Chasing Cucumbers

Slowly but surely catching up on fieldwork happenings. I figure I should update through last year before this year gets too intense...and before I forget everything that happened.

In the end of July, we continued sampling several projects and in the process saw some fun things. 

Fungi:

 

 

Plants:

Turks Cap Lily

Appalachian Dodder

Pointed leaf tick trefoil (probably)

  

Other assorted critters:

  

Awesome little Northern water snake, with a bright red stripe on its underside. 

They do not always have such bright colors, it was a fun find. 

 

And no post would be complete without a plethora of salamanders! Both funny positions and just pretty animals. Lots and lots of climbing.

Both an Ocoee and a baby hybrid Plethodon

Well hidden Ocoee on a rock face

Gorgeous red legs and fancy red cheek!

Pretty seepage salamander

Climbing higher than my head!!

Unusual color pattern, seepage salamander

Climbing on a spiderweb!!!

               

Sleepy field-dog

Finally, I end with a couple pictures of the gorgeous views and a physics lesson. The low clouds peaking out between ridges are caused by something called temperature inversions. Most of the time temperatures are cooler at higher elevations, but at night this temperature difference frequently flips. As it gets dark, the warm air from the valley rises and cooler mountaintop air sinks causing down slope winds. By dawn, the temperature in the valley is cooler than it is at higher elevations, clouds form in this cooler air when there is high enough humidity. And that is why you see low clouds in valleys. 

 

For those of you that stuck with me, I am sure you are wondering about the title. Throughout the summer, but especially near the end, we kept encountering whiffs of cucumbers. We think it might be caused by Cucumber Magnolia trees but we still are not entirely sure...