A sunny morning sight just getting out of the car at one of our sites before we head into the woods.
This is my third week, and even now, I am simply amazed by the life that surrounds me as I tromp clumsily through the forest. As the sun rises higher in the sky on our treks, it creates dappled shadows on the ground below, shadows that sway as the leaves rustle in the gentle breeze. On especially beautiful mornings, the leaves are so green they seem to be glowing. Sometimes I just want to sit there forever, take out a book, and just relax as my ears are filled with the sounds of nature.
Naturally, days aren’t always magically sunny, nor are all the sites dry (as my feet can attest to), but there’s a sort of beauty in the dark gloom too, of dewy leaves and filled streams, of the stir of frogs as they leap away, often too fast to catch, except for this one day pictured below.
Me holding a little frog or toad in my gloved hands at one of our sites (Photo credit Zac Watson)
You’d be surprised by the life you see in the forest, or at least I was. My first day out, we saw these absolutely gorgeous Cecropia Moths, (Hyalophora cecropia) just hanging out on one of our last sites. They looked so soft and fluffy, I just loved them. I’ve seen everything from porcupines, to deer, to (lots of) turkeys, to giant slugs and a Rosy Maple Moth (Dryocampa rubicunda), a golden and pink moth which was VERY difficult to take a picture of because of how quickly it fluttered its wings.
A Rosy Maple Moth (Dryocampa rubicunda) I found at on of our sites while collecting hairs. It’s colors were so vibrant, I couldn’t resist taking a pic (or 25, literally, it wouldn’t stop fluttering)!
My favorite animal we’ve seen though are the juvenile Eastern Newt (Notophthalmus viridescens). Their fiery orange bodies are easy to spot, even with my poor eyesight. One of our sites is just filled with them, and this week, on the glorious downhill coming back from that site, I took a bit of time to search for them. They seem to like to live under the damp rocks that cover the path, but they do scurry out sometimes; perhaps they enjoy soaking up the sun as much as I do. Which is wonderful for me, because I can easily spot and gently hold them for a few seconds. Below is a picture I took on my trip this week, I just couldn’t resist picking up one of the little buddies, they’re just too cute!
A juvenile Eastern Newt (Notophthalmus viridescens) I held in my gloved hand.
There are tons of incredible wildlife to see in the forest, but I actually haven’t seen the one we’re studying yet in person, even though I see their traces at many of the sites. By traces I mean their hair, black for the most part (though sometimes we collect brown, white or striped hair likely from other mammals), and a little curlier than I expected. Actually, our goal is to go to specific sites where we have a ring (of varied shapes) of barbed wire, and collect bear hair from the bumps in the wire, which we will then take back to the lab to run DNA analyses on. Collecting bear hair from the forest in and of itself is cool, because wow I actually have bear hair between my tweezers, from an actual bear. And even more than that, it’s exciting to be a part of a project that is helping us understand more about where black bears live and their population as a whole in Massachusetts.
A juvenile Eastern Newt (Notophthalmus viridescens) I held in my gloved hand.
There are tons of incredible wildlife to see in the forest, but I actually haven’t seen the one we’re studying yet in person, even though I see their traces at many of the sites. By traces I mean their hair, black for the most part (though sometimes we collect brown, white or striped hair likely from other mammals), and a little curlier than I expected. Actually, our goal is to go to specific sites where we have a ring (of varied shapes) of barbed wire, and collect bear hair from the bumps in the wire, which we will then take back to the lab to run DNA analyses on. Collecting bear hair from the forest in and of itself is cool, because wow I actually have bear hair between my tweezers, from an actual bear. And even more than that, it’s exciting to be a part of a project that is helping us understand more about where black bears live and their population as a whole in Massachusetts.
That tiny piece of hair between my tweezers is the size that I cut when cutting hair. Other members of the team with more experience can cut theirs even smaller! (Photo credit to Ainsley Mackenzie)
Overall, I’ve really enjoyed being a part of this project so far, especially because of the awesome people I get to work with. I just love our deep conversations as we trek through the woods; collecting the hairs is a surprisingly conducive environment to interesting discussions about everything from politics to our hopes and dreams, to our favorite color. I’m really looking forward to more adventures with awesome people the second half of my summer here.
I’ll see you next time!
~ Victoria Gallastegui
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