Sophia Flores: Week 4 Recap

Four weeks down, four more to go! This past week required a lot of physical work as Coby and I started our habitat surveys along with the first round of cover board checks. I learned how to measure herbaceous, shrub, woody debris, and bare ground cover measurements within various transects of our sites. Conducting these habitat surveys made me realize how important they are when determining the types of herptiles found under our cover boards. We were able to finish about half of the habitat surveys for our sites and will continue them next week. As for our cover board observations, we didn’t find any herptiles, which was a bit discouraging, but we’re hoping they show up later with time and patience.

While collecting and recording data this past week, Coby and I found two fawns at two of our sites. This was the highlight of my week because they were so adorable! It amazed me how well they blended in with their surroundings because we almost didn’t notice them. Sadly, one of the fawns was dead when we returned to one of the sites a few days later. However, I’m still excited to encounter more animals this upcoming week!