Week 4 (6/17/24)

This week has been a very Mosquito-heavy week due to a combination of many mosquito-focused interns were out most of the week and we had a short week with the federal holiday for Juneteenth. I was able to get a little more involved in the process for the mosquitos, and did a new, but simple task for of recharging all the batteries for the light traps. I was also able to get familiarized with the mosquito ID and counting process and realized I may not be as good at them as I thought, and I definitely still need the dichotomous key for the Mosquito ID outside a few species. Even after I ID species from a trap, my coworker Sammy checks to make sure I am correct. Admittedly, it was a nice break from the norm with going out flagging for ticks, being able to be in an air conditioned room during an especially hot week, but I am always excited for doing work outdoors with the tick flagging.

On that note for ticking, we only went to two sites this week, and they were far.  Huntington, and  on Shelter Island respectively. At both sites we were able to get all the ticks we needed from each in one trip, so we will not have to go back to these places. Going to Shelter Island was especially nice since I have not been before. All the animals there were incredibly docile from what I assume to be human feeding, so I had 2 or 3 chipmunks around me for most of the flagging. It was sort of cool to see these typically evasive animals up close but I also felt bad that they did not have their true instincts that they would in the wild. I also got to watch a Snapping Turtle cross the hiking trail, which was especially cool. 
Lastly, this week I was able to get ARCGIS working, and I did a test run of the nymph data to see what I could do, and I am glad to say that when I get a chance, I am going to make a few more maps to better display the data that has been collected the past few years.


Snapping Turtle on Shelter Island










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