What a day! This was our fourth day of field work and time to bring in the traps. We have spent these last four days trapping in the grassland area of Cook's Lake, and now it is time to end this phase of the data collection. Above you see Mr. Minott's Flat Stanleys (who accompanied him from Long Island, New York) helping with the organization and management of the Longworth traps. I hope they have handled them carefully!
We were in for a big surprise today when teammates Karen and Sharon (otherwise know as Team B) caught a white-tailed mouse! This is the first mouse that has been caught at Lake Cook this year. (His picture is at the very top of this post.) Compared to the meadow vole, the white-tailed mouse has much longer whiskers (an adaptation for hunting), as well as large eyes and much larger ears. Since mice are omnivores and will eat just about anything, their body parts allow them to move around quite a bit without being caught by their many predators.
On our last deer dropping survey, we were not very successful, likely due to the fact that we were searching in dense, boggy forest. It was beautiful, but obviously not a place that deer like to hang out. Instead, our Mr. Minott (bob, the teacher from New York) discovered yet another amphibian friend. This one (pictured with Mrs. Griffith, or Jen at the top right of this post) was a leopard frog, and was very cooperative about letting us hold him. (or her?) Although we found very little deer scat, it was still a very productive day.
3 comments:
How many animals have you seen.
Is that your house on that picture in Nova Scotia?
Hi Ms. Andrews,
This is Hunter Doyle and his mom saying "hi"! Hunter showed me your website today. He is very proud that his teacher is doing something so cool. He can't wait for you to get back. I am sure you are in no hurry! What has been your favorite thing in Nova Scotia and what has been something you haven't liked! Have fun and be safe.
From,
-Hunter Doyle (and his mom)!
<3
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