Today I came to sit in on the ranger meeting. It takes place every Tuesday morning. At this meeting the Rangers discuss their activities for the week and troubleshoot any issues they may be having. For example, if they are having trouble using equipment or filing reports or their vehicles need maintenance, they will bring it up during this meeting. Also they will give report on their various ecosystem monitoring projects.
I was happy to be here because I got to learn what these meetings are like. Additionally I got further insight into how rangers view volunteers: They are grateful for the help, but hope that the volunteers will be prompt, reliable, and consistent.
I created my schedule for the next few days by asking the biotechnicians what days they could use some assistance with their field activities.
I was surprised and delighted that I could begin my field activities that very day!! I got to go out with Katherine and Arianna to do cover board monitoring.
This was exciting because I got to use a special GPS. Throughout Floyd Bennett Field and other locations in the Jamaica Bay unit, boards are placed throughout the park. Cover boards are simply wooden boards or metal plates under which organisms such as snakes may take cover. Mice and many bugs are found underneath these cover boards as well. The location of the cover boards are marked on paper but are also mapped on the GPS unit.
This is very important.
Even though all the boards may be marked on the map, weeds and other plants grow over these cover boards making them hard to find.
The GPS tells you in which direction you must walk and for how far in order to locate the next cover board. This was very exciting.
Katherine managed to find and check all of the cover boards. I think I would've given up if I had not been with her because I couldn't see the cover boards at all. Plus we were battling extraordinary numbers of mosquitoes.
We didn't find any herps (this refers to reptiles and amphibians; coming from 'herpetology') but underneath the coverboards we found many ants and water bugs and beetles and what appeared to be the nest of mice. As a kid, I would often notice these boards throughout the wildlife refuge and lift them up. I often saw snakes such as black racers, milk snakes, and garter snakes.
While we didn't find any herps underneath the cover boards, Katherine sounds several as we wandered through the brush!
First she found a Fowler's toad and she taught me how to identify it by the number of warts per spot. Next she found a spring peeper: this was a very young spring peeper; it was about the size of my thumbnail.
Finally the most exciting find of the day was a box turtle. Box turtles have beautiful colors but their most exciting feature is that they have a hinged carapace allowing them to retract their arms and legs inside their shell and shut the bottom shell up like a little box. It was very fun to watch!
After completing the cover board monitoring we bought the most important part of the day, the Tick check. The tick check is very important because ticks are parasites which may carry diseases. Allegedly the ticks at GNRA are not the same as those that carry that the diseases but we don't wish to take any chances.
Ticks are very good hiders. They can hide in your shoelaces or in little folds in your clothes and this makes it difficult to find them. That is why it is very important to wear light-colored clothing and also to make sure you're wearing long pants, long sleeves and high socks.
Light-colored clothing neither repels nor attracts ticks; it simply makes it easier for you to see them if they are there!
I was happy to be here because I got to learn what these meetings are like. Additionally I got further insight into how rangers view volunteers: They are grateful for the help, but hope that the volunteers will be prompt, reliable, and consistent.
I created my schedule for the next few days by asking the biotechnicians what days they could use some assistance with their field activities.
I was surprised and delighted that I could begin my field activities that very day!! I got to go out with Katherine and Arianna to do cover board monitoring.
This was exciting because I got to use a special GPS. Throughout Floyd Bennett Field and other locations in the Jamaica Bay unit, boards are placed throughout the park. Cover boards are simply wooden boards or metal plates under which organisms such as snakes may take cover. Mice and many bugs are found underneath these cover boards as well. The location of the cover boards are marked on paper but are also mapped on the GPS unit.
This is very important.
Even though all the boards may be marked on the map, weeds and other plants grow over these cover boards making them hard to find.
The GPS tells you in which direction you must walk and for how far in order to locate the next cover board. This was very exciting.
Katherine managed to find and check all of the cover boards. I think I would've given up if I had not been with her because I couldn't see the cover boards at all. Plus we were battling extraordinary numbers of mosquitoes.
We didn't find any herps (this refers to reptiles and amphibians; coming from 'herpetology') but underneath the coverboards we found many ants and water bugs and beetles and what appeared to be the nest of mice. As a kid, I would often notice these boards throughout the wildlife refuge and lift them up. I often saw snakes such as black racers, milk snakes, and garter snakes.
While we didn't find any herps underneath the cover boards, Katherine sounds several as we wandered through the brush!
First she found a Fowler's toad and she taught me how to identify it by the number of warts per spot. Next she found a spring peeper: this was a very young spring peeper; it was about the size of my thumbnail.
Finally the most exciting find of the day was a box turtle. Box turtles have beautiful colors but their most exciting feature is that they have a hinged carapace allowing them to retract their arms and legs inside their shell and shut the bottom shell up like a little box. It was very fun to watch!
After completing the cover board monitoring we bought the most important part of the day, the Tick check. The tick check is very important because ticks are parasites which may carry diseases. Allegedly the ticks at GNRA are not the same as those that carry that the diseases but we don't wish to take any chances.
Ticks are very good hiders. They can hide in your shoelaces or in little folds in your clothes and this makes it difficult to find them. That is why it is very important to wear light-colored clothing and also to make sure you're wearing long pants, long sleeves and high socks.
Light-colored clothing neither repels nor attracts ticks; it simply makes it easier for you to see them if they are there!