A 'fluffy' entry!

I'm in the midst of wrapping up my final days of school here at Finger Lakes Community College. I have tests, a HUGE paper, packing, moving, work, and all sorts of other time consuming things going on. I haven't been able to write in about a week, but I wanted to share some pictures of things I've learned about and have been tested on recently.

Last weekend (5/5/2012) I took a field trip with my Glacial Geology class. We drove all over the Finger Lakes in search of glacially formed features...which are in abundance here! The pictures of the features didn't come out very well, it's always hard to capture the scale and grandeur of topographic landmarks. I did see some fun flora and fauna along the way though.

11 little turtles, sitting on a log....probably midland paints!

Red admiral butterfly

Mayapple

A honeybee on a dandelion!

A lovely view of the junction of Canandaigua Lake (out of shot to the left) and Glacial Lake Middlesex, now just a meandering river.

Wild geranium

Jack-in-the-pulpit

Maidenhair spleenwort

Red trillium

White trillium

I just took the biggest test of my life so far...75 slides of identifying mammals, fish, reptiles, amphibians, insects, and "conservation" field equipment. And then I also had a field test where I had to be able to identify 25 of anything found in our woodlot on campus. Overall in the class I got a B, which was way above average as I understand, but still I wish I would have done better! I guess everyone wishes to know more and be able to recall things at a seconds notice...and I'm no different.

Coming up: tomorrow I'm heading to the site of Field Camp- a week-long course that all conservation students must participate in to put their ID skills and field techniques into practice. It's offered once a year, at the end of May. I already took the class, last summer, and this year was hired to "tech" as support to the faculty. Tomorrow I'm heading down with the "mammal and wildlife" profs, John and Clinton (who have been frequent guests on my blog), and the other wildlife tech, Mady (my future roommate!!!), and we'll be setting camera traps and prebaiting Sherman traps. And then field camp is next week! I'm sure I'll have alot to share!