Day 8: Bats, Mice, and Worms

Today was quite a day. We had a very interesting all-faculty meeting at school today where we discussed some contentious issues and a quorum was called leading to the end of the meeting. After this I took a number of scouts from the local troop caving up in Kingston. In the cave we saw only one bat, but luckily it didn't seem to have the White Nose Syndrome that has infected so many of our local bats. It was a mighty fun trip and the boys seemed to have quite a good time. While I was driving home from school tonight a mouse ran in front of my car, it made it all the way across the road, it was pretty cute.

Tonight was a might colder than yesterday and a bit blustery as well. Walking outside at night for a week should have prepared me better for tonight's walk, but when the wind was blowing strong at times it was a bit unnerving, probably b/c I couldn't hear as well as I'd liked I believe. As with last night, I made my way out to the main stream of Black Creek but I didn't see as much wildlife as last night. The peepers were still out in strength, almost more them it seemed than last night, but the toads were noticeably missing from the chorus. Also, the Pickerel Frogs were out, but their call was slower and longer than last night when it was warm. The water had risen a few inches after the thunder storm we'd had last night so it was a bit harder going to get to the stream.

As it was colder than last night, I decided to call it an early night, but not before I stopped along the pond inlet-stream to check the shallows and the bank. I don't think I've ever seen so many worms in one spot! There were at least 50 worms in a square foot of stream bank. They were all quite small, but still that was a lot of worms. It made me think about how many worms there would be in the yard burrowing through the soil. I can now see why Darwin spent the last years of his life studying these amazing creatures. Just to try and contemplate the massive amount of organic matter that passes through these animals is beyond imagining. Along with the earthworms on the bank there was another of those great terrestrial flatworms. This one was bigger than the one I'd seen the other night. After a full week of taking night walks I have to say the only downside is that I have a number of bug-bites and perhaps a small case of Poison Ivy. I'd say that is well worth the opportunities I have had this last week.