This pat week team SPAW traveled to Yellowstone National Park and on our way there we stopped at Lewis and Clark Caverns. I was surprised how far into the cavern we went during the tour and to see all the unique mineral formations. This was one of my favorite parts while on our camping trip.

This week Ana and I went with our mentor Janene Lichtenberg to help band trumpeter swans at the Montana Waterfowl Foundation. We had to wrangle up the swans and hold them until they were fitted with their ID bands and blood sample taken. We both got a little bruised up but it was a great experience!

The heat here in Montana is a scorcher! It is usually not 100 degrees this early in the summer, so I have to do my research in the morning to escape the heat and it starts to get really hot around 10-11 am. On a side note, the rest of team SPAW call me the troll since my research is conducted under bridges, well at least I have a co-troll so I am not under bridges alone. Pictured above is Kole my research partner attempting to reach under the bridge.

On Thursday our supervisor Janene took all of team SPAW to visit with the Salish-Pend d’Oreille Culture Committee to gain a better understanding of tribal culture. We spoke with the director of the committee Antoine Incashola and talked briefly about what kind of projects we were doing. Team SPAW is going to implement some form of tribal culture into are papers since we are working on the Flathead Reservation.

This last Tuesday was my first day examining under bridges for the presence of bats. Some bridges such as this one can be quite the struggle to get under, especially when I have to crawl to make my way under. I also found that mosquitoes sure do love hiding under bridges as well. However, I am up for the challenge!