And again!

I really wasn't certain that I'd be writing this. In April I was interviewed for the science show, The Pulse (https://whyy.org/segments/how-the-coronavirus-pandemic-has-disrupted-field-research/) where I was quite depressed about being locked down and not being able to get to the field to resume our study (this is the 59th year of continuous marmot study...).

Well, after tremendous uncertainty, and a long delay, we have a skeleton crew (Dan, Gina and Conner) back at the RMBL. We arrived on Weds and spent the afternoon getting set up. We're officially being quarantined and can't be in RMBL buildings for a week. But we can work outside. Which is what we did starting on Thursday.

It's really weird. In April when we typically arrive, we spend a lot of time skiing around waiting for marmots to emerge. We don't see a lot for weeks. Eventually, marmots start emerging. But now, they're all emerged and have apparently been waiting for us.

Indeed, I've solved a puzzle that has been going through my mind for the past 2 months--if a marmot emerges and nobody is there to see it, has it emerged? Well, the answer is yes! More importantly, I know that they have missed us. I know this because they're back to their normal activities that include turning perfectly in a way to prevent us from seeing their back and therefore identify them from their fur marks. Honestly, it's a good problem to have! If we wait long enough we can normally figure out who we're looking at. And, there are so many to look at!

In 2.5 days, we've identified a bit more than 40 marmots; we think there are about 50 alive. This includes 2 animals that must have dispersed into our 'Avery' group late last summer. Avery has been extinct for years! These Avery animals need to be marked--something we'll get back to next week when we are permitted in our lab. Most of the other marmots have pretty good marks thanks to a lot of work done in August and September last year ensuring that everyone was marked.

With a skeleton crew there will be few blog entries. Gina, however, is posting regularly to our Instagram page (https://www.instagram.com/rmblmarmotproject/) and Conner is joining Dana and is posting regularly to our Twitter feed (https://twitter.com/teammarmot?lang=en). So, if you want to know what's REALLY happening--that's where the fresh information will be.

We're very grateful to be here, see our old furry friends, look forward to meeting some new ones, and able to continue collecting data!