Trout Creek Warden’s report, November 9, 2012

Laurie Rockwell sent this report to his area supervisor of his last tour for 2012….annual report to follow:

• a beautiful day at this time of the year at 4c, no wind or snow and periods of bright, warm sunshine during my 1.30 hours in the reserve.
• I saw/heard only 5 species of birds, which is common this time of the year, but still no (late) migrating Sandhill Cranes for the 2nd fall.
• I saw no mammals, but did see one set of quite fresh deer tracks. I did, however,  find 3 ‘pink’ leg bones of a mule deer, indicating that it had not been dead long. Since there are few coyotes on the reserve I suspect that the deer died naturally and was scavenged.
• I found 13 knapweed plants in seed, some relatively large and will check them for signs of bio-control (larva) in the spring.
• there was no sign of human activity, but the wear on the trail into the reserve suggests that it is in regular use.
• I took pictures of minor fence repairs needed at the top of the E-W fence and will send them in the spring.
• In the spring I will take some photos of minor repairs needed on the fence at the 12th golf green.
• I did not put up the 2 ER boundary signs you gave me. I felt that I should first measure the size of the spaces between the fence wires and compare them to the hole spacing in the signs.They are a good match,so I may get the signs up before the end of the month or wait until next year.

Cheers…..Laurie