Land of the Voles

I have spent most of the summer in the field somewhere and had little time to use the Internet.  So after being gone for 4 months I am now going back in time to share my summer adventures with you while I try to keep you informed of things going on today too.

Yesterday I told you what Brooks Camp looked like when I arrived and left off with me going to BL3 to unpack.  BL3 is a beautiful old cabin.  It looks out over Lake Brooks.  I love it.  But when I arrived I was told that I was sharing my room.  No, not with another human but a furry little creature.  That furry little creature is a vole.  Small like a mouse with short rounded ears.  They are not as good as climbers as mice but just as annoying.  I am not a fan of these members of the rodent family.  And I was not excited to be sharing my room with the creatures.

BL3 has never had a rodent problem before.  Why did we suddenly have a little guest.  Seems one of my roommates left a bag of potato chips in his room at the end of last season and with the cold winter and warm cabin supplied with food the vole(s) made themselves at home.  I had unpacked my belongings and was talking with my roommates when I spotted the first vole.

Little?!?  Not exactly.  This vole racing around the room on some kind of sugar high was huge and round and barely kept his belly off the floor.  He was huge and looked more like a guinea pig than a vole.  It was a vole on steroids.  I could not get over how big it was.  Not only that but it was racing around the room like it owned the joint.  First act of business.  Call the boss.

No I wasn't going to demand a new house or an exterminator but I had to have the rules qualified for me.  Animals in a national park are protected.  From the big bears to the tiniest ant or mosquito.  Even the overgrown vole has its rights to live.  I wanted to know if we had a course of action.  I was told we could not kill it.  Fine, I can't kill it but can I trap it?  The answer?  YES. 

So my first night at Brooks was spent laying live traps for voles around the house.  I hope the big guy enters the trap soon. 

Back to Sept and what is going on in Alaska today.  The Anchorage paper had a story of an albino moose spotted with a brown calf.  The article included a picture of mother and calf.  It was interesting news but frustrating as I haven't even seen a brown cow and now white ones are appearing.  I tell you the moose are playing with my mind.