I’m going to summarize my observations now, before I’ve had a chance to really tally and identify everything. I just haven’t had the time to sort through the fruits of my various traps (is that mixing metaphors?).
To recap, I spent last Tuesday in what I called two habitats: upland forest and riparian. They could both be considered riparian, but I focussed either on the higher elevations further from the stream, or on the area adjacent to the stream. There was a nice woodchip path but I still spent a lot of time moving up and down the hill as I changed my focus from birds, to the pit traps, to plants and fungi, to any little insect or spider I could find. I then spent a few hours on Friday in an open field, also near a stream but dominated by grasses not woodland.
The birds I followed just about anywhere, but it was helpful to have the 15 x 15 meter plots to focus on for the earthbound critters. The flying insect trays were not as successful as the pit traps. For now I’m pooling everything together.
Here’s what I found:
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After three final hours of blitzing this morning I’m finally ready for more in-depth accounts of the week’s observations. I start with birds, my first passion and the group I know best. Yet I make no claims to being a real birder — there’s a reason I chose to study American crows in lower Michigan for my dissertation. Big black noisy bird? Can’t be anything else. I’ve tended to avoid “little brown birds” that hide in the brush, and those pesky little warblers that give you neck strain. But this BioBlitz gave me the chance to add one or two of each to my life list.
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I was planning to title this entry “I stand corrected and I learn something,” but Tim Finin has pointed out that attempts to be witty or provocative just don’t work in this search-engine-optimized world.
Despite my Ph.D. in biology, I’ve never had a course in botany, which my mother finds very disappointing. Jenn points out the “scale insects” I reported yesterday are likely to be petiolar glands. These have their own interesting story. Most likely they serve as “nectaries,” producing a reward for ants that in turn defend the tree against (for example) tent caterpillars. So here’s a photo of the tent caterpillars I found during my BioBlitz, which were not on the same tree.
For those inclined to read the literature, I found a classic abstract by David Tilman on the ant-cherry-caterpillar story.
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I’m still tallying my results from yesterday’s BioBlitz. Looks like I might have fifty organisms where I’ll have scientific names soon. Meanwhile, I wanted to share this surprise I found when I pulled a cherry blossom closer to photograph it (below). I’d guess these are some kind of scale insect, though I haven’t yet been able to put a name on them. It would be cool if they were Dactylopius coccus, which are farmed by people to make red dye, and eaten by certain moth larvae to obtain a chemical defense against ant predators.
I will post another BioBlitz update tonight, but meanwhile, some amusing news. According to Stat Traq, our Mt. Pleasant: Setting the stage entry just surpassed the previous record holder for hits, Sexy spiders and cannabalistic parasitoid flies, oh my. I assume the word “sexy” in the title had a lot to do with its popularity. Let’s see what it does for this one.
This five-feet-long black rat snake was affronted that I had chosen to ignore herps, and remained motionless in front of my car so that I could get out the telephoto lens and get a proper photograph before leaving for the day.
First the rough totals: not counting pit traps, I logged about 80 different kinds of organisms, of which 30 are birds. I estimate the pit traps probably have at least 20 to 25 different things in them plus another ten from the flying insect traps. Of course many of these will not be identifiable to species, and there are likely some duplicates, but I’m still pleased.
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If you haven’t already, be sure to read about the history of Mt. Pleasant Farm, my study site.
I’ve chosen to set up some traps in advance of my BioBlitz day. The photograph above shows a small tub filled with soapy water, perched precariously atop a rickety ladder in my forest habitat. I checked it this morning and already there were flies and wasps in it. I’ll dry out and photograph the unlucky insects and attempt to identify as narrowly as I can. Some I’ll preserve in ethanol.
More photos of my site, and the first few critters after the jump.
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My principal bioblitzing site this week is Mt. Pleasant Farm, in Woodstock, Maryland. Mt. Pleasant is the headquarters of the Howard County Conservancy, a land trust that protects natural, historic, and agricultural sites largely through conservation easements. Before it became the Conservancy’s jewel in the 1990’s, however, the farm already had a long and interesting story to tell.
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The Howard County Conservancy observed Earth Day today with its usual laid back combination of service activities and demonstrations at Mt. Pleasant. One hundred percent of previous Earth Day celebrations in my recent memory have involved gray skies, rain, and mud. So it seemed odd to have a sunny and warm day for a change. I fought the good fight against the multiflora rose and the honeysuckle for about an hour and half, and met a few other comrades. Alas, every year I forget about the existence of suncreen until I’ve been punished on the first sunny day of spring.
Later in the evening my family returned with me to set up the pitfall traps and soapy water tubs for the upcoming BioBlitz. (more…)
