Noteworthy happenings: -July 12: Assisted Lynn Faust, a fellow field researcher, in collecting Twilight Bush Baby (P. australis) fireflies from the arboretum. To catch this particular species, we looked for the fireflies glowing yellow-orange vs. commonly seen green tinting. This was a nice relaxing pace compared to frog catching. -July 13-17: My nature-adoring parents came [...]
This was our second time, ever, searching at Stephen A. Forbes State Recreation Area in southern Illinois. This search site was so far away from the Wildlife Epidemiology Lab that we had to stay overnight near the site. This means that we got to camp after searching for Eastern Box Turtles and after labwork was [...]
May 19th 2016 Forest Glen Preserve is my absolute favorite site to search for turtles in Vermilion County!! What makes this endeavor even more spectacular is that we had guests from the Box Turtle Conservation Workshop hike with us to search for eastern box turtles. The Box Turtle Conservation Workshop was held the [...]
Believe it or not, I actually don't spend all of my time catching frogs or hiking in the Smokies (ha ha, I swear!). Instead, I center much of my free time on assisting other CRESO projects. So here is a much-deserved shout out to them! Bird Boxes Rectangular wooden bird boxes are hung upon trees [...]
One of the best things about my work this Summer has been getting to know all of the diverse creatures in my own backyard. The field site in DuPage is very close to my hometown - my family and I used to ride our bikes right past a marsh that has lots of Blanding’s and [...]
Erin explains how she takes samples on the Blanding's turtles she finds:
Simply put, a wetland habitat is an outdoor ecosystem containing reeds, aquatic invertebrates, amphibians, and of course, water. It’s a place where many types of fresh water life convene to reproduce, rear young and acquire the resources they need for survival. Unsurprisingly, most natural wetlands are forgotten, and subsequently neglected, due to their annual [...]
May 18th 2016 It was a sunny day at Kickapoo State Recreation Area with little to no wind. We captured eight turtles in total during a 2 hour search effort. An added gem to this search effort is that it correlates with Jeremy's PhD study! His radiotelemetry project with Eastern Box Turtles was planned [...]
To increase the sample size of my study, we’ve decided to search for adult frogs at night. We’re assuming that elevated daytime temperatures cause the frogs to seek refuge under water or in dense plant thickets and that they’ll be more visible and/or active at night during cooler periods. Typically this exercise involves arriving at [...]
May 17th 2016 It was a cloudy day at Kennekuk County Park with no wind. We captured nine turtles in total during our 2.5 hour search effort. The quirky thing is that we caught the same amount of turtles as we did on Day #1! Kennekuk's trail map. [...]
