Spring Observations
By Bryce Nielson, The Cisco Kid
Frequently, my mind fills up with things that are interesting, educational, educational or observations that I want to share. Here are a few.
As a birder, I am always watching for new sightings. About a month ago I was on the north end of the lake and was looking at a large nest, which many birds have used in the past and I thought I saw a white head. I dismissed it because I knew bald eagles didn’t nest here. I was wrong because a few weeks later I observed the two mature (white head) bald eagles feeding chicks. Apparently, there are no records of bald eagles nesting in the Bear Lake Valley.
Speaking of raptors (hawks/eagles), they typically feed on Uinta Mountain ground squirrels (potguts). There was a large population last year, but I have only seen a few this spring. None squashed on the road. Their numbers may be been reduced by disease which is common. The birds may have to find something else to eat.
As the Rich County Emergency Manager, I have been involved in CodeRed, an Emergency Alert System which is funded by northern regional Homeland Security funds. It would be great if everyone, locals or visitors, signed up for emergency notifications. You can just Google CodeRed to sign up and add the mobile app. You can also go to the Rich County website, richcountyut.org, and sign up there and look at the other information about the County.
An update on the Bear Lake Watch/USGS monitoring stations in Bear Lake. They have survived some tough weather and are collecting data. The data may not be that interesting to you, but it fascinates me. When we collected water profiles years ago, you had to suspend a water collection bottle at depth intervals and collect samples. The samples were then preserved and sent to the lab for analysis. It was labor intensive. Now, solar powered instruments lower probes through the water column collecting data as they go. The attached data shows the early development of a thermocline in Bear Lake 1.5 miles off Gus Rich Point. Data is now being streamed from the USGS website, nmis.waterdata.usgs/nmis/uv?site_no=415411111301601.
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| The graph illustrates the change in water temperature, dissolved oxygen and chlorophyll over the last two months from the top to the bottom. |
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