If 10,000 Birds and The Hawk Owl's Nest can do it, so can I. Here are my personal Top 10 Nature Moments of 2007.
10. All four Longspurs in a year!
Starting with a vagrant Smith's Longspur with Laplands on Long Island early this year, I managed to be successful in seeing all four Longspurs when I found both McKay's and Chestnut-colored in Wyoming in August.
9. A long-time nemesis falls: Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow
I blog this really cool species again and again and again, looking at both subspecies identification and the reasons for the Nelson's / Saltmarsh species split.
8. Stadium Birding
Stadium birding is always a hit. Especially when you get to watch 19 Warbler species and 42 species total... at 1am.
7. Montezuma Muckrace
I competed in the Montezuma Muckrace for the third time this fall, for the second time with one of two student teams from Cornell. This year, my team managed to place third, tied with Chris Tessaglia-Hymes's team with 122 species. The after-action report from the Muckrace indicated that our team raised $265 and the Muckrace total raised a record high amount of over $10k!
6. I fall in love with Red-bellies!
I got a herp lifer, Red-bellied Snake (Storeria occipitomaculata), promptly found about 30 more over the course of the summer, and have absolutely fallen in love.
5. Allegany State Park herping
My band of herping friends and I traveled to Allegany State Park, pulling down a whopping total of 25 species in a weekend, with four lifers including the stunning Long-tailed Salamander (Eurycea longicauda).
4. My NY big year in herps - 40 species total
I never got to writing a summary post on my unofficial herping big year in NY, but it was big!
14 species of salamander (4 lifers)
11 species of frog (2 lifers)
3 species of turtle (a lifer subspecies)
1 species of lizard (a lifer)
11 species of snake (6 lifers)
For a total of 40 species and 13 lifers! Not bad at all for NY, even though I had some major misses.
Selected herping posts:
Spring Field Survey (Black Rat Snake)
Allegany State Park (Long-tailed Salamander, Wehrle's Salamander, Short-headed Garter)
Green Snake and Coal Skink
Massasauga
Sniffing Mink Frogs in the Adirondacks
Long Island Herping (Marbled Salamander, Ribbon Snake)
3. Winter Finches!
Certainly the highlight of NY birding this year has been the Winter Finch Invasion! We in the Cayuga Lake Basin have finally completed the Winter Finch Sweep (although I have not, personally - I still need Hoary Redpoll and White-winged Crossbill... as lifers!).
Select posts:
Seeing those finches for myself
Where are the Bohemian Waxwings?
Pinicola!
Enucleator!
Patterns of Winter Irruptives
2. TAing my Field Biology Class... in the Field!
This semester I was a Teaching Assistant for Introductory Field Biology with my mentor, Charlie Smith. It was a ton of fun! See my posts on herps, fish, mammals, and more here.
1. Colorado-Wyoming-AOU Trip! 55 bird lifers and 11 herp lifers in 8 days!
The series of 10 posts begins here. Photo-heavy and lots of fun!
Showing posts with label Field Biology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Field Biology. Show all posts
Monday, December 24, 2007
Friday, November 2, 2007
Herp Lab 2: Feeding the Black Rat Snake
Continuing my adventures as a Field Biology Teaching Assistant, I again brought live herps in to lab to teach students - this time for the other section (Field Biology is divided into two sections, taught by two different professors and essentially operating as independent courses). Not as much to show this time, but I did get a few nice pictures to start:
Love that pebble skin
So cute
'Look at me, I'm a cute baby Crested Gecko!'
Western Hognose (Heterodon nasicus)
Highlight, as last time, was two super-tame Black Rat Snakes (Elaphe obsoleta). This time it was even cooler: Carmela fed her Black Rat Snake while holding it.
Strike
Swallowing
No Carmelas were harmed, he didn't bite and just slobbered.
Gargoyle Gecko (Rhacodactylus auriculatus)
Love that pebble skin
So cute
'Look at me, I'm a cute baby Crested Gecko!'
