Everglades

I had assumed my blogging days were over, but I have been asked to blog about our volunteer season in the Everglades, so here we go.

This first blog will also go by email to those I think might be interested. Otherwise just up to the blog:

Http://gardenladyanne.blogspot.com

We arrived on New Year's Day and got into our apartment. It's a kind of duplex with our unit on one end and Cindy and Tom on the other end with a shared laundry room in between. It is small but functional and was recently upgraded with new appliances and furniture. And, sacre bleu, we have granite countertops! Much to the envy of some other volunteers. The best part is a large screened porch, about 12 x 15 feet. The worst is lack of counter space. Those granite countertops consist of about six inches on either side of the sink and about 18 inches on each side of the stove. But, we will be fine. I even have some space to try a couple of tomato plants.

The weather is fine, even a bit too warm and humid sometimes, although I know I won't get much sympathy on that issue. I will try to refrain from talking about the weather any more.

As many of you know we will be on a lichen research team. Our second day we met the rest of the team. The leaders are a husband and wife team (they are quite fascinating and will warrant more remarks later), Rick and Jean. There is a returning volunteer named Keek from Montana and another new volunteer named Lucinda from Vermont. Rick spent about an hour giving us an overview and then said, "Go get settled in and get acquainted with the park. See you next Monday (Jan. 7)". Unfortunately since then his mother has had some serious health issues and they left last Sat. to deal with that, which means that Keek was in charge today. She is very competent and it was already the plan to have her train us on the database entry, which is very detailed and punctilious. Basically we are taking their field notes and inputting into the database the different samples they have collected. You will realize how detailed it is when I tell you that each of the three new volunteers managed to input two samples today. Our workday is 9 to 4 because he realizes that longer hours invite errors. Accuracy is vital for being able to search the database. At some point we will get to go along on some of these field trips. They collect samples and input into the database, using the volunteers, in the winter and spend the warmer weather crunching the data. So far they have identified 40 lichens new to North America and 10 that are new To science. Already with the data entry we are learning a lot about lichens. I think it will be fun.

(Lady below is camp host where python was caught)

But the most fun thing we did today had nothing to do with lichens. We are adjacent to the "wet lab" and they were autopsying a Burmese python. We didn't see him make the original cut, but she was cut from end to end and we saw the heart and liver and egg sac (she was not pregnant, but had eggs waiting to be fertilized). The stomach had a largely digested meal, but there was evidence an alligator was part of it. (The bony protuberances on an alligators back are called scoots and are very distinctive- they were there-even I could see that). The researcher, Skip, was very willing to talk about everything with us, I.e., we were not considered a nuisance. He said it was the biggest one he has ever done at 17 ft. 4 in. The record is 17 ft. 8 in. So he said he stretched it out as long as he could but no record. The other person at the autopsy was in charge of the day use area where it was captured. It was in a picnic area and the snake was just lying out in the sun. People assumed it was dead and were walking around looking at it. Then somebody poked it and it raised its head and hissed. She said the hiss was really something-like the air rushing out of a balloon. So she shooed the people away and called a law enforcement ranger who can shoot it, and then tried to keep it in the area. They like to kill or capture them if possible as they are killing a lot of the small game and changing the ecosystem. At one point her husband tried to whack the head off with his machete, but it barely made a scratch. Skip said that probably was not a good idea. The autopsy room smelled like a seafood shop where all the fish are a little old. In other words, kind of stinky. [i found out CNN did a piece on the capture in the picnic area. If you google CNN python Florida, you should find it.]

We also in our wanderings these first few days have seen a crocodile. A big one. Crocs only exist in the very tip of Florida and the keys and this is the only area in the world where both exist. We also got a brief glimpse of a manatee surfacing.

Day 2. Another python. This time it was only 12 feet long and had been run over by a vehicle in town. No autopsy today. Our work is going better. I did 5 specimens today and we quit at 3 PM. Keek has managed to stir up a hornet's nest and says that she is going to leave as soon as Rick and Jean are back and we new volunteers are up to speed. I hope she stays as I like her. We only heard her side of the story and there are always two (or more) so I can't take sides but she has certainly made some enemies.

Enough. I want to get this out today.

Anne