Voles!!

Tuesday June 5th
Written by Paul Bonazzi

The morning began with checking the traps in the new location we has set up yesterday. Over half of the fifty field traps were busted open - probably by raccoons. The raccoons go after the meat. We set them back up, this time without the meat, and headed to check the forest traps. The forest traps yielded better results - we caught two small mammals - both red-backed voles.

Red-backed voles are small rodents that don’t have good hearing or vision, and often freeze completely still when they see predators. For these reasons they often become prey for several carnivores: including foxes, weasel, bobcat, coyote, owls, and raptors. One might wonder; how do they survive as a species? The answer is they reproduce often they rely on protection from the underground, and loose fitting skin that allows them to turn around when caught and bite their predators on the nose. The skin of their tail will break off if a predator grabs it. It will not grow back, so it can be a sign of how many close calls a red-backed vole has had with death.

After lunch we were each given a camera trap and given the choice of where we wanted to set it up. I took my camera trap to the back of the fire pond. The fire pond was created as a source of water for fire crews to use to prevent fires from spreading. I put the camera in an area where bobcat scat had previously been found. On Thursday I will check the pictures of the animals that were taken there.

We finished up the day by clearing a trail, and then we checked the small mammal traps before we left. Nothing had been captured. Only two more days left with our research at Cook’s lake. We will be able to see our immediate results, but this is a long-term research site and our team (the first team) is setting the baseline data onto which future teams will add.

A Rainy, Tired Day

Monday June 4th
Written by Paul Bonazzi

After are “Big Dam Hike” we were given the morning to rest and go over some of the mathematical equations that give us estimated populations of the small mammals (mostly rodents), deer, snow-shoe hare and porcupine that live on Cook’s Lake farm. Still more surveying is needed before we can have any conclusive numbers of mammal populations.

After lunch, we headed to Cook’s Lake to set up another small mammal trapping grid. We set up the traps again and placed 50 in the field and 50 in the woodlands. It was raining pretty hard and the conditions were less than ideal. On our way out we checked the weather monitoring stations and headed back to the cottage.

Kejimkujic National Park - The Big Dam Hike

Sunday, June 3rd

While I was trying to get on an airplane to fly back to the Earthwatch office, the team was having quite an adventure at the Kejimkujic National Park - scouting out the exact length of the trail for future teams!

The Big Dam Hike

Written by Paul Bonazzi and Ali Gamper

Kejimkujik National Park is one of the great treasures of Nova Scotia. The 381 Square Kilometers that encompasses Keji is the home of varied and diverse wildlife. It is for that reason that I was very excited to spend the day enjoying the sights and sounds of this vast park.We arrived at 11:30 am and took a short two-mile walk in which we immediately saw two white-tailed deer. It was a little chilly, but the clouds were breaking apart and the sun was peeping through. There was an interesting observatory along the way which contained information on the glaciers which have formed Nova Scotia’s rocky strata as it is today. The view from the telescope at the top of the tower was stunning, a beautiful green forest surrounding a sparkling lake.

After walking back through the cool leafy forest we stopped for lunch at some sturdy, wooden picnic tables. The tables were promptly measured and scrutinized so that we will be able to re-construct them for future Earthwatch teams working at Cook’s Lake. Hopefully we will have time to do so before Saturday. Following our refreshing lunch of sandwiches (again!) we all trooped off along another trail, in a different area of the park. The huge hemlock trees we walked under were stunning and ranged from small new trees to enormous, old ones, the eldest of which is 600 years old and 2 meters in circumference. These trees have a root system which is very close to the surface so it is important not to disturb the roots by walking on them or they will become damaged and broken. For this reason we walked along specially designed boardwalks which kept us above the ground.

