July 13, 2018: Catch Me if You Can
Blessings and curses come in the same packages when it comes to the weather in Churchill. Some days are comfortably warm and still, but then one has to fight off the bugs. Other days are uncomfortably cold and windy, but one can almost do their work without wearing a bug net. Today was surprisingly fantastic on all fronts as it was a day that was warm, breezy, and relatively bug-free. I’ll take this as a major score on the Arctic front, as I am currently out of clean clothing that will keep me warm, and also have several constellations of bug bites dotting my body.
After starting the day with another wonderful breakfast at the Churchill Northern Studies Center we went to our classroom for the regularly scheduled 9 AM briefing. We were told by the lead scientist Lee Ann Fishback that we had a choice of what we would choose as our afternoon activity. We could complete lab work, go outside and manually break down some of the equipment used to hold specimens, or we could go into the wetlands and catch Tree Frog tadpoles. Since the last choice reverberated with the nostalgia of being an eight year old kid again I was game to enjoy the gift of some extra sunshine while catching tadpoles. However, we first had to complete the assessment of other wetlands in the area, the usual start beginning to completing our fieldwork. We packed up all of our field equipment to take with us and went to our first wetland to complete the physical component of the daily work.
The work required us to go to three pond sites and use a dip net to collect the various types of wildlife that live in the pond. We would start by wading out into the water in our Neoprene waders and boots, bumping our long nets into the sides of different sorts of vegetation, and then continuing on to other parts of the pond to do the same thing. Working in teams of two, we would each spend 15 minutes hoping to catch a bounty of neat critters in our nets. At the end of 15 minutes we would take the nets up to the trays on shore, dump them out, and check out the treasures we had found for identification. Sometimes we would find the more simple creatures such as tiny Daphnea, but at other times a large Predacious Diving Beetle Larvae would be scored. These larvae were some of the most interesting creatures we found. I marvelled at the cruelty of nature when the larvae caught a fairy shrimp in its front pinchers, stilled its long body, brought the shrimp up to its mouth and then sucked out the inner contents of the creature. I was reminded in these moments that at the bottom of everything life is suffering, but life goes on and it can also be incredibly beautiful. This seemed to be an ongoing theme as I was witness to the everyday environment in Churchill.
The dip net task was a fun one, but certain wetlands posed to be challenging that day. In the second of the three ponds that we visited there were these areas around the perimeter that looked like inviting sand bars, but upon stepping into them my boots would sink down about three feet. At one point my boots were suctioned off of my feet and had to use my hands to wrestle them back out of the sandy earth. At the next particularly mucky pond I stumbled over a big rock that was hidden from surface view, going down with a prayer of thanks that I had followed my instinct and left my cell phone resting dryly on the shore. The Neoprene waders and boots I wore also kept me fairly dry as I clumsily felt my way around each wetland.
In the afternoon our teams split up and we went into the wetlands to try and catch Tree Frog tadpoles. At the first wetland it was so easy that we could dip our hands into the water, cup the tadpoles, and pull them up to investigate if they were indeed the type that we needed to be catching. Right away we seemed to catch our goal of 75 tadpoles in that particular pond. However, we had to go to a second and third pond to try and get a second wetland sample. In these ponds we caught less than ten tadpoles overall, which was not considered a successful trip because more specimens were needed for research. Still, this trip was fun as we traveled into a real Tundra landscape full of lichen and moss, and underwater these springy substances felt a little bit like walking on a waterbed or a small trampoline. This was a welcome change from the earlier issue of stumbling into muck and tripping over rocks. Also, the vegetation was incredibly inspiring, alternating various shades of bright green, orange, and purple everywhere. I wished again that I had brought my camera into the field to take some photos, but was not yet willing to sacrifice it to the god of water.
After catching tadpoles we went back to the center to shower and have a wonderful dinner of barbequed chicken and vegetables, complete with chocolate chip cookies for dessert. We finished up our meal and headed back to our classroom for our 7 PM lecture on Polar Bears with Dr. Fishback. This lecture was particularly neat as we got to see maps of the way climate change has happened across the world in the last several years, hold a Polar Bear skull, and hear all sorts of interesting facts about Polar Bears themselves. One fact I found particularly awesome is that when Polar Bears mate the fertilized egg hangs around for months before choosing to implant itself and impregnate the Polar Bear mama. I never knew that was something that a mammal could do, but it makes sense to create optimal timing for rearing young. Dr. Fishback did a great job in her lecture of creating enthusiasm for these beautiful creatures, and cementing further the idea that protecting them is of vital importance.
While we have done a great deal of work at Churchill in the days we have been here, tomorrow is a day of fun activities like kayaking with the Beluga Whales. I can’t wait to see all the adventures that will manifest.
