critters; sunset/moon rise

Well I was disappointed that I missed the "checking traps" part of the day yesterday. So I made sure that I arrived at the Site in time to participate today. I decided that I would run this evening rather than this morning so I could partake in this exciting event. The crew was disappointed that no mammals were captured yesterday. This morning, before going out to check traps, people were waging bets on how many mammal would be trapped. Everyone said "zero", but I was optimistic and projected at least "one".

The biologist gathered their gear and we all put on insect repellant and Tyvek suits to protect our skin from poison ivy and ticks. Then we headed to the woods. The first photo of this blog is of a Sherman trap. I was the first to spot the mouse in the mouse trap (second photo). That turned out to be our only small mammal of the day. I was right! But now I wished I had projected 15 or more, since that was our need... Thankfully, the mouse was already dead. The biologists said that if a mammal was captured still alive, they would suffocate it in a pillowcase. No one was excited about having to do that...

The third photograph of this blog is of insect, or pit-fall traps in the wooded area. They dug holes in the earth, inserted plastic cups into the holes and attached styrofoam bowls as lids. The theory was that insects would walk along the ground, fall into the cups, then not be able to climb back out. In the terrace soils, the first day was quite productive. More than enough insects were captured. However, in the wetland areas, not enough insects have been captured so a few more days of collection will be required.

This afternoon, the biologists were collecting sediment and surface water samples. While wandering out into the woodlands/wetlands to find them, I came across this poor turtle. What happened to it's shell?

I worked until about 5:30 p.m., then returned to my hotel, had a clif shot, changed clothes, and then went for an evening run. It was very windy! The wind made my run tough, feeling like I was struggling uphill the entire time. I felt like quiting, but forced myself to continue past 3 miles. I stopped at 3.07 miles, at the Public Entrance #27 onto Wrightsville Beach.

I started walking along the beach and was amazed at the high waves. There were dark clouds overhead and thunderstorms had occurred earlier in the day. Since the last time I was here, they have created a walking path at the top part of the beach. This is cool! I walked along this path back to the parking lot, while talking to Kyra and watching the surfers.

After talking to Kyra, I left the beach and started walking towards the parking lot. I noticed imediately that the big fat orange sun was setting behind dark clouds to the west. I glanced back towards the ocean and noticed that the full moon had risen on the east. WOW was this an AMAZING view to see both the sun setting and the moon rising at the same time! This totally made the challenging run worthwhile!