Day 4: Tuesday, March 26, 2013

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A little history of Nova Scotia!  Click link below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Nova_Scotia

Today’s temperature was:  High of 39 degrees Fahrenheit, low of 30 degrees. (So what’s that in Celsius?)

Meet my Earthwatch Team!  In addition to Dr. Christina Buesching and Dr. Chris Newman, there are the following:

Shoba- a 7^th grade science teacher from Boston

Krista - a 6^th grade teacher from Minneapolis

Susan from Vermont

Caroline from Phoenix

Frank – a science teacher from Washington DC

Nola – from Saskatchewan, Canada (our only Canadian!)

Brian – a 3^rd grade teacher from Boston

Tim – a high school environmental studies teacher from San Francisco.

This morning we drove out to Cook’s Lake, our field research location.  There was a lot of snow on the ground cooler.  It was a day for collecting data!  We set out Longwell traps for Mice and Voles.  Dr. Christina showed us the area and began training us on how set up a Longwell trap.  Longwell’s are made out of aluminum and are designed for catching small mammals, such and Mice and Voles. 

What’s the difference between Mice and Voles?

See chart below.

They are both in the same “ORDER”. What is the name of their Order?

Dr. Christina had to teach us how to set the Longworth traps.  

1)   Stuff the large side with lots of hay, but not too much.  They hay keeps the animals warm while they stay in the trap overnight.

2)   Add tablespoon of grain.  This is the bait!!

3)   Connect the trap door part to the larger part.  Make sure its has the “banana shape”. 

4)   Make sure your trap door is open.

Then Dr. Christina told us were to place the traps.  Mice and Voles are prey species.  That means everybody is out to get them for a meal!  Therefore, these little guys know to not to go out in the open were they could get captured.  So we have to put the traps in places were they would go.  In essence, we had to think like a Mouse or a Vole. 

Then Dr. Christina had us place the traps in the forest in a grid pattern, of 5 rows, with 10 traps per row.  The traps were set in 10 meters apart from each other.  We did this in two separate locations.  So, what was the total number of traps we set in the forest today?

We will go back in the morning and check out traps.  Then we will place another set of Longworth traps.

I am excited to see what we trap!!

This is what we are trying to trap!

Hopefully I will be holding one tomorrow!

Hey, get the right amount of hay in the Longworth trap.

Getting one of many traps ready.

Krista checking her trap.

A beautiful stream flowing through the field site.

Organizing the traps to place in the field.

Hey, 4th graders, What do you think this is?

Some Nova Scotia  local flavors.  We had these at lunch!

Placing a traps where I think the mice or voles will be.

Tim and I placing traps in the field. 

ID our sample sites so we can find them tomorrow.