Had another really good flight, although it didn't start that way.

Pilot was all proud that he and his mechanic had gotten everything fixed on the Cessna 180. They'd left the master switch on when charging the battery on Wednesday, and had fried at least four wires. These weren't accessory wires... these were wires to things that keep the plane in the air. They spent Thursday replacing wires and getting the headsets to work.

As pilot was installing the headsets, I wandered to the tail section and noticed the yellow paint was rubbed off on the spine of the plane just ahead of the tail. Not an even wear, but like it had been scratched off. Only time that part of the plane is touched is when it's being pushed in or out of the hangar. And only by the pilot. Whoever's at the tail has to steer, and there is no way I'm gonna steer a multi-thousand dollar machine through doors that are less than one plane+2' wide. All those scratches had to be from the pilot's wedding ring. Over 16 years of wear from a wedding token. Cool.

So we got the plane out on the tarmac and prepped for flight.

My headset wouldn't work.

And soon, neither did his.

Best hope was that we'd blown the inline fuse to the headset box, but no luck. It was ok.

There's another fuse in the panel to the power plug that we can check. Tools are in the office.

As we taxied to the office, the GPS display went off.

And as the cursing pilot tried to get out, the door handle fell off again. And wouldn't stay back on. Had to reach out the window and use the outside handle to get out.

Fuck it.

We left that plane there where it was, walked back to hangar row and got the Cessna 206 (a larger, faster, six-seater). Had to fly without headsets, but hey, we did that for years before the pilot's doctor told him to protect his ears from all the engine noise. It's more expensive too, but we'll make up some of that on shorter ferry time. And the extra power will be handy next to the Ferrises.

Beautiful day, no clouds at all. Some SW winds, so it got bumpy on the north and east sides of hills and mountains, but not too bad. (I've been on flights where you hit your head on the ceiling. Hard. Since then I've wondered if I could get us down if the pilot got knocked out. Don't think so.)

We normally start and turn our transects at the base of the Seminoes, assuming we don't miss many antelope up in the trees, but in the powerful C206 we fly up over the mountains clear to the Divide before turning. (But no, it's not the Continental Divide. That's over on the Ferrises, and we did not climb up to that.) Spotted a few deer in amongst the rocks, green trees and dirty snowbanks.

On our transects, about the south ten percent was bumpy. That and the turn got me queazy a few times, but the C206 has air vents in the back... steady stream on the forehead, and I was fine. Never even got the sick sack out of the backpack (but that was unzipped, just in case).

When she found out where I was flying, our nongame biologist called and asked if we could get good aerial photos of the pelican colony on Bird Island. Sure, that'd be fun. But the camera shutter was jammed, so we'll have to get her pics tomorrow.

Caught 11 elk trying to sneak off the Buzzard hay meadows, on their way back to Bear Mountain. Tried to spot the sandhill cranes that are usually on the meadows, but no luck.

Spotted three newborn antelope fawns, my first for this spring. A single and a pair of twins. Lots of does off by themselves, presumably recently fawned out, or in the process.

Not one coyote. Weird.

Tons of adult pelicans everywhere it was wet. Over 500 where the Sweetwater River enters the reservoir. River's low (which is why they are there), would hate to be a fish today. Twenty years ago pelicans were rare here. Then they started nesting on Bird Island in 1984, and the population has mushroomed. Fishermen hate them, but studies have shown they eat mostly carp and salamanders.

So busy looking for antelope I didn't even notice if there were any tourists on top of Independence Rock. Most of the tinajas on top of the Granite Rocks were full... must have had a good rain. Tried looking for lions or elk as we crossed those ancient hills several times, but no luck.

Passed over Ellen and Jim, but they're under water. Reservoir is near full. Thought good thoughts just the same.

Should wrap up tomorrow.