The NGP Work Blog

Workflow

08 Feb 2026

I had plans to finetune my workflow prior to the start of the field season. I am getting there slowly, trying to make it so I am not wasting time looking for random bits or random files. It's been a big overhaul of my files and my office space.  Trying to my needed resources in easily accessible places while removing the files/items from jobs I don't need to reference anymore. One of my online drives had several GB of items that I don't need to store online for access anymore. Along with a slew of school documents and old job applications.  Pulling those off and storing them locally created a nice amount of free space for current work items.  Small wins.

I'll be getting back to working on this site more now that my actual workspace isn't as cluttered. I think I have a better workflow figured out so I am not accidentally deleting posts from existence. Field season is right around the corner now. Maybe 2 months before things start to get busy. Granted the abnormally warm winter might bring migration on a little sooner than anticipated. I have birds singing out my window already. Too soon you guys, too soon...

Oops, my bad...

01 Feb 2026

It was only a matter of time that I made my first error on here.   I just had to go an mix up some of my files and try to change my workflow a little be for creating content. Little did I know, it was going to bring about the loss of a longer blog post. I guess I need to rewrite the whole thing since I cannot for the life of me find the original document for the post. It has been just long enough between posts that I forgot a little of what I had going on.   Figured I would just update and push the updated file just to realize the version I edited was not the newest version of the file.  sigh I will have to go through and try again. I am indeed very rusty in the ways of websites. On the plus side, I am back to trying to build more content for here and make it more appealing to the eye. Need to fix my workflow and document organization before I do more. Lesson learned.

Busy for no Reason

01 Feb 2026

Feel like I am working yet not all at the same time. The inbetween "jobs" that I am right now makes it all seem more chaotic that it should be. Plus, I am already thinking about this upcoming field season since that really is right around the corner. Trying to get my replacement for one office slightly ready to start at arrival while getting myself ready for the new role has been weird and chaotic. I am probably not fully focused on the right things but that is so difficult to tell right now since some things seem like a pending dumpster fire. Always flexible, that is how the job needs to be since things are always changing in ways that I never expect. Working on better ways to organize so I don't let things slip through the crack accidentally. Oh, well, on to February and whatever it is going to bring my way.

Change of Scenery

10 Jan 2026

I am beginning to worry we won't get a proper winter this year. I hope I am wrong but it has been too warm this winter so far. I am in the process of moving to a different office in a different state so it has gotten a little hectic. New office will bring new challenges and a change of scenery. Get work a little further north :). The scope of job will change only slightly. Same employer, same work, just partnering up with a different organization in a different state in a newly established position. I am looking forward to the challenge of getting my organization better established there and get more conservation work on the ground.

Aside from that, I have been making tweaks to other projects I have been working on. Testing out another citizen science project to see if we can get some participants. Working on more content for this page to fill in the blank pages and get some longer blog posts up. Big plans, I just need to make sure they come together.

Winter in the Field

07 Jan 2026

I have to say, this winter in the Great PLains is not much of a winter so far. The temperature is more fall like than winter, for now at least. I have to remind myself that this is still early winter and that the cold might not hit hard until February. I don't want to think about it too much since this time period goes fast and come March I will be looking at things like Greater Sage Grouse leks and early migration. I did learn something new recently, since birds are not heavy in my background compared to plants and reptiles. The Red Crossbills I saw during one of my winter surveys, they will next in late winter, so they could be nesting right now. I know some raptor and owl species will nest in winter but did not know there were song birds that did, too. I have plenty more to learn about birds it seems.

Aside from winter bird surveys, everything is just preparing for the coming Spring/Summer field work that I will have plenty of from the sounds of it. Not the most exciting time for field work but the data clean up and reports are slowly getting done. They less glamorous parts of the job like staring at spreadsheets and making maps. I'll admit I am ready for the busy field season to return despite this past year being more burn out for me that it should have been.

Christmas Bird Counts 2025

02 Jan 2026

Conducted my second Christmas bird count of the 2025 season today. The CBC runes from 15 Dec to 5 Jan so that is why this one is still in the 2025 cycle. The weather was foggy and a tab chilly. It made for poor visibility for 2/3 of the day. The sun barely peeked out after 14:30. Species diversity ended up being better than expected given weather but not the highest this count has seen. We'll see if the rest of the count week brings in some more diversity.

Highlights of the day were a couple Prairie Falcons, a Great Horned Owl, and plenty of Rough-Legged Hawks. We had a decent showing of Red Crossbills and Horned Lark.

I'll share a couple photos since the hoarfrost created some stunning views.

Winter Bird Counts

01 Jan 2026

Let the bird surveys begin. Currently in count week of one of the Christmas Bird Counts I compile for. Trying to find species in the count circle so I don't miss species for the survey. The primary count day is tomorrow, where the official count occurs but I like to scout within the count week that is the two days before and two days after the count. Hopefully tomorrow has weather just as good as today.