Still Heading North...

DAY FIVE
We started the day nice and early again, ready to go at about 7:30 am. The great thing about staying in these American hotels is that they all serve breakfast and you can get your fill of cereal, fruit, bagels, waffles, and coffee before the long day of hard work ahead of you. The rooms are also usually pretty nice and the beds comfortable enough to get a good night's sleep.

The first site was on the banks of the Choptank River, about 20 minutes out of Easton, Maryland, where we had spent the night. The site was an abandoned nature preserve and had both native and invasive Phragmites pretty much growing beside each other all along a dodgy boardwalk heading out into the marsh. As with most of the sites we have done around this latitude there have been lots of holes in the marsh where you can sink up your hips. It can be quite tiring slogging through this kind of stuff and you definitely feel you've had a good workout at the end of each sampling effort. However, there is nothing I'd rather be doing than field work, so even while I'm knee deep in the marsh I'm still having the time of my life!

After the Choptank River site, we headed north and into the state of Delaware, to do a native and exotic site by the Appoquinimink River. Once we got there we found that a massive construction site had opened up at the entrance to the native site. When we rang the people in charge we were told we couldn't have access to the river anymore due it voiding their liability insurance...a pretty lame excuse really. In any case  we carried on and did the roadside exotic site which also had knee deep mud, before heading North to New Jersey for the night.

DAY SIX
Got up early again and headed out to do our two sites for the day at Estell Manor Park. The sites were quite nice, located right on the edge of a river. Aphids, other herbivores, and their natural enemies seem to be getting quite scarce as we move into the colder climates further north (except for the colony being tended by ants which are in turn being attacked by the wasp in the photo below), which isn't great for data for any of our projects. Luckily we will be doing the trip again in August, this time sampling from Canada southwards.

Native Phragmites patch at Estell Manor

Big aphid colony with ants and a predatory wasp

After finishing the sites we had a five hour drive through New York to Connecticut. Of course, going through New York we encountered some pretty horrible traffic. I was glad it wasn't my tunr to drive and instead I admired the brief views of the city. I'll definitely have to go there before I leave. However, the highlight of the day was visiting Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.Yale is the third oldest university in the United States (since 1701) and boasts many famous graduates including famous US presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush Snr., George W. Bush Jnr., and Gerald Ford. We were lucky enough to be able to meet up with my friend Victor (the first kiwi I've seen in 9 months!) who is an undergrad at Yale and he gave us a really good tour of the campus. Victor and I had worked together before at Lincoln University on a summer research scholarship and also at Plant and Food Research. It was great to see him again and the Yale campus was incredible, with lots of really impressive buildings and a nice vibe to the place.

Peabody Museum at Yale University

Victor and I in front of the Yale library

DAY SEVEN
Today was almost a repeat of the day before; getting up early, knocking out the census at two sites, and then driving north again to Maine, where we have six sites. Our sites for the day were near Pettipaug Yacht Club in the town of Essex on the Connecticut River. It was a real nice spot to work in and by the looks of it, there were a lot of rich people living there! We finished the native and exotic sites relatively quickly as there were basically no herbivores present, apart from a few aphids. Then we hit the highway towards Portland, Maine. We arrived about 5 pm, giving us a bit of time to look around. So we headed to Fort Williams Park at Cape Elizabeth to check out the coast. It was a really nice place to visit, as you can see below. I had lobster for dinner for the first time, and I didn't really like it! The meat wasn't as tasty as I was expecting, and definitely too chewy; don't think I'll try it again anytime soon.

Cape Elizabeth, Maine

Tomorrow, Jim and I will be leaving Ganesh in Portland and driving nine hours into Quebec, Canada, in our little rental car, making sure we don't get taken out by any rogue moose on the way (a moose burger or bear sausage will be my next meal). Sadly Ganesh didn't manage to get a Canadian visa in time to join us so he will be working on the six sites here in Maine while we smash out the ones in Canada.