Field Trip To White Lake Grasslands 2015

Some days it’s not just about counting the bugs we see, we want to know where that bug came from and what the bugs look like in their natural habitat. Our samples, whether they be from pond, stream, or lake makes a huge difference in what we see under the microscope. We decided to get out of the lab and took a walk (ok a climb!) to stretch our legs and see some live bugs out at White Lake Grasslands Conservation Park in October of last year.

Wow what a day! Beautiful scenery with views that didn’t stop! This location had a small temporal pond on the upper elevations so compared with rivers or streams there was  much less invertebrate diversity – but it was alive! Adam grabbed the waders and in he went armed with a net and a bucket to scoop out some goodies. In the water we saw the larvae of minnow mayflies (family Baetidae), midges (family Chironomidae), backswimmers (order Hemiptera) and damselflies (order Odonata). On the shoreline we were bombarded by adult damselflies (resembling small aircraft), multiple local birds and even spotted a turtle.

Check out these BC Parks links to get more info on this area.

Pictures of grasslands below
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/wht_lk_grass/photos/
Write up about grasslands below
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/wht_lk_grass/

Check out some of our pics!