Day 3 -- April 16 -- Checking the traps

We checked our traps this morning and again this afternoon. We went to the "a" side of the road first and my second trap in from the road had the tunnel door shut! Anybody home?

I couldn't find out right away because the plan was, the volunteers being amateurs, we'd check all the "a" traps and take any with closed doors to a central location for our training by Christina on how to check the traps, remove the animal, take data, mark it, and return it to the exact location where it was trapped. Christina demonstrated on the first three traps. Mine was first, so I didn't have a lot to do with the whole process other than watching, but the anticipation was so high with the opening of the traps that it reminded me of Christmas morning! I'd trapped a redbacked vole!

I trapped another redbacked vole in the afternoon, and this time, I got to practice what I'd learned in the morning. This is the video of me taking an animal from a trap for the very first time. (Christina does it in about 1/10 the time.)