Final Full Day in Nova Scotia

Today was a great day! We got up for breakfast and Chris then talked to us about our work. We discussed our data and what it means with the population, about ecology and what exactly our data means for Nova Scotia. It was interesting to see exactly what all our efforts meant. We ended with a sturdy idea of what small mammals are on the up, which are declining and the ones who are staying roughly the same. Then it was off to Thomas Raddall Provincial Park, where we went divided into teams and went on a hike looking for field signs. When everyone was finished we went back home and ate dinner, then a few of us went on a short walk and then it was time to pack up, shower and get everything ready for tomorrow. We have an early two hour drive to the airport and I will be back in Evansville by 7:00 (the time it will be at home, in Canada it would be 9:00). So I've got a long travel day ahead. I can not wait to be home but I will really miss all of the great people I have met here!

This is a map of the park we went today while looking for field signs.
Here is the view from our trail, it went right along the shore.

Here is a tree with Old Man's Beard! It is really pretty when the light filters through.

This was the popular spot for the birds.

A crab, this one got a loooong way from shore.

A really pretty tree where the sun was directly overhead.

Another view from our hike, it was gorgeous!

A mini whirl pool created by the seaweed and waves.

Tomorrow we head home, this makes me really happy and sad at the same time!

Day 11: Last Day at Cook's Lake

Today was our last day at Cook's Lake, we had a bunch of traps set off! At least 21 were tripped and raccoons found our traps and dismantled 11 traps. It was a very stressful day for our animals traps, you see, there are shrew holes in the traps so that they can get out. However, if the mice or voles become extremely spooked they may try to get out through the hole but once they get their heads in they usually become stuck. this happens about 1% of the time, Christina said that out of the 10 years they have done traps, only once a year that happens, Surprisingly, today a mouse not only had his head through, but his arms also, leaving him completely helpless. Christina was able to get him out and he survived. This used to be uncommon for the mouse to live, but it hopped away and everyone thought our surprises were over, that was when we discovered the raccoons got to our traps and that two more mice were stuck. Thankfully, due to Christina's expertise and experience all the mice survived which used to be unheard of. Also, we sadly got a short-tailed shrew. These are the largest of the shrews and rarely, if ever, go into the traps. For some reason this one decided to go in and may have died of starvation and distress. The starvation was due to the fact that they don't eat the seed and carrot in the traps, and with their high metabolism, it starves. The distress is that they are very prone to heart attacks, they are literally in mortal fear. Another thing I did today was run a chipmunk up the hill for 200 feet, all the way back to the start. Talk about a workout! On the whole it was a very interesting morning, when we were done with our traps we collected our camera traps and signed the new field station that we worked on. Back at the house we had lunch and some down time, that was when I discovered that my camera works (with minimal glitches)! Then it was time for the survival skills talk, Chris showed us how to set traps and start a fire. It was pretty cool! Then I went on my first adventure to the yellow house and we were off to Chris and Christina's home for the BBQ. Their house is absolutely, positively fantastic and beautiful, not only is the house perfect but the view is amazing! We had hot dogs, hamburgers and smores!!! It was really good and we got to go down to the water by their house, then it was time to look for some bats. Chris had a little machine that looked like a walkman, and it was go off slightly like a metal detector when it picked up the bats frequencies. They communicate at such a high level, we hear up to around 15 MHz or Hz (I can not remember!), and they communicate somewhere above the 40 mark. It was really neat. Then we packed everything up and headed back home. Catherine, Kelsie and I had dish duty, and then it was bedtime. Today was full of fun, anticipation, anxiety, excitement and laughter! I had a blast and can not wait till tomorrow. Here are the pictures that I said I wouldn't have.

These are some of the tools we used to start a fire during our survival talk.

Here is the infamous yellow house, it has spunk!

This is Chris and Christina's lovely home.

Here is the view from their door, it is like their front yard!!!

This the stable Chris built for their horses they have during the winter.

