Pisttooiksi

IIII ) lllllll Pisttooiksi (31Jul09)

1908 Sspopiikimi - we take our regular seat on the grassy bank directly across from the main ksisskstakioyis (beaver lodge). One of the swainson's, further back at the treeline, cries from its nest, perhaps alarmed by our arrival. And a darker furred ksisskstaki swims in from the subpond, towing a large bundle of rabbit willow, which it takes beneath the water and into the south entrance

1931 There's several new happenings to note tonight. Walking in, my awareness was drawn to the wheatgrass, how dry it's becoming, all of its seedheads open. Sadly, this reminds me that some of the cycles of summer are already played out

1941 There's also a shore-feeder who at first strikes us as a new arrival. A little peep who'd been here a week or more, feeding by the ksisskstakioyis. We'd heard it on several recent visits, and just assumed that it was a spotted sandpiper. But when we arrived tonight, it was standing out in the open, and we were able to get a good look. It didn't have the same coloration as the spotted sandpipers we'd known from earlier in the season. It didn't even have the spots associated with their name. Yet the body was the same, and so was the white rump bobbing up and down, as if it were constantly trying to get balance. We took photos and later, back at the house, learned that it was not a different bird altogether, but merely wearing its immature plumage. It might even be the same spotted sandpiper we'd found newly hatched a couple months previous

1946 There's another bird we don't recognize flying high above the pond, sometimes with a partner, sometimes alone, giving a throaty single call. It has a kite-shaped body, with a white stripe near the tip of each underwing, its tail, and throat. Though we hadn't seen them here before, my first intuition was that they were pisttooiksi, or common nighthawks, the birds who'd once helped the fabled trickster Naapi escape a pursuing rock by deficating on it and breaking pieces off. I'd occasionally seen a pisttoo swoop down out of the Belly Buttes on my drives to and from work, but never here. Again though, photo confirmation prooved that's what they were indeed

1946 There's a woodpecker hammering nearby, something we haven't heard too often here this summer. The kingfisher activity seems to have slowed down tonight from what it has been recently. But most curiously, we keep hearing a grunting sound, every few minutes, coming from the forest. It's a sound we've never heard here, and it's moving. To both Piipiiaakii and myself, it sounds very much like a bear, though I wonder also if it could be a porcupine

2000 I'm still trying to get to where I can recognize each of the six-member ksisskstaki family as individuals. They have been coming and going, swimming both north and south from the lodge. The darker, older one just brought another batch of rabbit willow from the subpond. Before that, a small yearling with light eye patches swam close by to inspect us before continuing along the north bank

2004 The southern parent coot couple just passed by, without their single remaining chick (who I noticed standing alone beside the midpond reeds on the way in). Meanwhile, the gosling family has paddled out to their island, and I'm waiting to see if they'll have another flight lesson this evening

2012 The bear-like grunts from the forest have moved upriver, out of earshot, but now we have to suffer the canon-fire noise of mock battle eminating from Fort Whoop-Up. The animals seem undaunted. A goldfinch flies near to us and picks at the thistle-seeds of knapweed

2022 Now two fledgling coots have arrived parentless together beside the ksisskstakioyis. Are they siblings from the north-end family? Or have the single orphans from the southern and midpond families found one another? Either way, it's very clear that parental duties for the coots are over, and short-lived. It seems so recently these chicks were born

2038 We watch as two beavers groom one another by the north entrance to the lodge. When the canons fire from the fort, they lift their heads, but return again to grooming. A third beaver comes, trying to get in on the mutual groom, but when it finds no reciprocation it swims to us and slaps its tail. This breaks things up. The two who were grooming separate at once and swim as individuals toward the north end of the pond

2042 Just as the beavers move out, there's honking goose noise from the gosling island. I look over just in time to see a crash of goose-body in the water by the shoreline. It's two of the goslings. Piipiiaakii had looked over a second earlier and noted that the third sibling made its flight with mama and papa up over the bank, the first to successfully do so

Dino Bones and Rank Feathers

IIII ) llllll Dino Bones and Rank Feathers (30Jul09)

0916 Pitsiiksiinaakaawahko, Snake Coulee, or at least that which I know, at the conjunction of the St Mary's and Old Man, where there are at least two hibernacula of the prairie rattlesnake. For obvious reasons, I opt to wear my hiking boots rather than the more comfortable sandles I'm accustomed to in this season

0928 In winter, with the pond frozen-over, this is my favorite stomping grounds, as full of life as anyplace can be in the cold season. But my visits here become less frequent after I see the snakes emerge, and pick back up in fall, when I watch them return to their den

