... but it was awesome! I was hoping to find something in the traps right away, after all, we saw a Pampas Cat on our very first night! As I walked, I kept thinking that at any moment we could possibly see a cat or be face to face with a puma. I have to admit, that coming up on a puma in the wild in the dark would be pretty scary. The chances of that happening, however are pretty small-- we aren't very quiet as we walk through the grasses and stumble in armadillo holes. Unfortunately, we didn't find anything, except for a bird that flew up when we almost stepped on top of it-- I nearly jumped out of my skin! By the time we made it back to bed, I was no longer cold-- all that mid-night walking warms you right up! |
| This afternoon we learned how to use radio telemetry to track collared cats. Right now, the team has 2 cats, Tom and Tequila, that have collars and are still in the area. They did, at one time, have 5-6 cats with collars, but some must have wandered out of range or lost the collars. We know for a fact that at least one has been killed by a local farmer. Radio telemetry is another task that takes some patience. You need to use a giant antenna and a radio reciever to pick up the signal of a certain frequency (each collar has a different frequency). All you hear is beep... beep.... beep. If the cat wearing the collar is active (or moving at all, even to scratch it's ear), the sound changes to beep-beep... beep-beep... beep-beep. The point is to choose a point that you think is near the cat and then determine which direction has the strongest signal. That location and direction are recorded using a compass and the GPS. Then, you walk, and find another location and do the same thing. The goal is to create a triangle (or even a circle) of points around the cat without actually disturbing the cat. Once you have recorded the points, the data is taken back to camp and entered into a computer program that creates a map of the cat's location. |
| Miram and Ariane taught us how to use radio telemetry to find a collar's location. Claudia and Diego had hidden 2 unused collars out in the field somewhere. We broke into 2 teams and had to use the antenna and reciever to find them. It was a great practice exercize, but it was not easy! Sometimes the signal seemed to be coming from all directions. You really need patience and attention to detail. Needless to say, it took us a good part of the afternoon to find our collars. This task was made even more adventurous by the crazy llama who kept chasing us, unhappy about the "invasion" of his space. |
| Radio Telemetry (Amy & Steve) |
| The crazy, territorial llama |
| 16 July 2007: Our first capture! |
| This morning I was scheduled for the 8am trap check with Ariane. We now have 12 traps to check, so it takes four people in two teams about an hour and a half to check them. At 8am it is still dark out, but the sun is starting to rise. The sunrises here are spectacular! I can't get over how beautiful the sky is! We had our first trap capture today! (Actually, Ariane and Alex had caught 2 armadillos yesterday, but today was my first capture). Unfortunately, it wasn't a cat. It was exciting though, because it was a hog-nosed skunk! |
| When we approached the trap to release him, Mr. Skunk did not understand that he was about to be freed. He turned around, raised his tail, and got ready to spray. Ariane and I quickly retreated. Our new release plan involved me making a lot of noise on one side of the trap ("Hi Mr. Skunk! What's up? Look over here!") while Ariane approached from the back and unlocked the trap. Once the trap was open, we breathed a sigh of relief that we hadn't gotten sprayed, but the skunk was still reluctant to leave. We decided to give him some space while checking the other traps and then return. When we returned, he was no where to be found and we were able to go back and have breakfast! |
| Sunrise at Los Alamos Farm |
| Hog-nosed skunk Watch out!! He's taking aim! |
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| When we saw that we had trapped a skunk, Ariane radioed to ask if we needed to do anything with it, or if we should just release it. We were told to just release it. Easier said than done! Mr. Skunk was not happy about being in a trap. He had spent his time there digging under the trap. |
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