The group shot :)

Some of the girls just hanging out by the campfire!!!

The wonderful campfire!

Day 10: Singing in the Rain

Sorry that this is so late again, but we have been having some problems with the server. Unfortunately, today in the rain, I used my camera. It will no longer turn on, so I will not have any pictures to upload for the last three days. Not to worry, at the end of the trip everyone is getting together and sharing their photos. Today was really wet, but we managed to have a lot of fun. When they said to bring waterproof clothing and rain boots- they weren't kidding. The day before I left my jacket in the gazebo after working at the construction site and had nothing to wear out into the field. So I got to borrow a huge yellow poncho out there, that is now my new nickname (Poncho). When we went to check our traps we had less than yesterday, but still quite a few. I got to hold one for the first time and was amazed at how small, soft and fragile they seem. They are really really cute! I also made a chipmunk run today. The problem with chipmunks is that they are very clever and can burrow their way out of the bag when you take them back to the place where you caught them. I had to run uphill about 100 feet to free they chipmunk that my team caught. Then we had lunch, once we were done we divided up into teams and walked trails looking for field signs. Then it was time to go back to check our traps in the afternoon. After, when all the traps were checked, we headed back for dinner and Chris gave a geology talk that covered the last 4.6 billion years. It was very interesting and when it was over we talked for an hour then everyone went to bed. I write all this done at the end of the day when the yellow house goes back to their house, the internet crashed about half an hour before they left and we were unable to get it working again. Here are the pictures I had to have, and now have no camera.

Here I am with a meadow jumping mouse, notice the rain jacket is back.
A close up of the little fella!

Here is a frog I found on my way back from releasing the chipmunk.

Day 9: Setting the Bar High

The group went back to Cook's Lake to check our traps in the new fields for the first time. We had a pleasant surprise, there were 8 different species in the first set of traps. Total we caught around 10 mammals, which was way more than last week where we caught 7 total for the while week. We then did 5 more deer surveys in the clearing, after that is was lunch time. When everyone was finished we had to carry wood back from the road to the gazebo. We broke up into groups and my team worked on the new cabin for the research site. Then we checked our traps for the second time and made our way back to the van. We went to Bridgewater and everyone got anything that they needed from the store. After, we left went beaver watching in a nearby lake. Unfortunately we did not see any beavers, but it was really nice to sit outside and take it all in. Then we had dinner and everyone hung out until the yellow house left for their 10:30 curfew. It was a long day, but it was well worth the work. We collected a lot of good data.

Here is a chipmunk that Team B caught.
The chipmunks are really cute; however, they can crawl their way out of the plastic bag. They are very smart and will continually go into the trap for food.

Here is a jumping mouse that Shana is holding. They have their really long tails so that they can keep their balance as they make their way through the undergrowth.

Here I am, I was going to hold this one; however, it was a chipmunk and you can not hold them by the scruff of their neck so Christina handles all of them. They are very very jittery while they are in the bag or in some way being contained.

This is where the beaver dam is. We did not see any after we waited for an hour and half, but the scene was really pretty and it was nice to unwind after a busy day.

Day 8: Back in the Field

Today we went back to Cook's Lake to set up our traps. When we got there we did ten 10 by 10 meter quadrants looking for deer field signs. After that it was around lunch time and after we ate we took a little nap. We went up and collected grass for our traps, which we then set up to take to the field. We walked around a cabin to set our traps downhill, we remained in our teams to finish out the day. Once we got home, Chris prepared dinner while everyone cleaned up. After a delicious desert, Chris gave us a talk about what our data means and how to apply it to the population. It was really interesting to see that what we do does make a difference and impacts the actions that scientists are going to make. Today, overall, mainly consisted of walking. It was more of a prep day for tomorrow, where we will check traps, look for more deer field signs and end the day with beaver watching.

Here is Maya at lunch time where we all layed down for some down time.

This was my view from my nap time.