0932 Today I'm here to photograph some of the plants that only grow on the coulee slopes - ma's (prairie turnip), yellow violets, evening stars, pincushion-ball and prickly-pear cactus, all the stuff I haven't been covering in the phenology class these past few months because it can't be found at the pond. But I secretly hope, while doing so, I might encounter one of my slithering friends

0948 As I start down the slope, I suck on a few of the citrus-flavored sumac berries, growing now in ripe red clusters, and note the recent flowering of both the broom- and gum-weed

1027 About half-way down, I come upon an old goose nest, situated beside a little shrubbery at the top of a cliff. There's large egg shards all around, and coyote dung right on top of the nest, leaving little mystery as to what happened here

1037 Just before I reach the bottom of the coulee, I walk along a small badlands exposure, shades of purple and grey that remind me of places I've found dinosaur bones before. No sooner does this memory cross my mind, than I begin to see that this whole shelf is littered with fragments of ancient reptiles, whole vertebrae and shards of larger bone

1110 Finding dinosaur bones brings out my inner child, and I spend the next half-hour or so gathering up some of the purple shards and lining them up against the contrasting green badlands clay for a picture, pocketing just a couple of the nicer vertebrae to take home and show the girls

1142 Walking through the forest, down to the river, I'm hit with a sense of loneliness. Though I'm very familiar with this place, I've been a stranger here since winter, and am completely out of touch with the unique dramas the residents have lived this summer. Moreover, owing to a knee injury, Piipiiaakii couldn’t make this morning’s trek. I've become so accustomed to having her with me from our visits to the pond, nothing is the same - as exciting or vivid - without her

1155 Just when I'm feeling most lonely, walking along the river's edge, past the large beaver lodge caked with new mud, I notice a strange hum in the air around me, growing louder and louder. Then I'm overcome with a terrifying realization - I'm being swarmed by bees, I've hit a nest. Its happened to me many times before, and I know there's no time to waste. I break immediately into a full-out run across the river cobbles, and don't even look back until I've gained a some real distance. The bees are still coming, so I run some more, and when I look back again they're gone

1232 Hiking the rest of the way upriver along the bank, to the path that would take me back up to my truck, I’m surprised to find not a single goose, merganser, goldeneye, pelican, or any of the usual waterfowl of the river. In fact I've seen very few birds today at all - just a few wrens, catbirds, flickers, and western kingbirds

1242 On my way back up the coulee side, I finally find a couple examples of the ma's I'd come here looking for. Each of the plants was stunted, already seeded-out and drying. I also startle a couple meadowlark fledglings into flight, practically stepping on them before they flee. One of the parents, upset by my intrusion, follows me almost the rest of the way up, flying from sumac bush to sumac bush giving a chirping alarm call

1950 Woke up from our afternoon nap to find the sky had filled with clouds, rain, and lightning.. Came out to the pond regardless. Though we won't be sitting, we can at least take a little walk

2025 We walk lengthwise along the west side of the pond, to check on the currants (which are still producing lots of ripe berries). The southern coot baby is alone. His parents either left altogether or are really keeping their distance. The main lodge beavers have been putting wood up over the mud patchwork they laid a few days ago above the south entrance. And a great blue heron is hunting the south shallows tonight

2029 Its fun to watch the gosling family when they’re going to rest on their island. Before stepping on land, they group together right off-shore to preen and wash themselves. It reminds me of the way we brush our teeth before going to bed. I can just imagine them saying, “Hey, don’t think you’re coming to lay beside me with your nasty’ol, rank feathers. Clean yourself up”

Goslings' First Flight

IIII ) lll Goslings' First Flight (27Jul09)

1948 Sspopiikimi - we've been here almost a half-hour already, sitting in our same spot on the grassy bank just across from the main beaver lodge. There's so much activity to watch tonight, I've only now got the chance to start taking notes

1957 We arrived just as one of the beavers was bringing a bundle of cottonwood branches to the south entrance. The gosling family and southern coot family had just arrived at the lodge as well. There was a kingfisher on the lodge perch and mourning doves on the ground nearby

2009 Soon the whole beaver family was out. Even though it looked like the branch bundle was brought into the lodge, perhaps some were lost at the entrance along the way, because one of them set to eating right away. Another beaver swam south to the canal that leads to their subpond. It was followed shortly by two more. The remaining two (including the one who was eating) stuck close to the lodge

2019 There's always something new going on here, and tonight there's definitely exciting developments with the coots and goslings. We watched the parent coots feeding along shore south of the beaver lodge with their chick. Then, when the chick wasn't looking, the parents walked around to the north side of the lodge, got in the water, and swam away. For about fifteen minutes the baby coot looked around, cried, and pecked for food alone. Finally, somehow, it sluthed the direction its parents had gone and swam north to find them

