As the Biodiversity Committee and our wonderful volunteers set up our Biodiversity Day headquarters at the Dudley Farm in Guilford on September 6, we wondered if all our efforts would be rewarded as they were last year in Madison. Would we be able to recreate the magic? Would the teams show up happy and ready to get to work? Would exciting species be discovered in the 24-hour survey period? Would there be enough food for everyone? And would the weather behave itself?

Yes to all of the above.

By 3 p.m. on Friday, September 7 we were ready. Teams began arriving. As they signed in at our HQ table they were given packets that included topographical maps and street maps of the town, as well as species checklists, parking passes and name tags. A disk containing last year's database was also provided as a means for them to record and submit their species lists to us.

A marine team lead by Heather Crawford from CT Sea Grant took advantage of low tide to survey various shoreline sites, including Grass Island. Marine algae (seaweed), fish and invertebrates would be identified.

The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection's mammalogists planned to mist net bats and needed to reach their site on the Iron Stream before dark to set up their nets. They would monitor the nets all night and return to HQ in the morning. Another group from their team set up small mammal live-traps, as well as baited tracking pits to record fresh tracks left overnight by curious mammals.

Meanwhile, the entomologists (and moth enthusiasts) set up their own traps at various sites for the evening - white sheets illuminated with mercury vapor lights to attract flying insects.

The Connecticut Valley Mycological Society (CVMS) couldn't wait to get started. They sent a team into the Timberlands to collect fungi before it became too dark to see. Returning with baskets brimming with colorful mushrooms they set to work identifying their treasures. The schoolhouse at the Dudley Farm had been transformed into a lab, including microscopes loaned to us by Bauer Park in Madison. The CVMS team, consummate record keepers, had brought their own laptop computer with which to record their data.

The DEP Project SEARCH aquatic invertebrate team, which included two home-schooled students from Guilford, collected samples from the West River just across the street from Dudley Farm and brought them back to the lab. They planned to visit several other sites the next day as well and then spend the next several months identifying the hundreds of specimens.

Dudley Farm was jumping with the comings and goings of humans and other species. The resident oxen, goats and sheep had been fed by their caretakers in the early evening and secured in their pens. Dozens of bats had flown from the barn by 7:30 p.m. as the DEP mammalogist team remarked that they'd like to come back to study them in the future. But by 11 p.m. on the first day things had quieted down at the farm. Teams working in the lab had eaten all the snacks provided and either gone home for the night or retired to one of the many tents dotting the lawn. As I left to catch a few hours sleep, a lone figure remained, peering intently into a microscope in the lab. Noble Proctor would spend the night identifying algae that he had collected earlier in the day. He planned to participate for the entire 24 hours as he had done in Madison last year. (No wonder his team tallied over 1300 species.)

Shade-grown coffee was brewing and warm bagels were delivered to HQ by 6:30 a.m. The early morning fog had started the spring peepers and gray treefrogs singing. We can count that! The dampness had also brought out other amphibians overnight - wood frogs and four-toed salamanders. Noble had had visitors at the farm as well - a raccoon, an opossum and a flying squirrel.

The Sound School in New Haven sent two teams - four teachers and 14 students - to survey Guilford's coastline and Long Island Sound. One team visited beaches and intertidal zones while another worked from a boat. (We hear that the kids had a hard time getting up so early on a Saturday morning but enjoyed themselves immensely once they hit the sites.)

A team from the DEP's Fisheries Division surveyed freshwater fish in Guilford's rivers and streams. They will be able to compare these data with their previous surveys of these waterways.

The birding teams were out in force, covering the shoreline as well as forests and meadows deeper in town. We were lucky that Jeff Spendelow was at the Faulkner's Island Open House that day, educating the public about the ongoing tern project on the island. He and Patrick Comins, Audubon's Director of Bird Conservation, contributed a list of birds seen from the island.

Yale's botany team split up to cover more sites since they could only stay for part of the day. We were fortunate that our generalist teams were proficient at identifying species in the plant kingdom in addition to all their other areas of expertise.

Noble Proctor's generalist "know everything" team included staff from the Nature Center for Environmental Activities and a crew of young "Junior Naturalists." Jonathan Rosen, a freelance writer from New York City joined the group to observe their methods and get a feel for what a Biodiversity Day is all about. We hope one day soon to find an article on Biodiversity Day with his byline in some prominent publication.

An innocent competition always seems to form between Noble's team and the "COD Squad." Another generalist team, the COD Squad is a group of naturalist friends who like to hang out together and identify all the biological life they encounter. Although they haven't finished tallying their many lists, they estimate a team total of about 900 species. Pretty impressive.

The Connecticut Herpetological League team brought a musk turtle back to HQ for a short visit. Also known as stinkpot, the musk turtle gives off a musky smell. This small turtle was found in a river and, like most musk turtles, had algae growing on its dark shell. Perfect camouflage, yet these reptile enthusiasts found it. (It helps to know where to look.)

The Connecticut Butterfly Association discovered a population of checkered skippers in the Dudley Farm meadow. These diminutive butterflies were a real find; this is a southern species that rarely strays into our area.

What else was found? Red bats, fisher (tracks), black sea bass, orange-striped green anemone, American oystercatchers, glossy ibis, copper underwing moths, fork-tailed bush katydid, black-horned tree cricket, American chestnut, round-leaved sundew, dwarf ginseng, Indian pipe, bird's nest fungi, puffball fungi - this is just a sampling of the biodiversity of Guilford.

It will be months before all the species lists are collected and compiled into a database, but we estimate that over 2000 species will be documented. (Not bad for a 24-hour period in September.) Once complete, we will publish the data and distribute it to all participants and contributors, as well as the DEP's Natural Diversity Data Base, Guilford's commissions, environmental organizations, library and schools. Copies will also be made available to interested individuals. Stay tuned. We invite you to join us in discovering Guilford's biodiversity.

Submitted by Cindi Kobak

Bill Hyatt shows his daughters an eel.
Photo by Betsy Dean.

Connie Borodenko and Harley Stoleson go through
mushrooms in the on-site lab. Photo by Anita Tellier.

Students from the Sound School survey Guilford's waters
from their boat. Photo by Joanne Volpe.

Chuck Annicelli and Bart Bruno look for snakes.
Photo by Anita Tellier.

Leo Scholl, SuZanne Botta, and Anne Scholl identify
aquatic invertebrates. Photo by Jim Falconer

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At the end of the day, team members shared their
experiences over dinner at the Dudley Farm Headquarters.
Photo by Pat Anderson.