The March Hare: Summer '05
Issue 45

Caring for ourselves* DR on TV* What and Where* Food Choices* Ask a Rabbit* Endometriosis* Nature Corner* Tasty Tidbit

During my four weeks here at DR, I have felt more completely surrounded by nature than ever before. While this sentiment is probably due in part to many disturbingly intimate experiences with a variety of kinds of ticks and the discovery of a recently established ant nest in my suitcase last week, it also stems from the imposing blanket of sky here.

This past week has shown all the beauty that I think a summer sky can show: a light blue expanse interrupted by fluffy white clouds; the menacing dark blue and gray pierced by white lightning and accompanied by rain, thunder, and strong winds; and the clear nights with beautiful stars.

My favorite part of each day here is the moment that I leave the common house at night and pause to look down the hill toward my tent. Every night the stars twinkle overhead while the lightning bugs glitter around me. While wind rustles in the trees, I only can stand and watch the night around me. It's like an ocean without water.

Unfortunately, I can't spend all my time passively staring at the stars; I go looking for nature during the day. As Rachel's field assistant, I see meadowlark nests, red- wing blackbird nests, and field sparrow nests, among others. Except when interrupted by predation, each nest has progressed from being empty, to containing eggs, to containing baby birds, to containing fledglings in these past few weeks.

I've also spent much of my time at DR out in the study fields trapping potential mammalian nest predators. So far, I've found: the big-eyed white-footed mouse; the smaller deer mouse, in the genus Peromyscus; the cute little harvest mouse, Reithrodontomys megalotis; the silver-bellied meadow vole, Microtus pennsylvanicus, and the dusky-bellied prairie vole, M. ochrogaster; and numerous species of shrew.

Of all of these rodents, my favorite species is Microtus ochrogaster. A friend of mine once described these critters as ''the peanut butter of the mammal world,'' because they are very common and eaten by a wide variety of predators.

I will shamelessly admit I favor prairie voles because of the cuteness factor. When angered, a vole will squeak. On occasion a prairie vole (especially a male) will also stand on its hind legs with front feet raised so that it looks like a small bear. The prairie variety is also less promiscuous and seems to have a strong sense of family.

Caring for ourselves* DR on TV* What and Where* Food Choices* Ask a Rabbit* Endometriosis* Nature Corner* Tasty Tidbit