Archives for 2024

Working in the field searching for rare plant species means many things, but mostly, it means getting the opportunity to see plants that many people do not get the chance too. Rare plants are rare for a reason! They can be rare because they are habitat specialists, they have been greatly impacted by human activities, and/or they have limited habitat available. Having the ability to access the areas where they are growing is such a pleasure, especially when you and your field partner have been looking all day for a very tiny plant called Dwarf Woolly Heads (Psilocarphus brevissimus). On this one particular day, while my field partner, Sophia, and I were searching we thought we were going to see everything amazing about this landscape except Dwarf Woolly Heads. First, as we were approaching a fence to access the quarter section, I stopped Sophia mid-sentence and pointed to a small creature peeking out of a hole in the ground. We were not sure what it was at first, but it gave us the chance to slowly and quietly approach it. As we got only a few feet away from the fence, the little guy snuck back into the hole. Thinking that was the end of our interaction with the animal, we hopped the fence. As soon as we got over, he popped out again! We discovered it was a weasel. We watched him watching us as he darted in and out of the hole for the next few minutes. We are thinking he is just as curious about us as we were of him. Or maybe he just needed to get past us, as he later scurried away right in front of Sophia’s feet.

We continued on our way away from the gate as we had a few miles to walk to reach our furthest polygon—an area with suitable habitat—to search for Dwarf Woolly Heads. We were lucky today as well, as the weather was on our side—nice, cool, and slightly breezy! We reached our first and farthest polygon to search for Dwarf Woolly Heads, but unfortunately, we found nothing. We slowly made our way through the polygons back towards the fence where we came from with no luck finding the plant we were searching for. We sat down to take a quick break and in the distance, we saw a pair of Pronghorns. In a previous visit with a landholder, it was mentioned that Pronghorns are very curious animals and will approach you if you raise and lower a hat. So, we quickly get to doing just that, but instead of them being fascinated by us, they seemed more annoyed by us. The pair of Pronghorns snorted in our direction before running off in the distance. I guess they were not very happy to come over the hill and see us sitting there.

It was about time to head back to the vehicle, but we thought we should search at least one or two more polygons on our way out. We arrived at our largest polygon and started searching it, thinking we will not be finding anything since the theme of the day had been animal sightings, not Dwarf Woolly Heads sightings; so, I was quite shocked when Sophia and I realized that the little white plants we were walking on were Dwarf Woolly Heads! They were so small and there were so many of them. We were so excited to have come across our target species for that trip.

You never really know what to expect when you are working in the field. Lots of times you are sent out to very remote places where wildlife and the environment can flourish without much immediate human disturbance. Having the opportunity to be right in the midst of it and join that environment is really remarkable.

top: Dwarf Woolly Heads, Tory Frankl, bottom left: Weasel, Sophia Uytterhagen, bottom right: Pronghorn, Tory Frankl