We've now gotten started on the proper field work - however, my partner left for a new job just before this shift, so I'm not doing the full protocol. I have a temporary partner, and instead we are spending the nine days travelling southern Alberta, helping other crews with tricky forested sites, and scouting out GPS points. Since we're travelling around, we're taking advantage of any adventure opportunities. Some of our scouting was right by Head-Smashed-In-Buffalo-Jump, so we pulled in and had a look at the World Heritage Site, where the Blackfoot hunted by driving herds of buffalo from their grazing area over the cliff. I learned that the graphic name does not actually refer to the state of the buffalo, who would usually only sustain broken legs from the fall, but from a young boy who once snuck under the cliff to have a good view of the spectacle, only to be crushed by falling ungulates.
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| The cliff of Head-Smashed-In-Buffalo-Jump |
We did manage to sneak some work into the day:
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| Counting the rings from a tree core - this aspen and I were born the same year |
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| Dinyar taking in the mountains and aquamarine lake |
Once the working day was done, we were not very far from Waterton National Park. Neither of us had ever been, so it was necessary to pay a visit.
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| Digging the mountain drive |
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| Not a bad job, really. |
We hung around the town of Waterton for an early dinner, but before long we were called with a change of schedule, and it was time to pack up our things from the trailer in Pincher Creek and head north to Turner Valley. Two more moose sightings on the way home (and also a cow head - I have questions). Today was a full day at a site, managing to squeeze in the full set of early morning bird recordings in between the rain, and tomorrow we roll out north through Edmonton to St. Paul.
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| Pulled over on the drive home, as this patch of mountains was illuminated by the sunset |
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