November 13, 2014

Some light rain showers accompanied two teams to check on Frosty.  Frosty was officially declared a stationary bird, in the sense that he is flying over the same rectangular area of earth, about halfway between Santa Rosa and Sebastopol.  So, we're reducing teams and trackers to both check on Frosty's location and to continue to train the apprentices who were able to go out during this week.  So Phil Capitolo joined up with Brian Smucker, and Lorri Gong joined with Ken Weidner to wander the roads and visit or discover new highpoints in the area, as well as document Frosty's location.  For most experienced trackers, it has been two years since they've been out in the field tracking (due to the Government Shurdown of 2013).  That's a long spell to try to remember all the details, such as protocols for record keeping, and dealing with maps and plotting.  But two things at which the teams are particularly good, are keeping up with the raptor we're tracking and public relations.  The teams visited many dairies in the area, and kind neighbors offered them access to their lands and even their "facilities".  The bottom line, on this very slow year is.... Yes, Frosty remained in the area bordered by Todd and Stony Point, and Llano.