Where should I begin this digital journey? First off, I just finished my Bachelor of Science in biology and archaeology and am now incredibly excited to be working as a rare plant search member for Nature Saskatchewan. It was quite relieving to find a job right out of the gate that will provide me with good experience to begin building my own environmental ventures. Every day includes incredible finds and each direction always offers an amazing new perspective of earth. I like to say that I was in school for five years and yet the field has taught me more about myself and nature in less than a month.
My two favorite flowers so far have been the incredible prairie smoke and the gumbo evening primrose flower, a nocturnally blooming flower that me and my field partner discovered at a secret valley lookout point. It has not only been cool plants though and I have found some cool skulls, bones, and rocks filled with lichen which got me all giddy. One of the coolest lichens in the area is known as tumbleweed lichen due to the similarity in behavior that it shares with tumbleweeds (i.e, it blows through the air due to lack of a functional substrate attachment). It was interesting to learn about how this lichen contributes to a major portion of the pronghorn diet and provides key nutrients for the prairie mammal. This new connection made me curious to learn more about how lichen and mammals interact in the wild.
Prairie Smoke Gumbo Evening Primrose
I hope that I can share more about lichen, and my finds as my adventure begins, but for now, just check out some of these cool finds from the past week. I suspect that I have just begun to uncover the fascinating ecology of this small corner of Sask.
Diverse Lichen Colonies 
Mallard Nest With 12 Eggs
Thanks for stopping by!