The Rhode Island Natural History Survey presented awards to distinguished naturalists in the state last night. The group also released a final tally of species they recorded this summer during an intense 24-hour period of taking inventory. It’s called a BioBlitz. We take you back to summer to give you a sampling of plants and animals they found on a particular parcel of land in Hopkinton.
Two hundred and ten nature nerds gathered at Kenyon Crossroads Preserve in Hopkinton for the Rhode Island Natural History Survey’s annual BioBlitz, the 17th the group has led so far.
They set up one giant white tent they call the Science Center with books, lamps, aquaria, microscopes and all sorts of other gear scattered across several tables.
“Pull up a chair and make yourself at home,” said Peter August, who focused on bats. He found five different species at the edge of a forest.
August recorded bat calls with an ultrasonic microphone and played them back on his iPad. He heard red bats, hoary bats, little brown bats, big brown bats, and silver-haired bats.
Good bat diversity, he said. Bats were among the 21 species of mammals recorded here. Plants were well represented, too: 432 species, including 70 kinds of mosses.
“Mosses and liverworts play a lot of different roles,” said Keith Bowman, who traveled from Pennsylvania to do this BioBlitz.
“[They are] habitats for lots of different organisms. It’s hard to look at mosses without seeing springtails or rotifers or nematodes of many kinds,” Bowman continued.
There were 31 species of non-arthropod invertebrates that include worms like those nematodes, Bowman just mentioned. They’re important decomposers that keep soil healthy.
The litterbug team found 64 types of other insects, including stone centipedes, rough sow bug, and thrips, said Robert Smith.
The abundance and diversity of these all these organisms tell us a lot about the health of the habitats here at this preserve. The amphibian and reptile teams counted 12 and 8 species, respectively, including green frogs near a swamp and a black racers snake in a stinging nettle bush. Peter Warny found native turtles in a pond.
“So these are three little hatchling musk turtles,” said Warny. “They call them stink pots because they smell a little bit. You wanna smell them?”
They’re a little musky, for sure, “like rancid margarine,” added Warny. “I love the smell of rancid margarine.”
The bird team counted 79 species.
“We had a lot of more common things: eastern towhees, common yellow throats, yellow warblers,” said Dan Berard. “We had some uncommon stuff, like hooded warbler, indigo bunting, northern parallel, black-billed and yellow-billed cuckoos, which are cool because they’re eating all the gypsy moth caterpillars. They’re one of the only birds that can do that. So it’s nice to see those around helping us out.”
You could hear caterpillars throughout quiet swaths of the forest, said David Gregg, executive director of the Rhode Island Natural History Survey.
“The droppings – of literally millions of gypsy moths on trees – are falling through the leaves and it sounds like rain,” said Gregg.
The teams collected 21 species of butterflies and 117 species of moths, which have symbiotic relationships with different kinds of plants.
“So if you have a lot of moths, you know you have a diverse plant flora,” said Gregg. “But also, moths are really great bird food. If you have lots of moths, lots of caterpillars, that means your warblers and your sparrows are going to be eating well.”
The total number of species recorded within 24 hours on this one nature preserve: 1,080.
