4/11 Visit to Foxcroft Farm
When first getting to the farm this week, we immediately noticed several differences in both the landscape and the species present in comparison to last week. Overall, the water levels seemed to be lower. Additionally, the water appeared murkier, which may have been due to runoff from the rain. It was overall a brighter day which not only lightened the area, but our moods. I noticed a lot more birds both visually and they called out a lot more. Sophia was able to picture a few of the birds, but nothing up close or of unusual activity from them. There was less wind as well, which I think aided in our excitement to look for species, in addition to allowing more species to be present. Last week we noticed almost no color in the area, but this week we finally started seeing a bit more green from the grasses that were starting to sprout. We did, however, take extra care to find and picture many different aspects of the dead plants in the area. Hongli also became our spider expert and found a few species of spiders. We didn't have much luck digging through the mud, but it still may just be too early in the season for a lot of biodiversity to appear. My favorite moment of the day was when a duck flew pretty close overhead. When I broke off from the group to do by moment of silence, I was able to find some cool moss which captured my interest and also a hole which I was unable to identify or get very good pictures of. I attached pictures of both the hole and the moss to this post. I am unsure if something was living within the hole as it seemed vaguely old, but it is possible some kind of rodent was living there or will be in the near future. Looking at the weather for next week, this might end up being the best week for finding biodiversity, but I am still holding out hope for clear and dry weather next week.
In my moment of silence I observed a lot more than last week, mostly due to less wind I think. After about a minute or so into the silence the birds showed up. They remained mostly in the distance, but I did hear a few sounds close up. It felt almost like every minute a new, unique bird sound happened. Almost all of my observations were sound based besides some shifting of the shadows. I heard some shifting in the grass / reeds further downstream from me and at one point I'm pretty sure I heard a deep frog sound. Also a few breezes made the branches shift and make sound. Unfortunately I also heard a bit of sounds from the road and at 10am I heard church bells. Towards the end I had a few bugs land on me, but nothing that lingered long enough to be even remotely identifiable.
Next week I'm really hoping to find some more diversity within my biocube. We have found most things outside of the cube, especially on the shore. I'm sure some of the extractions we take back to the lab will be good. I'm keeping my hopes up for week 3.
Comentarios
Añade un comentario