Western Hognose (Heterodon nasicus)
Highlight, as last time, was two super-tame Black Rat Snakes (Elaphe obsoleta). This time it was even cooler: Carmela fed her Black Rat Snake while holding it.
Offer
Sniff
Strike
Maneuvering
Swallowing
Further...
Enthralled onlookers
Check out this cool video of the event:
When it was all over, he still sniffed rat on Carmela's hand and decided to have a little gnaw:
Monday, October 29, 2007
Woodland Critters (A Weekend at Arnot)
This weekend was the Arnot Teaching Forest weekend field trip. This wonderful expanse of land run by our Natural Resources Department sits in a little pocket of Schuyler county, 30 minutes southwest of Cornell, and hosts a big Sugarbush providing Cornell's maple syrup production. Mmm... maple syrup... but I digress.
This weekend, our class was instructed in many field techniques, including clinometry, compass work, using topographic maps, herping, and field sampling. The crux of the whole trip was intensive small mammal trapping. We split into three groups, running Sherman live trap lines in three locations: the sugarbush, creekside, and an old field at the top of the big hill. I immediately volunteered to take my group up to the old field, because the big fields hold some nice views and good herping (at least in the summer, when it is warmer than 50 degrees).
I took my group on a bouncy, rough ride in the van up to the old fields. It was still early morning, cold, wet, and clouds were clinging to the top of the hill:
We set up a trap line of 50 traps spaced five meters apart. We tried to make it as straight as possible, but still ended up with a weaving line through the field and brush. "If this were a real study, we would make the line straight..."
Interesting finds on this early morning walk that left us soaked from the waist down from dew:
We returned to the lodge, tried to dry ourselves off by the fireplace, then began our days activities. Our three groups rotated between three activities: mapping, orienteering, and herping (led by me!).
I did a loop with each group, covering multiple specific habitat types: field, forest floor, marshy pond edges, vernal pool, rocky slope, and creek. It worked quite well, and was able to have them find a variety of species of salamander, most other herps having been burrowing in for the winter with the recent cold. Some highlights from our woodland walks:
When the spider hit the ground it curled up.
A very nice patch of lichen and sporulating Lycopodium.
Another class had this bridge collapse while they crossed it a week ago.
(Photo by Chris Bentley)
After the days activities were all through, we made another quick run at dusk to the old field to check the trap line. We came up empty mammal-wise, but we had gunning the van through expanses of puddle on the road and got some nice views of the setting sun lighting up the fall foliage on the hills.
The rest of the night was taken up by dinner, after-dark trap checks (cold and blustery on the hilltop!), s'mores, and bonfire (naturally).
Marshmallow fun (Photo by Chris Bentley)
The next day, we collected the traps (closed during the night to prevent further capture) and had the groups summarize and present their findings.
Herp Totals:
Thamnophis sirtalis - 1
Storeria occipitomaculata - 1
Rana clamitans - 3
Pseudacris crucifer - 1
Plethodon cinereus - 10+
Eurycea bislineata - 11+
Notophthalmus viridescens - 5+
Gyrinophilus porphyriticus - 2
Ambystoma maculatum - 1
Plethodon glutinosus - 2
Desmognathus ochrophaeus - 4+
Plethodon cinereus
Notophthalmus viridescens
Ambystoma maculatum
Presenting the herp totals
Mammal totals:
Red-backed Vole, Clethrionomys gapperi - 9
Meadow Vole, Microtus pennsylvanicus - 1
Short-tailed Shrew, Blarina brevicauda - 1 DOA
White-footed Mouse, Peromyscus leucopus - 3
Deer Mouse, Peromyscus maniculatus - 1
Peromyscus sp. - 2
We did fairly well on birds too. We added a new species to the Arnot checklist - Red-bellied Woodpecker. We also heard a Fox Sparrow singing in the exact spot we mist-netted one two years ago. Mitch heard some Pine Siskins, and Raven were flying around all day.
What a great weekend and a great class.
