At first I thought it was an algae mass.

A bloom of aquatic photsynthesis because of the wet spring we had enjoyed. The guzzlers had been full of red algae when we checked them in April, so a shift to a different class of organism wouldn't be too unexpected with fresh water and lots of sunshine.

Then we got a closer look.

Caterpillars.

Hundreds and hundreds of drowned caterpillars.

Not sure what these things turn into (I suspect the black and white striped moths you occasionally see in the sage in late summer... if I'm right, there'll be lots of moths this year.), but they are thick in the sagebrush country. Noticed them myself on the breeding bird routes, and then again on the sagebrush workshop tour.

Bluish-black caterpillars with the rows of yellow spots supporting tufts of black guard hairs anyplace you look in the sage. I assume nothing likes to eat 'em, since they are everywhere. And certainly nothing came by to pluck these out of the fiberglass guzzler tank.

I was visiting the guzzler with a fellow from our community, whom I had never met before that morning. The conservation organization he belongs to had offered to take over maintenance of these four desert guzzlers, and others across the state. Like most folks, they liked seeing concrete results of their efforts and fund raising, and guzzlers were apparently the ticket.

Know ours can certainly use their attention.

Since it was the only day he had off work, we were touring the guzzlers early on the 4th of July (Yeah, I worked the holiday... or at least half of it.) Had to ask him to sign up as an official volunteer to allow him in the outfit's truck, but he did so without complaint.

An interesting person to spend a morning with. An avid coyote hunter, he spotted three of the canids that I completely missed ('Course, I was driving and was supposed to be watching for the holes in the road.), as well as a burrowing owl. But he had the common layman attitudes.

"Sage grouse were declining because of high coyote numbers."

Well, no, studies have shown coyotes eat few sage grouse, and rarely find sage grouse nests. In fact, coyotes keep down the numbers of red foxes, who happen to be good nest predators. Besides, the times I've seen them together, sage grouse are totally unafraid of coyotes.

"Deer and antelope fawn numbers are low because of high coyote numbers."

Well, there may be some truth to that, but the gist of it is, coyotes cannot hurt healthy populations of prey animals, and our outstanding drought and poor habitat conditions just might have more to do with low fawn survival than the number of coyotes.

And why are coyote numbers high? (If they are, and there's doubt to that.) "Because of low fur prices." And why are fur prices so low? "Because of Jane Fonda."

That's right. All of our wildlife problems in our state are due to Jane Fonda and her PETA pals.

Not drought. Not habitat loss and degredation.

Just PETA.

He asked whether some of our local elk herds were finally increasing. I had to explain to him no, they're going down. Dramatically. Because we have been increasing harvests for the past 5-8 years with the express purpose of reducing elk herds.

And this has not been a secret. But apparently we're not getting the word out to everyone.

And I found out he has not a high opinion of either of my game wardens. At least one of which pinched him for a moderate violation about a decade back. And he's still sore about it. Heard people grouse about wardens before, of course, but never heard anyone use the 'c' word before.

Repeatedly.

(Wife later asked if I had left him out there in the desert at that. No, was I supposed to? Then who would take care of the guzzlers?)

So, anyway, it was an interesting morning.

The first guzzler we visited was in great shape. Don't think he expected that. Pretty much likewise for the second. It also was full of drowned caterpillars. As my volunteer tried to get a GPS reading, I found some small penstemon still blooming.

He seemed a little bemused that I was kneeling on the ground taking pictures of flowers. Not the macho image we're supposed to have in this profession, I'll bet.

Guzzler the third was also full, with a few more maintenance needs. And full of drowned caterpillars. Our route to the fourth and last guzzler took us right past a seldom visited benchmark out in the desert. (I had checked my maps before we went, just in case.) So a quick stop, and add another to our tally.

And while my passenger was adept at spotting coyotes and owls, I was the one that spotted the sage grouse hen and her four chicks.

'Course, they were right in the road, so it's no real claim to fame.

And the fourth guzzler was just as I'd found it in April. Tank cover smashed in by something large, and the gutter gone, so none of this lovely rainwater we received had run into the tank from the collection apron.

But it was still a quarter full from the direct rainfall.

And full of caterpillars. But not all of these were drowned. With the tank mostly empty, many were stuck on the dry ledges inside.

Most had already expired, by heat, drought or starvation, but a few were alive, like these two. Which I scooped up, and flung out into the sage. Must have picked out more than a half-dozen. Not worrying about what my volunteer might think about it.

Then, as I wandered to get some photos of the damaged apron, I happened to look back at my macho anti-PETA predator hunter guest, next to the fiberglass tank.

Gently scooping a caterpillar I missed out of the basin, and flipping it out free into the sage.