2025 The gosling family, for their part, sat on shore. All but the ever-alert papa tucked their heads into their wings. After about forty minutes of this rest, I noticed they were standing up and the parents were giving head nods as though they wanted to go somewhere. A couple of the goslings nodded back. Then mama and papa began honking and took flight toward the grassy bank where they often feed. Two of the goslings ran and then flew after them, the other one ran and then swam. The whole family ended up in the water just off the grassy shore, regathered, preened, and climbed up to feed. This is the first time we’ve seen the goslings attempt flight

2032 Meanwhile, the two beavers at the lodge have been doing all kinds of things. One of them brought arms-full of old bulrush stems and muck out of the lodge and piled it in the water like a flotilla off their south door. Alternately one or the other have been coming to sniff the air around us, and occasionally give a tail slap. They've eaten, groomed together, and climbed on top of the lodge individually, both to groom and to pack on more sod. The three who left for the sub-pond earlier on have not returned

2042 While observing the "two" beavers at the lodge groom one another, just moments ago, a third emerged from the entrance, bringing our count back to what we had noted in spring, a family of six

2046 One of the beavers who'd gone to the sub-pond returned home empty of paw. Immediately, two started back out toward the canal south, and the remaining two began exploring north. Of the latter, one seems to have went ashore somewhere on the grassy bank just north of us. The other turned back, went into the lodge, re-emerged and is now heading south toward the sub-pond canal

2054 One of the beavers who'd gone toward the sub-pond just returned and, not even stopping in the lodge, swam north and went to shore into the wet meadows. Is this the same one who only recently swam south, returning because its partner didn't follow? We don't know

2058 We've heard some splashing from the sub-pond canal. On the last splash, there were large ripples. Then a beaver swam out of the canal, went underwater, and didn't resurface until it was right at the south door to the lodge. It went inside, immediately came back out, swam over to check on us, then proceeded to the grassy bank north of us where we know one of the others climbed ashore earlier. Where they've gone, there's a drag they use to take prunings from the golf course

2104 The beaver who'd gone up into the wet meadows returned to the lodge, using the north door. At the same time, one of those who'd been in the sub-pond walked into the wet meadows to the south, then returned to the water, and is just now eating by the south lodge entrance

2107 Twice now, in the almost two hours we've sat here, a parent swainson's hawk has come and gone from the nest with meals. Always mobbed by half a dozen little birds

2110 The voles seem to like Piipiiaakii, they keep dancing in the grass by her feet

2113 The two beavers from the lodge swam over, either just to check us out or to distract us. While they moved switchbacks in the water at our feet, one of the beavers who'd been at the sub-pond returned with a cottonwood branch and dove into the lodge. As soon as it was in, the two by us disbursed, one heading to the grassy bank north of us, the other toward the sub-pond canal

IIII ) llll Quiet Night (28Jul09)

1954 Sspopiikimi - back in front of the main lodge. Found several alfalfa plants clipped down and beaver eaten on the way in. Passed the scabby redhead and her two ducklings, as well as a mallard with her one. The gosling couple are sleeping up on the golf course. There's a goldfinch flying above singing its five note song, and a kingfisher just stopped on the lodge perch to swallow its catch

2016 The yearling beaver with light freckled nose just came out of the lodge and swam north a ways along the grassy bank, then crossed the pond and moved up the nearest canal to the wet meadows. The diving beetles are making little raindrop ripples all over the pond's surface

2023 I just noticed that the mildweed now have their big, cucumber-like seed heads. Piipiiaakii says she noticed them there yesterday

2026 Another of the one- or two-year old beavers just came out of the lodge, but didn't swim close enough for me to look at its face before heading to the sub-pond canal

2040 Flight training is definitely underway for the gosling family. We just watched them swim out to their old nest island. Then, after just a couple minutes, mama and papa roused them to try and fly back up to the golf greens. None of the goslings made it out of the pond. They all wound-up half running, half flying, until they reached the embankment, then they climbed ashore

2044 A large ominous cloud is passing overhead, raining down on us. The big-brood mallard has brought her four nearly-grown ducklings swimming past us on their way north. The two beavers just returned to their lodge, the one from the subpond carrying what looked like a sprig of diamond willow. And there was a painted turtle eye-balling us, its head stretched out of the water just a few feet away

2104 Another darker, larger beaver just came home from the subpond. It must have gone out there before we arrived. I'm damp and a little chilled, but at least the mosquitoes have calmed down, and there's not nearly as many diving beetles surfacing now

