Operation Yellowstone Ranger: I heart Ornithologists

Monday night was pretty chill after I left you. I was able to talk to Miss Christine Merola for almost two hours! Always a perk to any day!
I'm not sure what I did after, but I think it was sleep. My nights tend to blur together.
The next day was pretty fun. Trudy took Alexis and myself to the Lamar Buffalo Ranch to pick up some supplies that we will be revamping this summer. Oh my goodness. Lamar Buffalo Ranch is the most beautiful place in the world. Not only is Lamar Valley amazing because it has the must abundant and diverse wildlife of anywhere in the park, but it also is one of the most arguably beautiful landscapes. And right in the heart of the valley is the Lamar Buffalo Ranch. Oh to live there.
Unfortunately, I had not brought my camera with me. No pictures of this beautiful place! :P
From Lamar, we dashed back to Mammoth for the Wildlife Olympics. Alexis and I had to run the WO all by ourselves...but I think we did smashingly!
After work, I was determined to go on a hike. I texted all my Yellowstone friends and the crew developed into Udeitha, Amanda and Christina. We hiked around Beaver Ponds! And this time, we actually saw beavers! I was so pumped. Basically, these three girls are the best thing since sliced bread. I loved hiking and chatting with all of them!
In fact, one member of our crew happens to be a field biologist...and ornithologist. That means she studies birds. Out of the blue, Amanda asks me "Hey Grant. What are you doing tomorrow during work?" I responded "I have no idea, why?" She states "Well, I am going on a hike to Grebe lake to study the Trumpeter Swan family and our restoration efforts."
I was overjoyed! What an amazing opportunity that would be! All I had to do was convince my supervisor that this was a good idea. And, let me tell you, it was not a difficult sell.
This morning, when I presented the idea to Beth, she jumped on it. She said "What better way to educate your children about what goes on in the park than going and experiencing it with the professionals yourself!"
With that, I was off. It ended up being a group of four: myself, Amanda, Lisa and Lisa. Lisa has been running the ornithology department for some time and is a resident expert. I was SO fortunate to go along with these ladies. It was about an hour drive to the trailhead, an hour hike in, and then we set up camp. They were pleased to see that all the Cygnets were alive.
The story behind the Trumpeter Swan in Yellowstone is that it is the last surviving NATIVE trumpeter swan population in the United States (aside from Alaska). The swan was poached into near extinction elsewhere. As a result, Cygnets from Yellowstone were used to repopulate trumpeter swans all across the United States. But, for unknown reasons, the trumpeter swan population in Yellowstone is rapidly plummeting. There are only two pairs that are currently mating, nesting and attempting to raise young. Unfortunately, these pairs have been nesting on shores were predators have no trouble getting to the eggs.
The park decided to take action. They created a natural swan platform that they placed in the water near the mated couples. These platforms are away from the shore and are surrounded by water. This keeps all predators away. Apparently this is the type of nesting ground swans love. Swans are very territorial. Once they find an area, they will never leave. And once they find a mate, they will never remate. What ornithologists suspect is that these two nesting areas USED to have ideal platform nesting grounds, but for some reason that space disappeared. As a result, the swans resorted to nesting on shore. Bad news.
Fortunately, the swans immediately took to the platform and the females laid eggs.
From there, the park and another group created identical wooden eggs and replaced the real with these fakes. Apparently, ornithologists think there may be some biological reasons as to why the trumpeter swan populations are declining. They want to study the cygnets from this nest when they hatch. So, what they did was take some abandoned cygnets from another area and introduced them to the swan couple at Grebe lake. The mother and father took to them immediately.
Do not fear! The cygnets that they reintroduced to Grebe lake are ancestors to Yellowstone trumpeters. If you remember, I said that all trumpeter swans in the United States (besides Alaska) were reintroduced using Yellowstone trumpeters. So all Trumpeters in the lower 48 are genetically descended from Yellowstone.
Furthermore, after 7 (weeks or months, I wasn't sure) of study, they will reintroduce the original cygnets from the eggs back into the park in areas where lonesome trumpeters live, in hopes that they will choose to mate in future years.
It was so fascinating to watch the young family flourishing. The platform really seems to have done the job. The adults were so elegant and beautiful, while the cygnets were so fuzzy and cute! It was such a sight to see these professional ladies set up there scopes and get to work observing. Amanda even let me get on her scope a couple of times and check things out!
As we walked out, we observed an Osprey nest that was supposed to be inactive. As Lisa was reporting this, an Osprey flew over us and landed in the nest. We were all so excited, but Lisa informed us that Osprey like to return to their nests to rest LONG after they have used it to raise young. She was able to observe from how the Osprey was sitting on the nest and interacting with its surroundings that there were not any Osprey chicks in the nest. SO COOL! I was such a lucky young man today! I learned from pros! And that is why I love ornithologists!
Whelp, picture time! Until next time.