Notes About Nature

09 February 2013

Jenna and I decided to visit an area we had never been to today. We decided that since we usually go east or west, we'd mix it up a little and go south. Since it was cool out, we weren't in a hurry to leave. It was about 8:30 am when we left the house. We drove for about an hour before reaching our destination in Miller County. Immediately on getting there we found 7 Trumpeter Swans. Here's are a couple pictures I took of of them.

 

We then moved to a different parking lot and headed toward the woods. Here are pictures of Jenna and I as we are putting on our backpacks and heading out.

We had to wade across a swift moving stream and eventually found a spot shallow enough to cross without getting water in our boots. Immediately after crossing the stream, we came to a steep hill with a vertical cliff at the top. We followed along the bottom of the cliff until we came to a spot that allowed us to go up and over. That put us exactly in the type of habitat I had been looking for; a glade. We then spent the next four and a half hours hiking up and down steep hills flipping every rock and log that wasn't to big for our combined strength to move. We found some worms and ants but that's about it. Five hours of hiking and not a single herp and only 18 species of birds.

When flipping rocks and logs it is important to try your hardest to place them back exactly as you found them. Each piece of cover is a micro niche providing housing to different organisms than the next piece of cover. You do have to be careful when you replace a rock or log that you don't squish what is under the cover. You either have to make sure it is in an area the rock or log won't reach or else remove the organism, replace the cover, and release the organism next to the cover. Then replace the leaves and dirt around the rock or log.

Jenna replacing a rock she had moved

Jenna and I are both quick to call days like to day marginal at best, but I think we are starting to realize that we are too quick to judge. Not only do we get to spend time together, but we're outside and that makes everything better. Not only that but now we know that there is no herptofauna at this place during daylight hours when the high temperatures are in the 40s in February. We also discovered some good areas to look in the future once it warms up.

When we came back to the creek we just played for a while. It didn't take long for us to find some fish. Jenna said, "Look at this one! It's weird." One glance and I instantly knew we had a new life fish species. I knew from Ichthyology class that it was a Sculpin. We saw several of them and they kept swimming right up to us and going under our boots. I made a couple quick grabs at them but only got COLD water in my boots. Jenna on the other hand didn't have much trouble nabbing one. Here are some pictures. The first is one Jenna took of a Sculpin I spotted sitting on the bottom of the stream.

 Mottled Sculpin (Cottus bairdii)

  Mottled Sculpin (Cottus bairdii)

 Mottled Sculpin (Cottus bairdi)