Although not one of my favorite activities, appearing on television to promote Imperial National Wildlife Refuge and our programs has been necessary at times over the past few years. During these appearances, we include the snakes and occasionally some other critters, as well as a few skulls from our collection.
The 110th Christmas Bird Count takes place this year across the country. This morning we joined Henry Detwiler (birding guide), other members of the Southwest Birders, and fellow volunteers to search for and count birds along the ponds and farm fields of Imperial National Wildlife Refuge.
Even though rain was forecast, the thought of a flash flood was far from our minds. Cloud cover broke to reveal strips of blue sky before Chuck and I met hikers signed up for our Wednesday morning interpretive hike at Imperial National Wildlife Refuge north of Yuma, Arizona, the day before Thanksgiving.
Schools have started field trips to Imperial National Wildlife Refuge again this year. The following article describing our school hikes first appeared in the Summer/Fall, 2007, issue of U.S. Fish & Wildlife News:
Thanks to an industrious ATV rider, today we take it upon ourselves to become involved with maintenance rather than our usual naturalist work. We are spending the morning raking over tire tracks engraved upon the desert surface like a giant wound.
Some RVers who volunteer at National Wildlife Refuges never return to the same refuge twice. Others, however, return to the refuges they enjoy year after year. We fall into the second category. This season, I am anxious to inspect the condition of the burro skull we left to the maggots last spring.
Snakes aren’t the only feared, reviled, and misunderstood animals. Wolves have their antagonists too. Recently, we visited our good friend Dr. Sue Ware in Gardiner, Montana, where she spent a week at the Heritage & Research Center examining wolf skulls.