Pigeon River

I spent the fall of 2006 collecting DNA samples of Bobcats in Northern Michigan, using hair snags and scat detector dogs.

.
.

The Pigeon River Bunkhouse: my home from September to November, seen from the backyard	Jen and I baiting one of our hair snares	Checking one of our first hair snares for Bobcat hair.	Red Pine plantation. This was a common habitat type: tall pine overstory, no shrub layer and bracken fern covering the ground
We were just checking one of our snares when we saw this guy preying on the ground.	Ostrich ferns cover the ground at one of our hair-snares.	Every time I checked this hair snare, I had to step out to the lake's edge and take a few pictures!	Driving along one day, this spider web caught my eye in the early morning sun
It's hard not to be offended...	Black River.	Some lucky person's cabin tucked away in the woods...	September in northern Michigan is a fungus-lovers dream!
A full view of the hair snare set-up with carpet patch, urine cottonball, visual attractants and a note to human passers-by	Near the beginning of the season I helped out with a Lake Sturgeon release. These nets were set up to monitor the speed at which the young travel downstream.	Pigeon River is known for its Elk. I saw them on a few occasions, but this was the only time I managed to get a quick (and bad!) shot	My lab, where I did the DNA extractions of our hair.
The work day usually consisted of lots of driving...not usually a problem here!	Low, swampy areas with Black Spruce, mossy ground and Labrador-tea. I tried many times, but could never get a great picture.	One of the many lakes	My backyard, overlooking the Pigeon River. Great place to write music!
One of the most northern areas we had hair snares in	Fall colours starting to show	This was one of my favourite hair snares: a mere 70m walk and this view!	These ferns were probably the most common ground cover throughout the area. Here they coat the ground in an Aspen grove.
The fall in the Pigeon River was probably the most colourful I have ever seen.	The sun briefly shone through these clouds, lighting up the opposite side	Squirrel's-eye view	Leaves of a Red Maple stand out in front of the greenery behind
Closeup of the barbed-wire scent station. We ended up replacing the barbed wire with velcro after we got a big zero hits in two months		I visited "Inspiration Point" one evening, played guitar, took pictures, and talked with an interesting stranger for over an hour	Our most northern site
The Green Beast, a black hole for maintenance dollars	For a period of about a week, the colours each day were more brilliant than the last	In the north-east area, there were lots of these Oak-dominated sandy areas	An Aspen grove lit up by golden fall colour
Can't complain about this morning commute!	We passed this lake almost every day on our drive out. This was definitely its finest hour though!	Golden Sugar Maple leaves in front of the cabin are lit up in front of a perfectly blue sky	My livingroom for almost three months: the Pigeon River staff house
Playing guitar in my backyard	Sunset on the Canadian Thanksgiving	Danielle came up to visit Thanksgiving weekend; we were unexpectedly joined by about 10 elderly vets who would share the cabin for a week!	Fall colours from "Inspiration Point", one of the high spots in the area.
A surprise snowstorm contrasted with the remaining fall colours	I must have taken 30 pictures on my drive out that morning	Blueberry plants are stand out in the fall against the surrounding "brownery"	These lichens always looked like miniature cities to me
A drive through one of the hardwood areas, with the leaves of the Beech saplings still holding on	My front yard	There were alot of these areas, with low scrubby Jack Pine and ferns on the ground	Afternoon in my backyard
Sunset at Inspiration Point	The sun had sent between a layer of low-lying clouds and the ground, creating this interesting frame	A recent clear-cut, with the red colours of colonizing blueberry plants	A nearly perfect reflection of the sky in this shallow lake
For Halloween I visited Danielle in Guelph where we carved this pumpkin	Jen engages in a staring contest with a porcupine. It was declared a draw.	I had no idea how slow-moving porcupines are. It must have taken 5 minutes to climb this tree to "escape"!	TIf I had been so inclined, I could have grabbed him!
I had to pull over on my drive to our northern site when the sun broke through the clouds	A snowstorm knocked out my power and sent a few broken branches crashing onto my roof	Red Pine plantation after the snowstorm	A mild, foggy day
Big-leaf Maple near Seattle	Jen and I went to Seattle to train as detector dog handlers for two weeks	The beginning of a day trip around Olympic National Park	This is as far as we got on Hurricane Ridge. This park had terrible information system; we found no information anywhere about road closures until we saw the sign
A view along the north side of Olympic	My first view of the Pacific Ocean	We kept experiencing waves of storms coming through. This one is just passing over us	Me standing where the water meets the land
According to the sign, this Sitka Spruce is the world's largest. I was in no position to dispute that claim!	By the time we got to the rainforest, it was almost night	Although we didn't get to enjoy full view, we did get a unique experience	The effect of the flash on the mossy branches was quite eerie!
From the ridge where we were training with the dogs, a break in the clouds revealed Mt. Rainer.	We took a trip up to Snoqualmie Pass to give ourselves and the dogs a chance to get used to snow	Me and Bruiser. This tug-of-war was his reward after finding a planted sample of bobcat scat	The river we were training beside
Dog's-eye view of Jen getting ready to reward CJ on his picture-perfect pinpoint	A beautiful scene in the mountains	This picture was taking during our Olympic tour, near Hurricane Ridge	Having finished our day, we were just getting ready to head back down.
Bruiser working hard through the snow. It was amazing how little the snow hindered his movement	Me and Bruiser, just finished one of our last days. We covered nearly 9km and Bruiser was a little winded	A frozen-over marshy area; we were lucky to find a dry path around	Lunchtime on one of our last transects. Sitting in the sun, we were almost hot!