Back in the saddle...

Flattened musk turtle, Sternotherus depressus

It's been a year and 4 days since I last blogged. Facebook has taken the place of blogging to some degree, but I'm going to try to revive this old blog. Julia Zickefoose, whose blog is a favorite of mine, recently lamented in this interview "the decline of blogging in favor of the more immediate (and infinitely more shallow) frisson of social networking. I’m convinced that if I didn't share every blog post on Facebook, nobody would read my blog anymore."

It's the beginning of serious field season for me. I'm trapping flattened musk turtles at a concrete bridge removal site on Brushy Creek in Bankhead National Forest to get them out of harm's way before tomorrow's scheduled demolition. It's also red-cockaded woodpecker nesting time, and I need to be about three other places at once to monitor nests. On top of that, I'm preparing final maps and assimilating publication-quality images from numerous sources for two volumes that will update Bob Mount's The Reptiles and Amphibians of Alabama. Oh, and co-editing a natural communities book.  More on all that later.

Finally, check out Dave Steen's excellent blog over at Living Alongside Wildlife.  It's been a while since I actually went there (sorry Dave!), but I just did and I like what he's done with the place.