Okay, first the field news.

Overslept this morning. Got up with the alarm to start the coffee, but then snuck into bed and went back to sleep. Didn't wake up until 05:53. But the heeler sisters and I were in the truck and on the road by 06:01. Got to the first lek 20 minutes after sunrise.

Managed to check two strutting grounds, despite the late start. Still good numbers of cocks, but no hens. Grouses' enthusiasm for strutting appears to be slowing down some.

After checking the leks, we went off to do the spring checks on some guzzlers in the desert. Yes, guzzlers, as in:

guzzler n. 1. That which guzzles, as in "gas guzzler." 2. Water catchment installed in remote, arid areas to collect rain and snowmelt to provide drinking water for animals.

Guess which definition applies here.

Anyway, there are four of these in the desert that I am responsible for. Simple, actually. Just check to see that the perimeter fence is intact, the collection apron isn't falling apart, the gutter is clear of debris and that water is getting collected.

All four guzzlers, spread over a three township area, were full to the brim. Surprising, since our mountain snowpack is only about 80% of average, the town precipitation is well below average, and they're talking drought again for this year. But out here in the desert, there was a lot of snow. And it's almost all melted now.

By the way, spring is officially here. The country is green! It wasn't yesterday morning, although if you looked close you could see the short grass and onion sprouts coming up. But today, the green grass has overwhelmed the old winter grey and tans. Interrupted by splotches of white from the blooming cushion phlox (Phlox hoodii).

Anyway, had only minor repairs to do on the fences and aprons. Heeler sisters loved the time to roam and snoop, and we played hide-and-seek a couple times.

Heard some muffled, faint mewing at the third guzzler. Sounded like seagulls far off. No gulls that I could see. No bodies of water out here. (That's why they built the guzzlers! Duh!) Also couldn't pinpoint where the noises were coming from. Weird.

As I neared the fourth guzzler, my tired brain remembered where I had heard those noises before. Puppies.

Coyote puppies. I'll bet they're denned under the guzzler apron. If so, I suspect their parents were having a fit while I and the heelers were there.

Found a rodent floating in the last guzzler. Dug a hole to bury it in and scooped it out of the water when I noticed it wasn't just a ground squirrel or prairie dog. It was a pocket gopher. Genus Thomomys. And although the fur was green with algal slime, it was actually in quite good shape (refrigerated by the cool water I assume). The thing that is neat is that there are two species of pocket gopher in this state. One which is common, and found all over the western US. The other is found only in a small, localized area. And we're just outside of that area by a few miles. So which have I got here?

The technical mammal species accounts state that the rarer species has 56 chromosomes, while the common species has only 46.

Well, gee, let's just throw a piece of the carcass in the handy-dandy ever-present cellular analyzer and see just how much DNA we've got here.

Right.

The only other distinguishing characteristic cited is the length of the rear foot.

Really.

OK, my measuring tape says 27mm. It's the common type.

But when I get the time to clean him up (with the post-mortem swelling, his sex was quite obvious), I'll at least have a nice pocket gopher skull.

Pretty impressive cheek pockets on these things. He had some plant shoots close to 3cm long in there. The furred pockets go well down into the neck.

While checking out the pockets (don't you rifle the pockets of all the dead gophers you find?), felt something rough in the whiskers. Turns out this poor guy was packing 7 ticks on his muzzle. 7 drowned ticks. And a whole bunch more in the pouches.

Now I would have thought something that lives by burrowing in the dirt could easily rub ticks off their muzzle.

Apparently not.

And I would have thought ticks would abandon their host once it drowned and the blood stopped flowing.

Apparently not.

Learn something every day. After today, I'm ahead by a few days.