Getting my Boots Wet - Vernal Pools in May

I love my (day) job. Yeah, it's a "necessary evil" for the time being, but sometimes I really do love it.

Let's go back about 20 years. When I was a kid, I loved nothing better than tromping down to the local pond/swamp to look for frogs. My sisters & I would bottle up eggs or tadpoles and bring them home to raise. We'd try and snag adult frogs in our nets... You get the picture.

Today, I got PAID to do this. (And I got to take photos too - can't beat that!)

Green Frog


A co-worker and I spent the day inventorying the vernal pools on a project site. Vernal pools are where most amphibians (frogs, salamanders, & newts) breed. They're typically seasonally flooded depressions with no fish, and no streams in or out. You can read a lot more about them here.

While our main job was checking up on the vernal pools, we got to see some other interesting things while at the site. Like this sundew, a carnivorous plant usually found in bogs. At this site, there were several sundews growing on a sandy bank about a foot above the water level.



I also spotted this dragonfly in one of the vernal pools. He had somehow gotten stuck in the water - I helped him onto a leaf, but he was too wet to fly. This made snagging some close-up photographs pretty easy. I hope he was okay after drying off for a while. I haven't figured out what species he is, but if I find out I will let you know.



So, yeah. Today was a good day. Fieldwork is definitely not always this fun (and I have the scratches and poison ivy to prove it), so I like to savor the good days when I get 'em. Thanks for enjoying this one with me!

Redeeming Qualities of New Jersey

Watching the Waves


Another image from a lovely morning at Island Beach State Park.

Unfortunately I'm not feeling very well today, so I'm going to keep this post short. I would, however, like to stick to my promise of telling you more about wetlands. Did you know that beaches are a type of coastal wetland? Yep - everything below Spring high tide is technically considered a wetland. To learn more, check out these links:

Marine Intertidal Zones (Wikipedia)
Cowardin Wetland Classification System (USGS)
Wetland Types (US EPA)

Is there anything specific you're interested in learning about wetlands? If so please let me know in the comments section!

Woohoo! National Wetlands Month!

This morning started out fairly normally. I mean, I spent too much time picking out what to wear (I'm photographing a 1st Communion today and don't want to flash - no pun intended - the congregation when I squat down to get the right angle for the shots), but all and all it was pretty typical.

Then, I stopped on Twitter and learned from dendroica of A DC Birding Blog that May is... *drumroll please* ...National Wetlands Month! (According to the US EPA)

I then proved my nerdiness by becoming extremely excited and exclaiming, "OOH! OOH!", much to my husband's confusion. (To clarify why I was so thrilled, I work as a Wetland Biologist for my day job, and was taught by the very amazing Dr. Frank Golet. Once you take a class with him you will never be the same.) I told hubby it was National Wetlands Month, and the following conversation ensued:

Hubby: Well, Monday is National Eat Paste in School Day.
Me: Really?
Hubby: No, I just made that up.
Me: Ohhhh. But National Wetlands Month is real - the EPA says so! It's a Federal agency!

Still Pond


The EPA suggests three things you can do to participate in National Wetlands Month:

1) Learn about wetlands. I'll be making a special effort this month to share information about wetlands on the blog.
2) Explore a wetland near you. May is a great month to explore wetlands, as it's still amphibian breeding season and you're likely to find egg masses, tadpoles, and adult frogs & salamanders!
3) Take action to protect and restore wetlands. In Rhode Island, check out Save the Bay or The Nature Conservancy to get involved. You could also organize a trash cleanup at a nearby pond or something similar.

Wheee!