Blessings and curses come in the same packages when it comes to the weather in Churchill. Some days are comfortably warm and still, but then one has to fight off the bugs. Other days are uncomfortably cold and windy, but one can almost do their work without wearing a bug net. Today was surprisingly fantastic on all fronts as it was a day that was warm, breezy, and relatively bug-free. I’ll take this as a major score on the Arctic front, as I am currently out of clean clothing that will keep me warm, and also have several constellations of bug bites dotting my body.
After starting the day with another wonderful breakfast at the Churchill Northern Studies Center we went to our classroom for the regularly scheduled 9 AM briefing. We were told by the lead scientist Lee Ann Fishback that we had a choice of what we would choose as our afternoon activity. We could complete lab work, go outside and manually break down some of the equipment used to hold specimens, or we could go into the wetlands and catch Tree Frog tadpoles. Since the last choice reverberated with the nostalgia of being an eight year old kid again I was game to enjoy the gift of some extra sunshine while catching tadpoles. However, we first had to complete the assessment of other wetlands in the area, the usual start beginning to completing our fieldwork. We packed up all of our field equipment to take with us and went to our first wetland to complete the physical component of the daily work.
The work required us to go to three pond sites and use a dip net to collect the various types of wildlife that live in the pond. We would start by wading out into the water in our Neoprene waders and boots, bumping our long nets into the sides of different sorts of vegetation, and then continuing on to other parts of the pond to do the same thing. Working in teams of two, we would each spend 15 minutes hoping to catch a bounty of neat critters in our nets. At the end of 15 minutes we would take the nets up to the trays on shore, dump them out, and check out the treasures we had found for identification. Sometimes we would find the more simple creatures such as tiny Daphnea, but at other times a large Predacious Diving Beetle Larvae would be scored. These larvae were some of the most interesting creatures we found. I marvelled at the cruelty of nature when the larvae caught a fairy shrimp in its front pinchers, stilled its long body, brought the shrimp up to its mouth and then sucked out the inner contents of the creature. I was reminded in these moments that at the bottom of everything life is suffering, but life goes on and it can also be incredibly beautiful. This seemed to be an ongoing theme as I was witness to the everyday environment in Churchill.
The dip net task was a fun one, but certain wetlands posed to be challenging that day. In the second of the three ponds that we visited there were these areas around the perimeter that looked like inviting sand bars, but upon stepping into them my boots would sink down about three feet. At one point my boots were suctioned off of my feet and had to use my hands to wrestle them back out of the sandy earth. At the next particularly mucky pond I stumbled over a big rock that was hidden from surface view, going down with a prayer of thanks that I had followed my instinct and left my cell phone resting dryly on the shore. The Neoprene waders and boots I wore also kept me fairly dry as I clumsily felt my way around each wetland.
In the afternoon our teams split up and we went into the wetlands to try and catch Tree Frog tadpoles. At the first wetland it was so easy that we could dip our hands into the water, cup the tadpoles, and pull them up to investigate if they were indeed the type that we needed to be catching. Right away we seemed to catch our goal of 75 tadpoles in that particular pond. However, we had to go to a second and third pond to try and get a second wetland sample. In these ponds we caught less than ten tadpoles overall, which was not considered a successful trip because more specimens were needed for research. Still, this trip was fun as we traveled into a real Tundra landscape full of lichen and moss, and underwater these springy substances felt a little bit like walking on a waterbed or a small trampoline. This was a welcome change from the earlier issue of stumbling into muck and tripping over rocks. Also, the vegetation was incredibly inspiring, alternating various shades of bright green, orange, and purple everywhere. I wished again that I had brought my camera into the field to take some photos, but was not yet willing to sacrifice it to the god of water.
After catching tadpoles we went back to the center to shower and have a wonderful dinner of barbequed chicken and vegetables, complete with chocolate chip cookies for dessert. We finished up our meal and headed back to our classroom for our 7 PM lecture on Polar Bears with Dr. Fishback. This lecture was particularly neat as we got to see maps of the way climate change has happened across the world in the last several years, hold a Polar Bear skull, and hear all sorts of interesting facts about Polar Bears themselves. One fact I found particularly awesome is that when Polar Bears mate the fertilized egg hangs around for months before choosing to implant itself and impregnate the Polar Bear mama. I never knew that was something that a mammal could do, but it makes sense to create optimal timing for rearing young. Dr. Fishback did a great job in her lecture of creating enthusiasm for these beautiful creatures, and cementing further the idea that protecting them is of vital importance.
While we have done a great deal of work at Churchill in the days we have been here, tomorrow is a day of fun activities like kayaking with the Beluga Whales. I can’t wait to see all the adventures that will manifest.