Life as a Field Biologist (Part #2)
By Isaac Rath and Katie Milesky
Photos by Isaac Rath
Regardless if you were eagerly awaiting this update or your cat walked across the keyboard and accidentally clicked enough random buttons to land you on this page, I’m here with an update. One thing about this kind of fieldwork - you’ve got to be okay with being alone, exhausted, and hopefully nose-blind to how bad you smell on a daily basis. It’s not uncommon to go days without seeing another person, and showers are often a weekly occurrence. Laundry? Forget about it. I've been in the field for over a month, and this weekend is the first chance I’ve had to get my clothes washed. Streams and motel bathtubs have been the best available option for a while. Well, possibly laundry mats, but that costs money, and they are just going to get dirty again anyway…
In less smelly news, I’m getting into the groove of the job, getting more surveys done each day I go out and have seen some incredible sunrises. I’ve also picked up a hobby of carving wood in my free time in the evening when I’m car camping at my survey location (or, as close as I can get to it via car). One evening, I was watching the sunset from the back of my rental, carving a kiwi bird out of a stick I’d found when I looked up and a pronghorn, the fastest land animal on the continent, was just a few feet away from the car. Often called antelope, they are actually more closely related to giraffes! Like bison, there were once upwards of 30 million pronghorns roaming North America, but numbers are significantly lower these days. We both minded our business, neither of us bothering each other. These moments with wildlife are really special to me and remind me why I am so passionate about conservation and maintaining habitat for these creatures.
While driving along the highway between survey locations, I noticed the slightest movement out of the corner of my eye. I pulled over to investigate and found a pair of badgers doing what they do best - digging! They were creating a den for themselves and their kits - maybe not in the safest place to do so, with cars whizzing by at 65+ mph, but hopefully, they remember to look both ways before crossing the street. I came back at a later time and saw a prairie falcon attacking the badgers, which seemed a bit odd, but all three survived the ordeal.
As I drove away, I nearly hit a stick in the road. On the second look, it wasn’t a stick at all, but a Great Basin Rattlesnake. Of course, I had to stop and get some photos, but obviously from a healthy distance from the danger noodle.
Life as a solo field biologist is very rewarding. You get a lot of special moments, but at times it is so much harder than you think it will be. It's not the long hard days, solo hikes over rough terrain at 3am, or sleeping in my car every night. It's not even how disgusting I feel on day six without a shower. It's the lack of companionship. When I accepted this job, I never anticipated this would be a problem. You can have all the incredible experiences in the world but without anyone next to you to share them with, sometimes they just feel empty. The support of Katie and my family has been amazing, and some days is all that keeps me out here doing this. They’ve even all taken the time to come visit me at some point, even if the driving to get here is nearly as long as they can stay. Luckily, it’s short field season and I’ll be able to move on to something different next month, hopefully working with a team instead. But for now, I just have a few weeks left, so I’m going to keep my long-term goals in mind and persevere.
