Pearson - 1995 12 mounds at 7 a.m. A lot of ibises had flown up the canyon yesterday evening, perhaps to roost in the box canyon where we saw the horned owl nest on the ground a few years ago. My trap line Shermans had 7 live Phyllotis including the one from last evening, all Shermans. Anita's line had 2 dead Phyllotis, both in steel traps. The four Sherman traps on mimma mounds were touched. Located one fresh tuco dig near camp (not in the mima area) and set a steel trap there, plus some MS traps nearby. Fresh-cut herb in the tuco tunnel. Photoed and dug in mimma mounds. None showed current tuco occupancy. Dug in a typical one, 8m diameter and 2 ft, high. The soil is beautifully light with no rocks. About one foot down I came to a 1-inch diameter "trunk" of a shrub; also an old tuco burrow that was partly open and partly loosely plugged. Other test holes found no burrows. In between mounds the soil is much heavier and and about 1 foot down becomes rocky. Not as rocky as the substrate a couple of feet down. A marsh hawk has flown over the mimma area several times. Across the road the mounds are not as clearly defined. I dug at the top of two of them and found open tuco tunnels down about 1 foot. Set traps. Also dug another mound near camp and found an open tunnel down about 1 foot. No sign of recent activity in any of these tunnels. A couple of big cola-de-pichi plants have tuco-like activity at their base and fairly stout branches nipped off (hare or tuco?). Also, tumble weeds get hung up in these big cola de pchi bushes and could contribute to the buildup of biomass. Distance between the tops of mounds at the campsite: 12,12,9,15,13,11,8,12,13,11 m. The two dead Phyllotis were both breeding males. Caught a Ctenomys haigii during the afternoon. It was about 100m from the mimma mound area. Not breeding condition; green in stomach. Checked my line up along the cliff. A couple of Shermans had been upset (by viscachas?) and leaf- cutter ants were carrying off the rolled oats bait at the traps at Liz's cave. The amberat smells like Concord grape juice; in fact, Anita found the cave