We walked up this hill to get to the cabin where we set up our traps.

This was a mushroom we found on our walk back to the van.

These are the animals Chris drew on the back of the van.

Today was a really nice day, it wasn't very strenuous - but we are all very tired. Some people have colds and it was a bit of a shock coming from the lazy day in Lunenburgh :)

Day 7: Kejimkujik National Park

This is early morning of the next day since the internet was down due to a loose cord (not the yellow house), sorry it is so late.

Today we went to Kejimkujik National Park and Natural Historic Site. It was really pretty, once we got there and watched a video at the visitor's site, we headed to see the rapids. They were beautiful and with the noise they made it was one of the most relaxing moments ever! After we walked back to the car and drove to a picnic area for lunch. We ate right next to the lake and then played on the playground... again. We looked at deer signs in an abandon parking lot and its surrounding areas. Next the really interesting part, we went on a Petroglyphs tour left by the Mi'kmaw people. It was fascinating, in the rock that they have preserved there is carving of things the would see such as; a french man, deer and there seven pointed star. Then we went on a 3 and half mile walk through the Hemlock Forest, this consists of very old growth trees that have leaves at the top to create an awning and very little branches. There is however lots of moss that provides the smaller plants at the bottom with water. The coolest thing to happen today was on our way back a bear ran across the road in front of the van. It was neat to see the way they run too! After that excitement I fell asleep the rest of the hour and 15 minute ride home from the park. Here are some of the pictures from today.


This is a tree that a beaver started to use for its dam but it seems to have given up when it realized how far he would have to carry it to water.
These two pictures are from the rapids at the park.

This was our view from the picnic tables during lunch.

Here is Maya and I after lunch sitting on a park bench.

This is the start of our petroglyphs tour.

Here is a french man, he is on his side here, but there is an emblem on this armour and lines for a helmet.

This is Shana with her caterpillar that she carried for our whole walk.

This was a tree whose roots have gone around a boulder, it was interesting to see the variety of species in the forest.

Again, thanks for reading and hope everyone is doing well!

Day 6: Lunenburgh!

Today was by far the most beautiful day we have had! And we spent it the best way possible - in Lunenburgh, Nova Scotia!!! The small town is absolutely gorgeous with its little cafes, art galleries and gift shops. The building are adorable and all different colors. The day started with breakfast and then a drive over to Lunenburgh. To get to the town from Cherry Hill you have to cross the Lahauve River, we got to drive our van onto a ferry where we able to get out and look around before getting back on and continuing to Lunenburgh. Once we got there we had two hours out on our own before we met up for lunch. So we did the typical tourist thing and took pictures and fawned over all the little shops. Then after lunch in a picnic area by the ocean and playing in the playground, we went on our Fisheries of the Atlantic Tour. It was really interesting and I even got to hold a lobster. We then explored the museum on our own for an hour, after we got one more hour in the town. George showed us a a cute little coffee shop and then we headed home. After a delicious dinner, we plugged in the power point projector and watch Sahara. Tomorrow we are going to a national park and that will be extremely pretty too! This is a fraction of the pictures I took today.


This is the mast of the ferry boat with the Nova Scotian flag on the left and the Canadian flag on the right.

Here are a few of the houses and shops in Lunenburgh, these were literally fluorescent green, orange and pink.

This is a really old wooden church called St. John that has been burnt down and renovated.Shana (right) and Brittney (left) messing around in the playground.

Kelsie and I sat on a park bench and and this was our view looking up through the trees. It was a lovely crystal clear day!

In the museum holding a lobster!!!

These are measuring lines for the lengths of whales brought into Nova Scotia.

Here is the jaw of a huge whale.

Brittney, Kelsie and I caught in a lobster trap.

This was one of the railways to the boats we toured,

There were a lot seagulls nearby that would fly really low next to the restaurants.

This is the logo of the museum.

It was a really great day and I can not wait for tomorrow :)