June | 2022 | Summer on a Shoestring

June 19, 2022, 7:44 pm
Filed under: Daily life, Fertilization

We have officially finished week 2 and only have ONE more stand (C3) to fertilize! The team was working like a well-oiled machine by the middle of the week, and we were hammering out a plot every 45 minutes on average–and with 10 of us, we were able to split into teams of 5 and get even more done. We would have gotten all the plots done, but some rainy weather delayed us again. Monday was a rainy morning and Friday had scattered thundershowers in the forecast (we got a good amount of rain in a couple morning downpours, but to my disappointment, the thunder and lightning side of things was lacking). Friday was a relaxed day of working on proposals and catching up on reading. The end of the week also brought the end of Jen and Sam’s time with us 😦 they were wonderful to have for the first couple of weeks and their company and experience will be missed!

Written by: Finley O’Connor

All images in this post will include alt text for accessibility

Stand C1 was not nearly as bad as I expected from Sam’s vehement dislike of it, and it was the first young stand I’d been to! The difference in its community is stark coming from the mid- and old-aged stands.

Image shows a hobblebush leaf from the top down. Author's hand is in the image for scale, resting on the leaf, which is easily 3 times the size of the hand. — The biggest hobblebush leaf (*Viburnum lantanoides*) I’ve ever seen!

We saw several Pink lady’s Slippers (Cypripedium acaule) on the hike up to C1. I’m still not used to seeing so many of them! They aren’t common in the Northeast Hardwood forests I grew up in.

Lepidopteran clings to the underside of a leaf on the forest floor. Its wings are dwarfed by its body, which is yellow and fluffy. Its wings are wrinkled and folded, maroon with one small white spot visible on one. The other wing and the end of the abdomen are obscured by fallen twigs. — Newly-emerged Oakworm Moth

Image of a mixed deciduous and conifer forest from floor to canopy, slightly distorted by a fish-eye effect in order to capture more of the scene. — Newly-emerged Oakworm Moth

And last (but certainly not least) was our day at Jeffer’s Brook. We got up early to leave the house at 7, but we were working so well together that we ended up finishing by 2. The understory at Jeffer’s is just *chef’s kiss*–though it did make it a pain to make sure the fertilizer actually ended up on the ground where it’s supposed to be!

Erin found this little nest…

Image shows a birds' nest from the side. It is built into the intersection of some hobblebush branches, and is made out of strips of tree bark and plant fiber.

And its inhabitants!!

Image is of the same nest, but looking directly down at it. This reveals three tiny hatchlings and one pale egg, uniformly speckled with pale brown. The hatchlings are curled together with the egg, pink and naked. Their eyes are tightly closed and they look like they are sleeping.

They couldn’t have hatched more than a day ago when we found them! I could’ve stayed and watched them for hours.

Image is of the nest with the hatchlings again, but one has its head vertical, beak open, begging for food.

It’s good fortune to see ONE nest of baby birds in a day, much less two, but guess what we found, nestled in the ground along the path where we parked the cars? YUP! more babies!

Image shows another nest, this one built into the ground under a woody plant. It is made from dead grass, meticulously placed to align the fiber in a circle. At least 3 chicks are inside, but it's hard to tell because they are all cuddled together. They have grey-black fuzz on their head and a strip of black down their spine. Their wings have tiny undeveloped pin feathers, and their eyes are shut tight. They are still mostly pink and naked.

A little bit older, these hatchlings had the beginnings of their pinfeathers coming in and fuzzy little heads, though their eyes were still closed tight.

Since they were along a path that showed clear signs of mowing (you can see the mown end of the woody plant above the nest), I put one of our extra orange flags with WARNING: NEST and a down-pointing arrow next to it. Ground nesters have enough to worry about without lawnmowers!

image is of a Jack-in-the-pulpit plant (genus Arisaema). Picture was taken near ground level, and the underside of the two tri-part leaves that extend above the single flower is shown. The flower is tubular, with a top that folds over the pitcher and reproductive organs. It is maroon, and the tube is striped vertically with a lighter marooon.

I’m honor-bound to finish on an understory plant, especially after so many pictures of wildlife! So here is a shot of a lovely Jeffer’s Brook Arisaema to wrap up the week 2 recap.

Stay curious!

~ Finn

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Back in Bartlett!

June 12, 2022, 8:05 pm
Filed under: Daily life, Fertilization

The first week of the 2022 field season is over! This year, we have a wonderful crew that includes Scott, Erin, Sandip, Kelley, Finn, Jake, and Tiantian. In addition, Ruth, Jenna, Jenn, and Sam also returned to help us with the first two weeks of fertilization!

The White House is still only reserved for Forest Service staff due to COVID, so we’re back in the rental home. Returning crew members are happy because we have been reunited with the cow chair! ❤

We hit the ground running on the first day of the field season by orienting the new crew members to MELNHE and the fertilization procedures. Everyone got to learn how we weigh out the fertilizer and navigate the MELNHE plots.

While Scott, Jenn, and Sam taught the new crew members the fertilization protocol, Erin, Jenna, and Ruth took a trip to Hubbard Brook to pick up the ammonium nitrate and spend some time in the archive.

**Note to future crew leaders: Don’t forget to pick up any fertilizer that was shipped to Hubbard Brook on your way to Bartlett from Syracuse!**

A couple of rainy days slowed down our fertilization efforts on Wednesday and Thursday, leaving time for the interns to work on their proposals with Ruth! Finn is going to study root: shoot ratios in the herbaceous layer. Jake is using stem mapping to study the dynamics between neighboring trees. Tiantian is taking on the soil respiration project and studying its connection to soil moisture.

We finished the week off with a trip to Hubbard Brook for fertilization. All the interns got to see Pleasant View for the first time and hiked around in the forest they’ve heard so much about in their classes!

And no visit from Sam would be complete without his tour around New Hampshire! Sam, Sandip, and Jake visited Cathedral Ledge and walked around North Conway on Saturday. I anticipate the crew will have many more adventures this summer!