No real entry today, so we'll make do with a photo from last August.

Sisters and I got up early enough to watch the moon set again this morning, and I wasted great effort and precious minutes getting worthless blurry pictures of it. But we still got our first standardized lek route run out in the desert, with nary an eagle in sight.

Total on the five leks on the route?

173 cocks, 29 hens.

Compared to 189 cocks and 46 hens on 8 April last year, and 195 cocks and 89 hens on 4 April in 2002.

Yeah, I know the phase of the moon has more effect on lek counts this time of the season than population size. But it's just so hard not to compare numbers.

Other significant task today (besides tipping the velvet with the wife) was digging up and sending the UTM coordinates for the locations where we collected lichen to the toxicologist. Seems he feels it quite important we get some of that stuff (as in massive volumes) frozen away for posterity and future testing.

If we don't get it now, the chance may be gone forever. Chemically, the lichen could be different once moisture and warmer weather really hits.

Now, isn't it fortuitous that at least one of us out there picking and raking that stuff up was anal enough to record the GPS location for each and every bag?

So, I sent him the coordinates, and then realized the software I used for plotting the elk relocations would be great for plottin' lichen pickin' locations. And it was. Made a gorgeous map, which I also emailed.

Love new technology. Now if I could just figure out ArcView.

So, tomorrow, if the weather holds, there will be a crew of lab and university-type people out there on the winter range. Equipped with a generator and shop vacs.

Yep, they're gonna try the idea we came up with whilst out there rakin' and pickin'. They're going to vacuum up the lichen. Using a generator on a trailer, and shop vacs.

May have to go out there and watch that.

Oh, yeah. He advised they'll have some other essential equipment, too. Which I won't use.

A couple coolers of ice.

And beer.

They are college student volunteers, you know.

I can hear it now...

"Why weren't you in class on Monday?"

"Well, you see, we were out suckin' up lichen, and suckin' down brews."