Notes on Urban Ecology: A hot one!

A Green Heron (Butorides virescens), sits poised on a low hanging branch ready to nab a fish.

The ambient temperature was near the century mark for me today!

Although it was not 100 degrees Fahrenheit outside it was inside - because I am using chest waders and a long sleeved shirt when I am working. Today, I lost a half a liter of water in four hours! How do I know this? The waders trap the perspiration, then when I got out of them I poured the liquid out into a beaker. And, yes, I did check my waders leaks.

Moreover, the banks along the Vineyard Drainage are very steep and there is a half-meter high drop from the bank edge to the water. Thus, it is a challenge to get into and out of the water. Hence, it is easier to bushwhack my way through the bulrushes, as since I have a long sleeved shirt on. Bulrush plants are rich in silica so walking through them in a tank top or short-sleeved shirt an experience much like with fiberglass insulation – itchy to say the least.

However, what I saw did was so pleasurable and interesting today that the physical discomfort did not matter. It has to be a genetic anomoly that I suffer from that makes me do this kind of research!

The habitat is rich in bird and insect life ...

The predominate insect life is Odonates (damselflies and dragonflies and this drainage has the largest aggregation of them I have seen thus far. Thus, it will be interesting to see how many different kinds of naiads (Odonata nymphs) end up in the activity traps I set out. The Anisoptera (dragonflies) were the most interesting today. They lumber through the air at times, on other occasions; they stop and hover as if observing me. When I stop and look up, we make eye contact for a second or two, and then they flash their wings and dart off. It is an unnerving and exciting to know that for a split second we so mutually aware that we are observing one another.