PCCI Research Day 3

On Tuesday morning, I headed out for the Pierce Cedar Creek Institute. Work would not start for a few days, so I had planned to explore the property over the course of these two days. After moving in, I started walking the trails. Conditions were not the best and the rain started not long after. Even so, it did not stop me from exploring. I walked a good portion of the trails (about 3.5 miles) and was soaked in the process. It was a productive walk though. I saw Veery and Cerulean Warbler. Later in the day we all went to a sports bar for trivia. We almost won... The next day I joined the rattlesnake team to collect Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnakes. After three hours of searching in dense wetlands, we found five rattlesnakes, two of which were found by me. That night, my research partner and I headed over to some fields east of the institute and saw Henslow's Sparrow, Bobolink, and Eastern Meadowlark. Unfortunately the Institute property only has Song Sparrow, Field Sparrow, and Common Yellowthroat. Today we helped out with the Garlic Mustard pull until Dr. Keys came by. Once he went over a few things we started our point count survey training. The toughest part about that, is that you need to determine if the bird is singing within 50 meters of your point. It is much harder than it sounds. Property list is at 69 birds, 7 reptiles and amphibians, and 5 mammals. I'll keep you posted.

 The first rattlesnake was a male in very dense phragmites stand.

 The second one, was in a much better photography position.

 Same one

This little neonate was found by another in our group, but I thought I'd show you how small these guys are at first.

This is me with the second rattler