Well, we didn’t get inundated with opacum, but I think the season has officially started. Probably got between 100 and 150 marbled salamanders today--and a handful of Southern toads. Was a nice easy transition into the mayhem that awaits. Unfortunately the rain came down so torrentially yesterday that it just flooded most of the pitfall traps. A flooded bucket doesn’t really make for much of a trap! More time was spent bailing buckets than grabbing salamanders. Well, I should be clear, I didn’t have to bail a single bucket. I’m pretty much along for the ride when it comes to running the fence. Not my job, I just love to help because I think it’s a really cool thing and I’ve got several research projects tied into the Rainbow Bay data set. Anyway, the numbers were easy to handle, but it rained all day today so there will be more waiting in the morning. I don’t think we ever had more than about 15 in a bucket today and that will surely change over the next few weeks. Every marbled salamander coming into Rainbow Bay is brought back to the lab where it is photographed and a subset are measured. If you look at the photo---better photos to come, I promise-- the white pattern you see is unique to every individual so by taking the photograph you essentially end up with an individual identification. very cool, but a lot of tedious work. Hopefully we’ll break 200 tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment