A new day, a new field season

It's May again, which means the bright new beginning of another field season. This year I've traveled to the majestic land of Utah, working for the Intermountain Bird Observatory (IBO), which collaborates on the larger project Integrated Monitoring in Bird Conservation Regions (IMBCR). If you wanted another bit of confusion, I'm actually hired by Boise State University, which is the home of IBO. Who or what I'm working for aside, the task is to travel southwestern and central Utah looking and listening for birds. Whatever I find can then help the project understand trends in bird diversity across public and private lands in Utah and ultimately the western United States.
     Exactly a week ago I arrived in Ephraim (locally pronounced EE-frem), to camp and begin IMBCR training. Besides myself there were the other two IBO techs, our two supervisors/coordinators, and about a dozen other birders from different organizations to learn the IMBCR protocols. The training went on through Saturday, so it's been a busy week. Mornings we visited different habitats and practiced point counts (bird surveys) and vegetation surveys. After a hodgepodge lunch, we'd head over to an obliging library for presentations explaining IMBCR goals, protocols, equipment, landowner communication, and potential field hazards.
     So now I've driven across the state to St. George, taking a day of rest before setting out to my first survey grids. Not entirely a vacation, since after this missive I'll be back to researching my sites. They're giving me a little anxiety, seeing as four out of five of them have never been visited. Which means I've got to figure out the best way to get there, where to camp, how long a walk to the site it'll be, if there's a giant cliff in the middle, where we don't have permission to go, where's the nearest gas, etc. Burning questions that won't really be answered until I get there. Just to be safe I think I'll survey the known site first, but in the mean time I'm going to get as much information from Google Earth and Google Maps as I can. Hope all goes well!

Sandstone formations near Dewey Bridge, northeast of Moab

Fellow birders trekking back to camp after morning practice

Me on the drive to Moab, with Colorado River to the right and the La Sal range in the distance

Moab landscape with sage, juniper, and pinyon pine

Side-blotched lizard caught near Moab by someone way better at "herping" than myself

A very patient eastern collared lizard caught by a lot of people herding it to and fro

Moonrise at dispersed campsite near the confluence of Dolores and Colorado Rivers

NEW SPECIES: Horned Lark, Indigo Bunting, Gadwall, Virginia's Warbler

Close Encounter: Golden Eagle on a fence post