2117 Now a second beaver has returned from the north end of the pond as well, this one carrying what looks like a cattail or bulrush - the whole plant, including root and at least two stems. As soon as this one dives into the north entrance, a dark-furred beaver comes out the south entrance and swims to the subpond canal

Beaver Watch

IIII ) ll Beaver Watch (26Jul09)

1437 Sspopiikimi, a nice overcast afternoon. We've moved south, past the sleeping coot families and the bathing gosling couple, setting our video camera recording one of the pools near the peninsula, in hopes of getting footage of a kingfisher hunting. Meanwhile, Dani and I walk away to gather more delicious currants

1510 Plenty of kingfishers around, but not a one elects to hunt for the camera. On the islands in the middle of the pond, I can see goldenrod in bloom. There are bluets, variable darners, pale snaketails, and cherry-faced meadowhawks galore, as well as clouded sulphurs and a monarch-like butterfly I can’t identify. I have to fight wood ant colonies for access to the currants

1546 I am in the zone, that berry picking mode when nothing else matters in the world. A goldfinch perched beside me sings the soundtrack to this experience

1615 Thunder's not far away, somewhere just over the rim of the coulee, rumbling. The swainson hawk babies are making little calls as one of their parents swoop in with a meal

1632 I follow a fat garter snake into a thick patch of berries, where a couple catbirds are calling in alarm

1647 There are no doubt catbird nests nearby, but following the calls and slithering snake I fail to find them. What I do come across, however, are the remnants of those nests from prior seasons, hidden deep underbrush, above a labrynth tunnel system not nearly large enough to host a human traveler. My movement through this system is awkward. Still, I could not help but to continue through. It brings back childhood memories of worming through small mammal tunnels in the blackberry thickets of the valley Willamma

1725 Piipiiaakii and I make a quick run back to the house to drop-off our berries, before heading down again for dusk with the beavers

1803 Back to the pond, in drizzly rain, video camera set up to monitor the main beaver lodge. Tonight, hopefully, we'll move a bit closer toward learning to recognize the individual members of this family

1808 The scabby redhead is drifting along midpond, not doing anything in particular, perhaps experiencing a bit of shock as we see she only has two ducklings left. But this may be a projection on my part, because the gosling family are also sitting in the water a little south of us, not paddling anywhere, not eating, just floating in place

1813 One of the parent sikohpoyitaipanikimmiksi (black-greasy-hawks or swainson’s) is up at the nest, occasionally giving calls that I suspect are its alarm at our presence. Beside us, I notice a dozen stalks of curled dock, ten of which have seed heads that are already turning red

1818 Hundreds of bank swallows who have taken to roosting high in one particular poplar overlooking the pond suddenly soar down in a scattered pattern over the water, apparently feeding on the diving beetles who’re making ripples on the surface like raindrops. And a few goldfinches land on the beaver lodge, none of whose occupants have awoken yet

1829 I take a quick walk to the south end of the pond. There are several cedar waxwings sitting along the chain-link fence delineating golf course property. I watch one of these birds flying in tight figure-eights above the ground and returning to the fence with a mouth full of gold-colored dragonfly, which it shares with one of its fellows

1836 On my way back to Piipiiaakii and the beaver lodge, I passed the gosling family, who are now feeding up on the bank. We have learned to recognize the gosling couples and one of their young by the distinct, individual patterns of their white cheek markings. As I walked by, papa and mama both hissed at me

1900 For the past fifteen minutes or so, we've been watching a kingfisher who landed on an aberrant stick jutting out from the beaver lodge. An eastern kingbird came to join it, or I should say foul-up its plans, for the kingbird began picking insects off the pond surface right where the kingfisher intended to hunt. After four or five mouth-fulls though, the kingbird departed, and the kingfisher got an opportunity to dive, coming up empty of beak and flying away

1911 One of the hawks came in to drop off food for its mate and the chicks at their nest. Even shooting from where we sit across the pond and wet meadows, a distance of about a hundred and fifty meters, we can see that there are at least two hawk babies

1914 It just occurred to me that we haven't heard or seen a northern flicker for some time now, perhaps a few weeks

1920 A goldfinch flies circles above the pond, alternately flapping and swooping with closed wings, singing a little four or five note song, and eventually landing in the grass lining the opposite shore, where a second goldfinch suddenly appears. I mean to watch what happens, when Piipiiaakii notices bubbles rising near to where we sit. The first beaver of the night emerges and swims north to climb a distant bank

1928 A couple minutes later, a second beaver surfaces, this one swimming south, then noticing us, wheeling about, and passing to sniff the air and inspect. Just as it got completely past us, this second beaver slipped silently underwater and re-emerged near the north bank, where I assume it joined the first beaver (we can't see them from our vantage point)

