FieldMarking

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:
gray squirrel (in the upland forest edge)
eastern chipmunk (scurrying under a log by the wooded stream)
white-tailed deer (tracks by the wooded stream and the open field stream, then four very frightened adults in the open field)
mystery scat (previously pictured, seemed too big to be any of the other mammals and not the right shape for deer)
muskrat (track by the wooded stream — could have been raccoon)
black rat snake (already discussed, majestically blocking my path at the edge of the woods)
earthworm (in the open field, when I dug a pit trap)
millipede (maybe just one kind in field, upland forest, and riparian)
centipedes (I think two kinds)
pillbugs (aka “roly-polies.” In many of the pit traps.)
red velvet mites (lots in the upland and riparian pit traps)
dog ticks (two on me and one in the old field)
spiders (many kinds — mostly small enough to have fallen into the traps, but including messy web weavers, see below)
eastern tent caterpillar (previously pictured)
cabbage white butterfly (an invasive, apparently)
yellow butterfly (probably something common, like a clouded sulphur)
bees (a couple of native bees, bumblebee, no honey bees)
ants (at least five or six kinds, including carpenter ant)
wasps (a chubby hornet, and perhaps a paper wasp)
houseflies (one on my clipboard! At least three different kinds)
syrphid fly (on garlic mustard, pictured below)
midges (in the open field, suddenly swarming)
beetles (a gorgeous array of large and small ground beetles, tiny iridescent ones, a twice-stabbed lady beetle)
praying mantis (a couple of egg cases from last year (see above), maybe two different species)
crickets (one like camel-backed but not so arched, something smaller)

I’m sure I’m forgetting something!

For recaps of my other bioblitz entries:
BioBlitz Report 1: The Birds of Mt. Pleasant
Look closer
BioBlitz preliminary report
Update on BioBlitz preparations<
Mt. Pleasant: Setting the stage