Results from the first week

It's hard to believe that we're almost to the end of the first week! Before I go over our results, I'll answer some questions from my classes.
.) How big was the snake that was found?
The snake was about three feet long. We are still waiting for a positive identification, but one source thinks it is a garter snake.

2.) Are you having a good time?
I'm having a great time! The research is very interesting, the team is a lot of fun and it's pretty neat to see a different part of the country.

3.) Is there something you have found or can find in Nova Scotia that you can't find in Minnesota?
I think the biggest difference is that we are by the ocean. So there are a lot of big boats in the bays and, of course, fresh seafood. I think there are a lot more similarities than differences. We have the same animals, tree species, terrain etc...

4.) What all do you see while you are by the ocean?
Lots of seaweed! Also broken lobster traps, some seashells and ropes and other garbage washed up on shore. I saw a loon the other day and the seagulls look a little bigger than in Bemidji.

1.) What kind of food have you been eating? Anything different?
The food is cooked by our two researchers. For breakfast, I usually have eggs and bacon. Lunch is sandwiches and fruit. For supper, we have had pasta with spaghetti sauce, stir fried rice, fish and chips (french fries), pizza and, tonight, bangers and mash (sausage and mashed potatoes).

1.) Have have your like and dislikes been from the trip?
I like working with the other teachers from across the United States. I also really enjoy participating in real research and learning from real scientists. I'm looking forward to Halifax tomorrow and eating some seafood. I don't have any dislikes so far.

2.) Do you hope to see any bears while you are there?
I think it would be great to see some bears, but we'll probably see bear sign (tracks, scat, etc..). The bears here tend to shy away from humans, just like the ones in Minnesota.

3.) Has there been any accidents with the studies?
No, although there was a close call with a logging truck (an articulated lorry in UK language) who was partly in our lane. The rocky terrain is a little tricky to walk through.

2.) Are you going to be able to bring anything back for Zeta Pod?
If I see something interesting that isn't too big or heavy, I'll get it back home.

3.) Does Nova Scotia have a favorite sport, if so what is it? Do they play any different sports than in MN?
Nova Scotians enjoy hockey, like most of Canada. As far as know, there are no unique games here.

Today we checked our small mammal traps and brought them all in. We are finished with this site and will move to a different site on Monday. We did four more transects looking for white tailed deer droppings and returned to Cherry Hill for lunch and to run our calculations. We calculated that there are 10.5 small mammals (mice and voles) per hectacre (2.5 acres). That is a slight increase from last year's results. We also counted the hare pellets that we've collected over the last few days. We calculated an average of around 1600 pellets per hectacre which is an increase from last year.

Tonight we went to the town of Liverpool to do laundry and visited a local pub. It was trivia night and the Earthwatch team ended up in third place out of six teams. Not too bad considering a lot of the questions were about Canada and Nova Scotia. We're having a few problems uploading pictures and videos, but keep checking back for some funny videos.