1937 At some point when we weren't watching south, the gosling family returned to the pond and swam out to rest on the small island that had once housed their nest. Painted turtles keep popping their heads up out of the water for a breath of air just in front of us, then diving again quickly. Several more kingfishers have flown past, including a couple with the male following the female

1952 Both beavers just returned from the north. One was carrying a long stem of rabbit willow, which it brought into the lodge. The other swam right on past and continues south

1957 After just a minute or two, the beaver who had gathered willow came out of the lodge again and swam back to its north shore. The bank swallows are suddenly swarming the water, practically diving to grab insects off the surface

2002 The parent swainson who'd been sitting at the nest all along made an attempt to fly away, but was immediately mobbed by at least a dozen small birds, so it turned right around and went back to the nest, where it's now crying loudly

2022 I saw a ripple at the edge of the lodge, making me think that there might be a beaver in the water. Several minutes later, bursts of air bubbles in front of us suggested that it was watching us from underwater. Then the bubbles went away and I just caught sight of a beaver's back slipping into the lodge

2032 Right away, after the one had dove under, a beaver came out of the lodge and began swimming back and forth in front of us, slapping its tail twice. At the same time, two more emerged and preened beside the lodge. Then one dove back into the lodge while the other, followed by the tail-slapper, swam south

2035 Perhaps having heard the alarm, the beaver who’d been out in the north end of the pond came back. It went up and took a look at the lodge, but didn't bother going in. Instead, it too decided to swim south

2038 This meant there were four out south, and at least one still in the lodge. That latter beaver, or a sixth family member, made an appearance a few minutes later, pushing some mixed mud and grass up onto the south side of the lodge

2046 We are headed home now, although there's probably an hour of daylight left. But from what we saw tonight, there are at least five beavers living in the main lodge (we'd thought perhaps six from previous attempts to count). It may be that from a study of our photos, we'll be able to start distinguishing them as individuals. Looking at them afterward, it appears that the tail-slapper (fairly orange in color) may have some kind of little mole-like growth on its left ear. The one who went north and brought back a piece of willow is older, more orange perhaps than the others, with a well-worn nose and light patch on the left side of its face going from the nose up toward its eye. And one of the beavers who came out of the lodge as a couple and then swam south is darker in fur, with an orange patch in front of the right ear

2124 Damn skeetoes got me itching all over

Okonokiistsi Otsitsi'tssp

IIII House Finch Fledglings (24Jul09)

1653 With a couple hours to spare before the Canadian Studies Institute dinner, we make our way to Sspopiikimi, intent on sitting down near the currant patch to learn which birds are feeding off the ripe berries. I’d noticed how many small birds were in this brush yesterday, when I passed by on my way to look at the swainson’s hawk nest on the east side of the pond. Dani had stayed back on the west side, watching a great blue heron feed hunt beside the main beaver lodge, and nursing a sore knee

1705 In the full daylight, we can see right down to the bottom of the pond in all but the deeper holes, and the circular trench that the beavers have created to navigate underwater is clearly defined

1708 On our walk to the currant patch on the south end, we pass the gosling couple feeding on the banks, the scabby redhead mama with her ducklings, and all three coot families. Of the latter, the northern couple still have four chicks, while the other two have each lost all but one. These coot babies are now feeding themselves for the most part, some even bobbing their upper torsos underwater like ducklings

1713 It's interesting to see that while the coot families may move about the pond to feed, they still maintain their north to south positioning relative to one another

1714 As we near the berry-rich south end, a couple dozen cedar waxwings make an appearance. They all seem to be coupled-up, moving loosely as a group, but in pairs

1719 We eventually find a nice place on a high bank overlooking a small narrow-leaf cottonwood tree, surrounded by fruiting honeysuckle, black currant, and golden currant

1734 The smaller birds don't trust us a great deal. A few at a time waxwings, clay-colored sparrows, and bank swallows stop-in to inspect us, landing briefly on the cottonwood tree, then moving on. At one point, a group of house finches arrives, and we get great shots of one of the rosy-breasted adults feeding a drab little fledgling

1853 We sat about forty minutes or so in the sun like that, then began making our way toward the truck, thinking we might need showers before our dinner engagement. Along the way back, we observed an eastern kingbird eating golden currants. And the fenceline along the golf course was full of waxwings acting rather bold. A few even swooped us

1857 We passed the big-brood mallard mother, who now has just four ducklings. And the western cottonwood trees near the north end of the pond were swarming with hundreds of swallows