Day 3: The First Day Afield.

It was a great day to be in the field doing research. Our first pond survey of the morning was a bust. Only mud puddle worth of water was left in the dried up pond bed. After flipping several large rocks, it became clear that all signs of animal life had moved on to other sections of the property.

Our next stop was the sight of much more animal activity. On the trail to the second pond, I was walking in a grassy area where I saw a slithering shape rush before my feet. "Snake" was the only thing I could say. My fellow intern Matt used his ninja-like reflexes to corral the gardener snake for our first measurements of the day. When we finally made it to the pond, Matt spotted something that looked like a rock in the pond. Moments later he was rushing through the reeds with our director close behind to capture a 25lb snapping turtle. This was the first snapping turtle I have ever seen in my life. This creature looked prehistoric. Huge claws, crusty shell, and a mouth that chopped a sturdy tree branch into two fractured pieces. I was next able to handle a baby ringneck snake. After a few quick measurements and some photos, we put the little guy back where we found him.

As for my part in the research, it could not have gone better. I started the day with a blood draw on a female box turtle who was a "one stick" blood draw. I was also able to get blood from the snapping turtle's caudal vein on the first try. When I got the flash of snapping turtle blood in the syringe, the second in command of our research team said, "Wow, where have YOU been?!?". Little things like that make me more confident than ever that I have chosen my future profession wisely.

After lunch, we surveyed a much larger pond than either of the two sites visited during the morning session. While the afternoon session did not yield any reptiles or amphibians, we flushed two woodcocks and a female wood duck from the riparian zone of the pond. Seeing these game birds in flight made me miss my trusty bird dog Roland.

Highlight: 2 for 2 on one stick blood draws today. Let's just hope I can keep the streak alive for a little while longer.

Lowlight: The afternoon pond survey was BRUTAL! The sun was out full force and the far side of the large pond we circled was roughly a 30 degree slope covered in waist high grass as well as every kind of thorny plant imaginable. It was almost as if Mother Nature required my blood in exchange for the two cc's collected from turtles that morning. Seems like a fair trade...