Basking at Baskett (Slough NWR)

The pure sunshine weather streak has finally broken! Hopefully the 85 degree weather goes with it, and a little rain falls from all these clouds.
I haven't really talked about it yet so...
The duties of this job include:
Egg plot counts: exactly what it sounds like. Get down and count pinhead sized eggs, if they've hatched try to find the larvae.
You see some pretty neat insects this way too, since you're searching for such detail.

Here you can see two hatched eggs (they turn white and look like little beads) and a maybe 1mm larvae

 They're a bit difficult to detect. For a while I had a 50% success rate (if each hatched egg = 1 larvae), but its dwindled substantially.

 Remember that picture where there were three eggs all stuck in together? Well here they are, all hatched out.

Cool finds while sampling

There are simply oodles of spiders. They aren't large, but these 'crab' spiders are perfectly deadly to the passing insect. This one is saying hello to you all.  
There are these spiffy insects called snake flies. I guess giraffe-neck flies was too long

Behavior monitoring: Capture female Fenders, cool her down, mark her wing with a sharpy, cool her. Release her in the center of the plot and track her behavior for 15 minutes.

This is an unmarked female to the right.
Any time we re-encounter a marked butterfly, we make note. For science. The behaviors we note are sitting, basking (right), flying, chase (below), oviposit (laying eggs), and nectaring (2nd below).

She was really intent on this calochortus and let me get ridiculously close. The age classifications are Jailbait, Sorority Girl and Cougar. It took me a few tries to say anything about this without giggling. Red 3 is probably a Cougar.

Veg sampling measures the occurrence of nectar species (like lovely lupine and calochortus) in bloom in the plots and the height of the vegetation. The host lupine, and a common vetch that the Silvery blue will lay its eggs on.

This silvery is having a field day.

 The cucumber and calochortus again. Someday I'll stop posting pictures of calochortus, but its clearly not today...





Other Flowers we see

 Surely that isn't some lovely poison oak blooming? It seems unfair that they have appealing flowers considering the meanness of their oil. A lone Pink of some kind.


Death camas and larkspur

One of those enormous bumble bees flopped around on this iris for a while. They're such unwieldy critters.

 There is a sparse patch of golden paintbrush. I applied for a golden paintbrush restoration job. But I got this one instead.

 Columbine!!!Was exhilarated to find this little patch on the edge of the woods. I once had a goal to find wild columbine in the NW, it has been fulfilled multiple times but its still thrilling. Yes I find plants thrilling.



Distance sampling is something to do with the ratio of males to females, I have yet to conduct this task.
And of course data entry. Without discussion I found myself in charge of entering behavior data while the other tech enters all the vegetation data.
This is the watery part of the slough, great spot for migrating birds.

 While gracefully stalking butterflies with my camera one afternoon (we weren't working) I heard the buzz of many bees. Too many for the poor flower cover. So I looked up. And what do you know, there's a wild nest formed in one of the oak burls.
Apparently the swarm showed up last summer and managed to survive, probably with a little help from the multiple meadow foam fields in the vicinity.

Some of the lupines are forming these weird mutant buds. My two guesses are either its a gall forming insect, or the flower is self-fertilizing to ensure some seeds. It appears pretty frequently throughout the population. 

Thus far I have seen quail, pheasants, harriers, turkey vultures, orioles, goldfinches, jays... and heard cowbirds. Its a hopping place.

Made baklava. That's my culinary accomplishment for the week.

Have another calochortus photo, I insist! And have a delightful Wednesday!

How to be a (Field) Biologist: Lesson One

There is exactly one prevailing Rule. You're appearance does not matter. Any vanity you have must be put aside. Because you will look absolutely ridiculous.
There are other guidelines, like having sufficient food and water, appropriate gear, means by which to communicate etc etc. And while I'd like to think the Rule doesn't phase me much... ahhh well we're all a little vain right?
Sure its 80 degrees and you're covered head to toe; long sleeves (with crap stuffed in the chest pockets, exaggerating your boobs by at least one misshapen cup size), jeans, rubber boots, and hat. Carrying binoculars, meter tape and a net. Or a quadrant made of PVC pipes that keep falling apart, a clicker, itty bitty tape measure, clipboard and camera. What's not to love?
This is just demonstrating work preparedness and using appropriate gear for your habitat.
And that's your lesson. You look silly!
You may not know this, but the oak prairie is home to one delightful plant in particular. Poison oak. Yum!

This plant loves this environment. Toxicodendron diversilobum. In case the common name wasn't specific enough, the latin name immediately informs you that not only is it toxic but it also takes different shapes. Neat plant huh?

In the next couple days I'll find out if I have a reaction to it. Up to 30% of the population is immune, but I doubt I'll be that lucky.
We scrub up with Tecnu before we get in the car every afternoon.Thankfully it is most concentrated under the trees where the plots rarely venture, but its definitely out and about.
Here's a really big crane fly to make you feel better.

Yesterday in addition to monitoring behavior, we counted eggs. It sounds quite dull, but I assure you its not. At least to me.

 In case you've forgotten... There are sweet lilies around....

  Its the time of year for spit bugs! This is the nymph stage of Froghoppers (like leafhoppers) and the 'spit' encasing them is to provide protection against desiccation. They sap the juices of plants for a living...

Hatched egg! It was the only one I found. This is what egg counting looks like...
In the photo below there are three eggs all shoved into one spot. Was it one female or did a couple different individuals decide it was a stellar spot?

 Oh hey what's this? A lily? Why isn't it lovely?

 Just some weevils enjoying each other. I promise this is the last Calochortus. For today....

Silvery blue butterflies, I think they were both females; the one curling it's abdomen definitely is.

Went out to Ankeny NWR again. The Nootka roses are beginning to bloom.

There are some marvelously fat bumble bees here. Every time it landed the flowers swayed and drooped under it's weight.

 Then there was a phoebe to watch. It was in its element.

That's what all I've got. Have a delightful weekend...