Copperhead Search

One of my botany crew members and I went searching for Copperheads last night. They will come out at night and stretch out on the roads to absorb the heat the road has stored, or they just happen to frequently travel across them. We slowly drove down one of the gravel roads here at Peck Ranch, scanning the ground in front of us.
Although we didn't end up finding any Copperhead snakes, we found a few other interesting
things. (Note: you can click on all of these for a larger size.)





A strangely colored Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)









A Scarab or Dung beetle






A Whip-Poor-Will that let us get very close.

Sensitive Plant

Here is a sensitive Mimosa quadrivalvis.
You can hear our instructor Susan Farrington talking in the background abut another plant.

Yellow Lady-slipper

We also found a Large Yellow Lady-slipper (Cypripedium calceolus) today.

Orchid Expedition

Last night we went to search for the Showy Lady-slipper orchid (Cypripedium reginae). Someone had reported seeing some, but none were ever officially documented where we were. After a lot of bushwacking and stream treading, we found a few groups the Lady-slipper, but none were in complete bloom.














Finally someone spotted it in bloom....







Showy Lady-slipper orchid

The Ozarks

(You can click on these for bigger pics)

A view from a fire watch tower. Can't see any clearings in the Ozark Forest as far as the eye can see.




An Eastern Fence lizard. About 6 inches long.








A Collard lizard. About a foot long. AMAZING, I actually got close enough to touch it before it ran off.



Plant pics coming soon.

Botany training has begun...

Well, it really feels like I've just been dumped in a lake and I either have to learn to swim, or I'll sink. It is the third day and I have to know about 150 plants. Not only this, but most ID is only based on vegetative features because not everything has gone into flower yet. It is not so bad when all of the characteristics for each plant are pointed out in the field, but it requires a lot of studying in the evenings. The hardest ones are the graminoid plants like the grasses and sedges, but it is nice that the field features for all of these are being described so that ideally I wouldn't need to use more than a hand lens and ruler.

The regular day thus far is a plant quiz in the morning, and then the rest of the day (8:30-4:30) we learn plants in the field. Notes also consist of collected plant samples. I officially start sampling plots in a week from this Monday.

I will be posting some pictures soon.

Arrived at Peck Ranch

You know you are going south when the only kind of road kill you can recognize are upside down armadillos... every other mile.

I just arrived a few hours ago where I am going to live until August. One of my roommates is already here (he's been here since January), and he greeted me with a swollen, black and blue hand. Just last night he was outside, reaching for something on the ground, when a Copperhead struck. He's on all sorts of pain killers now. Ha... what a great welcome.

I was near St. Louis with some family friends for the last few days and yesterday I got to ride out on the Mississippi River! It was pretty amazing, but I have to say, lightning in the Northeast is nothing like what it is down here. Especially when you are stuck in a little dingy out on the huge Mississippi River, while thunderstorms are 360 degrees around you, it is pouring, and one bolt of lightning will spread like a tree across the entire sky.

Anyway, I left my powercord in St. Louis and I might not have internet contact when my computer dies.

Done

After a long drive, I am back home in New York. Probably will be leaving for Missouri on Wednesday.

Luka

Almost done...

I've attempted to put ten weeks worth of a school term into six weeks so that I can take the internship, which begins May 18. This last week has consisted of less than no sleep, but it has definitely been worth it. The classes I'm taking have been great fun and a lot of new learning. Ornithology and Climate Science. Well, anyway, I am almost done.....

Then I'll be off home to New York for a couple of days, and then to Missouri.

Welcome!

Hello everyone,

Welcome to my blog.

Beginning on May 18, I am doing an internship in Missouri. I will be working for the Missouri Ozark Forest Ecosystem Project, surveying plants on forest management plots.

This project is part of a long term study surveying the effects of standard forest management on the various aspects of the Ozark Forest ecosystem.

I'm very much looking forward to this experience because I think it will be an excellent learning opportunity, and in a sense, a botanical adventure. I've never been to Missouri before, and I've never had such a rigorous full time job. I'm ready to give it what I've got.

I will try to get myself to post regularly about my botanical adventures in Missouri!


Luka