Tales (and photos) from Elkhead Reservoir!

So in this summer job, I have been working 3 days a week as an Interpreter. No, not the language kind. So being a Nature Interpreter is not unlike being a language interpreter. I sometimes tell people that if a person speaks Spanish, and another person speaks English, well, they need someone to go between them to help them understand each other. "Resource" interpretation, as my job is called, is not that dissimilar. Sometimes we scientists (for I do consider myself a scientist as well :)) are poor communicators and don't speak very good "English". So sometimes scientists need help communicating information about the natural world to make it not only understandable, but relatable and relevant  to the general public. That's where teachers, book authors, and Interpreters come in. Anyhow, so that's my interp job, where I lead programs, etc. for campers here at the park, and the general public, too. BUT this post is not about that. This blog post is about what I do the "other" two days of my work week. So those two days I work up at another State Park in our management unit, called Elkhead Reservoir. What I do there is inspect boats for aquatic nuisance species (ANS) such as zebra mussels. They are nasty little critters from Europe that are now in many bodies of freshwater in the US, and they wreak havoc on lakes, boats, and general ecosystems. Here are some pics of some neat animals/scenery I've seen up there. :)

this is a Snakefly!! very cool. that long stinger-looking thing is not actually a stinger, but an ovipositor for laying eggs; this is a female.

here is a deer chomping away.

I told you that I was going to see lots more prickly pear cacti here in CO this summer!

lovely lizard sunning himself on the rock!

Sage Thrasher singing his heart out as he perches on top of the picnic table.

evening sunlight on the boats and the lake. You can see the twin peaks, "Bears Ears" (in the brochures it has no apostrophe; egads!) above the left-hand truck. 

ski beach in late afternoon/early evening sun.

Horned Lark! I think I have been working around kids too much lately, because I have the urge to ask, "why do you think it's called that?"

here is a Robin looking very perky and wary about the piece of bread, as he hangs out in front of one of our cones.

still not entirely sure about this bird's species. I think it's a Brewer's Sparrow. It was wanting to feed its baby, which unfortunately appeared to be a Brown-headed Cowbird.

I got to go out on the boat ON the lake a few times. Here is the view with some pretty flowers.

I guess I really like prickly pear photo taking.

This is a mediocre picture of a lovely bird, a Forster's Tern.

this is our "unicorn" deer, Elliott.

velvet ant! this is actually not an ant at all, but a wasp, with a very bad sting, so I've heard!

sometimes we get strange contraptions coming in....here is a...um...semi....camper...thing...pulling a boat!

see the little blob at the top of this big gravel pile?

it's Mr. Grumpy Horned Lark!

here are some female hummingbird, all of which my coworker Sand (pictured below) has dubbed "Alice", fighting over the hummingbird feeder.

this is my coworker Sand. His real name is James. I don't know how he got his name "Sand". He is a REAL kick. he is from Alabama and has a great accent and lots of funny stories. There is a  LOT of down time in between boats coming in or going out of the lake!!! Sooooo we find interesting ways to entertain ourselves. We are allowed to read, etc. when we have no boats.The past month or so, Sand has taken to playing guitar....

with a local fisherman named Mike. Mike often brings his mandolin. They like me to sing and I have learned some new old-fashioned songs!

sunrise at Elkhead! this was one of two days I opened. We opened at 6 earlier this summer so that boaters could come fish early!

I hope the blood in this picture doesn't offend/gross out anybody. Basically we have these huge, UGLY fish called  Northern Pike in our lake. I wish I'd gotten a picture of one. You can see the tail of one on the bottom left of this picture. But the two cute fish in the picture are Bluegill! They may not look special, but let me tell you: they are adorable compared to Northern Pike! :)

evening sunlight on some deer.

deer under the moon!

the moon was almost full this night.