Muscles on the River

Several wonderful things happened today in my class. The kids were amazing and it's always tough on day 3, their last day at Nature's Classroom, because just as I've gotten to know them, they are gone. Tomorrow will bring another school for their 3 days.  However, our shared experiences today were very special and involved a turtle, a mayfly and a river mussel. 

As we were discussing biodiversity as a measure of the health of the Hillsborough River, which is the source of our drinking water, a large native female turtle came up on the high bluff next to our class.  We watched in amazement as she found a shady spot under a tree and began digging her nest and presumably depositing her eggs.  What a wonderful commercial break!  We prepared to get in the river, issuing water shoes, nets, and collection buckets, all of which did not seam to phase her.  When we came back from our collection activity, she was gone. We saw a perfectly round hole, but it was empty and uncovered.  We saw other holes with eggs that had been eaten lying around, so maybe she changed her mind.  We will never know.

Peninsula Cooter (Pseudemys floridana peninsularis)

Down by the water, our catch of critters was enormous and the kids were gleefully scooping out one species after another!  The mayfly nymphs, mentioned in an earlier post by that name (5/13/15), were numerous and always beautiful to watch as they seemingly fluttered along the bottoms of our buckets, seeking shelter under any creature they could find. The best find, however, was the adult mayfly nymph that someone discovered near the water.  It was beautiful!  This was the adult stage, the second flying stage of the mayfly nymph and is the one that lives for less than a day.

Mayfly Adult (Order Ephemeroptera)

We also found an extremely large river mussel and the kids joked about "finding big muscles" in the river.  All in all, it was a great day, with kids who loved to learn and overcame their fears of going in the water and holding insects and shrimp.  It was a glorious day for exploration and I shall miss them all.  Tomorrow is a new day!

Students finding mussels and building muscles

Final tidbit; One of my students asked me if I got paid to teach at Nature's Classroom.  I told her "yes".  She replied with "Wow!  You get paid to do something you love!  That is so cool!"  I guess it shows.  I love what I do.

Students catching critters in the Hillsborough River.