Day 2 - Spiders and Dragonflies
Day two started bright and early. I was up and having breakfast by 6:00am and ready to head out and catch some spiders and bugs. But first we had to get to our survey sights... and the only way in was by helicopter!
After take off we flew for about 40 minutes over the most amazing county. There are deep gorges, dry riverbeds and little patches of green oases. Our first survey sight was at the base of a south-facing cliff. Mark "Spiderman" Harvey said that this might be a good spot for spiders because it was very sheltered from the heat of the sun. Collecting spiders is lots of fun. You have to turn over rocks and look at both the underside of the rock as well as on the ground. Mark specialises in tiny spiders; sometimes they are only 1mm long. We didn’t collect lots of specimens here but we did find a new species of trap-door spider!
When we moved off to our next location I worked with Nik Tatarnic. Nik collects true bugs and dragonflies. My job was to carry the big butterfly net and try and catch ANYTHING! I did manage to catch a few butterflies, a wasp and a caterpillar (I didn’t use the net to catch the caterpillar-I just picked it off the grass that it was sitting on). Dragonflies are so hard to catch! I did finally catch one towards the end of the afternoon. I tried many different techniques – I thought my ninja skill would come in handy but they didn’t. The best way to catch a dragonfly is to wave the net around like a maniac until it feels sorry for you and puts itself in the net.
It is a tradition on Bushblitz expeditions that everyone eats dinner together and shares their personal highlights for the day. This was a very difficult task for me because I had had some many amazing experiences. Working with Mark and Nik was definitely a highlight for me; so was the helicopter ride, finding some freshwater crocodile tracks, helping discover a new species of trap-door spider as well as experiencing my first full day as a ‘scientist.’
After take off we flew for about 40 minutes over the most amazing county. There are deep gorges, dry riverbeds and little patches of green oases. Our first survey sight was at the base of a south-facing cliff. Mark "Spiderman" Harvey said that this might be a good spot for spiders because it was very sheltered from the heat of the sun. Collecting spiders is lots of fun. You have to turn over rocks and look at both the underside of the rock as well as on the ground. Mark specialises in tiny spiders; sometimes they are only 1mm long. We didn’t collect lots of specimens here but we did find a new species of trap-door spider!
When we moved off to our next location I worked with Nik Tatarnic. Nik collects true bugs and dragonflies. My job was to carry the big butterfly net and try and catch ANYTHING! I did manage to catch a few butterflies, a wasp and a caterpillar (I didn’t use the net to catch the caterpillar-I just picked it off the grass that it was sitting on). Dragonflies are so hard to catch! I did finally catch one towards the end of the afternoon. I tried many different techniques – I thought my ninja skill would come in handy but they didn’t. The best way to catch a dragonfly is to wave the net around like a maniac until it feels sorry for you and puts itself in the net.
It is a tradition on Bushblitz expeditions that everyone eats dinner together and shares their personal highlights for the day. This was a very difficult task for me because I had had some many amazing experiences. Working with Mark and Nik was definitely a highlight for me; so was the helicopter ride, finding some freshwater crocodile tracks, helping discover a new species of trap-door spider as well as experiencing my first full day as a ‘scientist.’