This weekend, our class was instructed in many field techniques, including clinometry, compass work, using topographic maps, herping, and field sampling. The crux of the whole trip was intensive small mammal trapping. We split into three groups, running Sherman live trap lines in three locations: the sugarbush, creekside, and an old field at the top of the big hill. I immediately volunteered to take my group up to the old field, because the big fields hold some nice views and good herping (at least in the summer, when it is warmer than 50 degrees).
Organizing and baiting the traps
I took my group on a bouncy, rough ride in the van up to the old fields. It was still early morning, cold, wet, and clouds were clinging to the top of the hill:
We set up a trap line of 50 traps spaced five meters apart. We tried to make it as straight as possible, but still ended up with a weaving line through the field and brush. "If this were a real study, we would make the line straight..."
Interesting finds on this early morning walk that left us soaked from the waist down from dew:
A very cold and nonmoving Garden Spider
Perhaps the most proudly displayed box of Coyote scat ever
We returned to the lodge, tried to dry ourselves off by the fireplace, then began our days activities. Our three groups rotated between three activities: mapping, orienteering, and herping (led by me!).
Lounging between activities (ignorant of Marcus's rooftop shenanigans)
I did a loop with each group, covering multiple specific habitat types: field, forest floor, marshy pond edges, vernal pool, rocky slope, and creek. It worked quite well, and was able to have them find a variety of species of salamander, most other herps having been burrowing in for the winter with the recent cold. Some highlights from our woodland walks:
Me teachin' (Photo by Chris Bentley)
A slug exuding slime where someone touched it.
A decent sized spider dropping down from the trees. Look near the bottom of the pic for it hanging. You couldn't feel the silk thread, but grabbing at where it should be allowed us to pass the spider around.
When the spider hit the ground it curled up.
A very nice patch of lichen and sporulating Lycopodium.
Another class had this bridge collapse while they crossed it a week ago.
(Photo by Chris Bentley)
After the days activities were all through, we made another quick run at dusk to the old field to check the trap line. We came up empty mammal-wise, but we had gunning the van through expanses of puddle on the road and got some nice views of the setting sun lighting up the fall foliage on the hills.
The rest of the night was taken up by dinner, after-dark trap checks (cold and blustery on the hilltop!), s'mores, and bonfire (naturally).
Marshmallow fun (Photo by Chris Bentley)
The next day, we collected the traps (closed during the night to prevent further capture) and had the groups summarize and present their findings.
Herp Totals:
Thamnophis sirtalis - 1
Storeria occipitomaculata - 1
Rana clamitans - 3
Pseudacris crucifer - 1
Plethodon cinereus - 10+
Eurycea bislineata - 11+
Notophthalmus viridescens - 5+
Gyrinophilus porphyriticus - 2
Ambystoma maculatum - 1
Plethodon glutinosus - 2
Desmognathus ochrophaeus - 4+
Rana clamitans
Plethodon cinereus
Notophthalmus viridescens
Plethodon glutinosus with missing upper snout.
Gyrinophilus porphyriticus
Ambystoma maculatum
Presenting the herp totals
Mammal totals:
Red-backed Vole, Clethrionomys gapperi - 9
Meadow Vole, Microtus pennsylvanicus - 1
Short-tailed Shrew, Blarina brevicauda - 1 DOA
White-footed Mouse, Peromyscus leucopus - 3
Deer Mouse, Peromyscus maniculatus - 1
Peromyscus sp. - 2
As it turns out, old field didn't yield any mammals
Meadow Vole
Peromyscus sp. - extremely difficult to ID
Red-backed Vole - Adorable. They huddle together in a pile and sound like squeeky toys.
We did fairly well on birds too. We added a new species to the Arnot checklist - Red-bellied Woodpecker. We also heard a Fox Sparrow singing in the exact spot we mist-netted one two years ago. Mitch heard some Pine Siskins, and Raven were flying around all day.
Can you tell which van is mine?
What a great weekend and a great class.
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