The trail came to a fork in the road at about 3:30. At this time our leader asked the group if they would like to continue walking around the Big Dam Lake. The trail around the Big Dam Lake is said to be 24 kilometers on the map, my pedometer would later prove that to be incorrect. Thinking the distance was much shorter we felt we could comfortably manage and it was unanimously agreed to go for it. The next few hours zipped by and we made tremendous progress. We stopped off to look at a nice lake we passed on the way and there we found a text-book example of mink scat. Mink is in the mustelid (weasel) family and is a solitary animal, most active between dusk and dawn. A predator which feeds on aquatic birds, fish, mammals, and frogs. While we were there we happened to see some of its prey- piquerill frogs. We got back on the trail and came to an impassable stream. The group consisted of people of all ages ranging from 19-72. Some of the group managed to jump or wade across but the rocks were slippery and treacherous which made it dangerous for the elderly gentlemen to make the crossing. The group debated for a little while and then the leader and I grabbed a picnic table that was a few hundred feet away and held it down for the rest of the group to pass across the stream. All crossed the stream safely but one member fell and injured his knee. At this point the group was hobbling and weary. The time was about five o’clock and all were happily anticipating a short walk through the trees (three mile) and then driving home for tea and ice cream. We set off with renewed energy, Lycos the dog setting a blazing trail with Chris, our leader in tow. Some of the group walked briskly after Chris, some strolled along behind and others lagged behind as they grew tired and weary. Now and then Chris and Lycos’ group would stop to wait for the others to catch up, but gradually the groups got more and more widely spaced.

I was walking with the group in the back giving moral support and in case of emergency. Word was passed from group to group that there was only one mile left to go. This must have been the longest mile ever. A few hours passed, and word was again passed back down through the groups that there was only one mile left. Nobody was buying that line anymore. Darkness was falling and many of the group began to become twitchy at the thought of hungry bears, coyotes, bobcat, or even cougar roaming through the forest. We walked on and on and on through endless trees.

It was now completely dark and the forest became alive with the sound of rustling and stirring in the undergrowth. At long last the first group caught sight of the bus in the car park. The second group followed hot on their heels. A search party was formed and set off to look for the last group. As the flashlights from the search group rounded the corner it was met with relief and the assurance “its only one more mile” was given, again!!! This proved to be true this time and the final group reached the bus at 11 o’clock, exhausted and limping but glad to have survived the 20 mile hike around the Big Dam Lake!

Lunenburg and Laundry

June 2nd, 2007
Today was our "research-free" day. It dawned cool and foggy, and we were a bit hesistant about the weather, but the fog cleared right around noon and it turned into a bright and sunny day. We set off for Lunenburg, a World Heritage Site village on the South-East coast of Nova Scotia. It was beautiful - full of bright red buildings and intricately painted houses. We spend most of our afternoon at the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic (Alice got a chance to imagine life as a lobster and check out the various parts of a schooner).

The big red building on the bottom left of this picture is the museum as viewed from across the harbor. You can see the village of Lunenburg beside it and up on the hill behind it.

The three story museum had information about all aspects of fishing in the Grand Banks (off of Newfoundland) and the inshore fisheries (defined as within 5 miles of shore). They even had an aquarium and two fishing boats docked outside. One was a schooner, that fished using dories (small wooden row boats) and the other was a trawler, that dragged a huge net behind it. Here is a photo of the impressive bow of the trawler (left photo) and the deck of the schooner.

We didn't have too much time in Lunenburg as we had to hurry back to Bridgewater so folks could do laundry. Alice and I checked out the Frenchy's - a Canadian used-clothing store that I had heard lots about - definitely well worth the visit!

Off to the airport (for me) tomorrow!

Hegi again

June 1st, 2007

Hegi spent another night raiding our traps. Here's a photo of him running free after his latest weighing.

After checking all the traps, we took them all in, as they are normally only set out for a three-day stretch. Plus, we're going to be out of the field for the next two days, and they cannot stay out unattended.

Following that, Michael and David set off to survey an old clearing that had been made on the property for the GPS map, and the rest of us took up the tools and set off for trail clearing, as we were all really keen on it now. Alice is now reknowned for her love of the hacksaw, and Matthew even bought her one so she doesn't have to give it up to let someone else use it!

After two days we have cleared about half the length of the trail (a quarter mile, maybe?)

We also checked the weather stations that we had put out the day before. These are simple contraptions that can measure rainfall, windspeed and direction, and temperature. However, they do not 'log' the measurements so they have to be checked everyday to get a snapshot of the weather.

Not much had happened in the past day. No precipitation and no wind to speak of.

We returned to the house early and had a few hours to check out the nearby beach. A rocky cove, that looked picturesque in the gathering weather.