Observation #6

Site: High School Bute

Date: 6/6/08

Time: 6: 45

Temperature: 65 °F

Weather: Rainy during the morning and sunny later on in the day

The weather seemed to be very rainy throughout the day and this made the soil more damp and almost into a mud like substance. For the first time I saw a double rainbow which really made me excited because I had never seen one in the location ever. I heard many birds chirp for the majority of the time when I was up there and some even flew accross the path and were chillin on the trees right next too me. Before I hopped on the the path to make my way up I also spotted alot of worms on the road, but there was not many worms or other bugs I saw up on the hill. The only life forms that I saw up there were birds and butterflies and the butterflies looked like they were preparing to mate and were flirting in the sky above my head. The sun wanted to come out, but the clouds wouldn't let it, so here we are to this day and still no sun and looking as if it is going to rain or even snow.

Fauna Report

Joe Ertle
Ms. Overly
Science Period 5
May 16, 2008
Mule Deer

The Mule deer also known in the scientific world as the Odocoileus hemionus is part of the Cervidae family. The mule deer is the biggest in its family standing from 40 to 42 inches up to its shoulders. Its length is about 80 inches or so from the nose to the tail. An adult buck will weigh from 150 to 300 pounds, so they are generally very large, but don’t weigh as much as they look. The mule deer gets its name from its mule like ears, its closest relative is the white tailed deer. The mule deer's tail has a black spot on it and the antlers don’t come from a single beam spread throughout and branch. The mating season is normally in the fall for about a month long period. During the mating season males start getting more aggressive for mates. The male bucks sometimes mate with more than one female and can go back into estrus mode if they do not mate for a month. The gestation period ranges from 190-200 days, and then the fawns are born in the spring. The mule deer has a very fine diet and stay fit and healthy. They have different eating habits during different seasons. In the summer they eat various berries such as the blackberry, huckleberry, and thimbleberry. In winter the mule deer eat twigs of Douglas fir, cedar, taxus yews, aspen, willow, dogwood, serviceberry, juniper, and sage. All year-round, the mule deer feast on acorns and apples. The deer like nice habitats where it has many different kind of diversity. They like to live on grass where the trees meet it so they can hide if need be. They very rarely travel far away from a water supply so that they can always stay hydrated so they have mad hops to jump away from predators or escape hunters with the speed of the mach 5. The mule deer do not really play a big role in their environment besides getting owned by cars or bears. They are herbivores so they don’t really need much of any other organism. They don’t have to consume that much besides grass, which there is in abundance. The mule deer are spectacular animals and are amazing to see in the wild. They make it a fun sport for hunters, even though I don’t officially agree with that game. They make Jackson Hole, Wyoming an even nicer place to be just with them around to gaze at.

w0rkz exCITED

Works Cited

Franco. "Douglas-Fir." Silvics.

Mikequin. Mule Deer Poster. 13 May 2008 http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/AGF/1831~Mule-Deer-Posters.jpg

"Mule Deer." Wikipedia. 12 May 2008 .

Tilltom. Douglas-Fir. 22 May 2008
http://www.doubleexposure.com/uploads/6__tomtill-143-052-4028-s.jpg

Observation #5

Site: High School Bute

Date: 5/20/08

Time: 6: 45

Temperature: 65 °F

Weather: Sunny with a cloud cover and very warm throughout the whole day.

The day was very cloudy and it ended up raining with lightning and thunder. In the morning the day seemed as if it would not end up how it did, unfortunatly it did. It was very good for the environment though because all of the plants and flowers got moisture. The only organisms that I saw were beetles and insects including; grasshoppers, butterflies, beetles, and worms. I went up the bute a different way than previous ways and captured a great view of the tetons just over the ponderosa trees. There was a great deal of noise coming from the birds and I believe that they were feasting on the bugs that were drawn out by the moisture that was coming down from the rain. I noticed that the grass on the side had already flourished a little more and looked more green and lushious. The day was very pleasent and it was nice for the environment to get moisture.

Observation #4

Site: High School Bute

Date: 5/15/08

Time: 8:30

Temperature: 59 °F

Weather: Sunny, Clear blue skys, stayed light out until about 9:45

On Thursday night on the high school bute it was a little darker than when I had gone in earlier observations. I did not spot as many animals in the night but I did hear stranger noises coming from the woods in the trees somewhere. It was getting darker as I searched around and I was frightened by the noises so I didn't have as much time to do my observations as I had in previous ones. The night was very calm besides strange noises and the soil was very dry and my shoes were just filled with dirt as I got to the bottom. I went back to the nest that I had found earlier and there was still no sign of life in it, so hopefully soon there will be something in it and I can take a picture of it!

Observation #3

Site: High School Bute

Date: 5/13/08

Time: 6:15

Temperature: 63 °F

Weather: Sunny during day time and started cooling down as night came.


Finally a nice day in Jackson Hole, Wyoming on the top of the high school bute! It was sunny and had a slight wind chill on Tuesday, but was great for the plantation after a rainy day on Monday. The weather should start to warm up at the end of the week so more organisms will start to come out. Now that most of the snow has melted their will be more food for life forms to come out and eat. As I was up on the hill and coming down I looked down and saw even more human organisms around playing baseball, hiking, paragliding, and just having a good time. I didn't spot as many deer as before, but I did see one struggling on a side of the hill trying to get back up to its mother. I spotted a nest in the woods a little in but I didn't see any birds in it or eggs so I assume some time within the next 2 months that there will be some eggs or baby birds because it is starting to warm up from what seems like an ice age. The day was beautiful and it seemed like nothing would go wrong until I fell down the hill at the end and edge of it and scrapped up my leg a little. Not on my hill but on a bute near by, a boulder broke in two pieces and went into a house and totalled a car, so hopefully this will not happen on the bute I am doing my research on.

Observation #2

Site: High School Bute

Date: 5/7/08

Time: 7:45

Temperature: 53 °F

Weather: Coudy, Overcast, Slight rainstorm.


On the second day of checking out the environment it was a little different weather and the soil was a little moist and it created mud in certain spots. The life seemed more dense and not as many life forms were out in the open. I spotted creatures in the woods in the trees, but I didn't see any deers around. The deers normally come out when I take that hike at this time and this time I didn't spot them. The plants and flora was getting water so I assume more soon than later that they will grow and blossom as the season goes on.

Observation #1 - Description of the Area

Site: High School Bute

Date: 5/5/08

Time: 5:30

Temperature: 64 °F

Weather: Sunny, Clear blue skys, Cool breeze



On a long wanted warm spring day in Jackson Hole, Wy. I went on a quick little hike on our 20 minute hike up the high school bute. In the area there was many trails with dry dirt and trees starting to finally have snow come off of them with patches of snow at the top of the bute. With the grass quickly melting and the grass starting to sprout about the hill many more organisms are starting to come out looking for food such as the herd of deer I spotted on the side of the mountain. There was also smaller more cute and chunky life forms of squirrels running about the trees. I believe that as the snow starts melting the animals will starting coming out and looking for food and I will see alot of baby animals because it is spring time.