Small Minnow Mayfly. Photo:Bj.schoenmakers, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Yes, it was raining on Sunday, April 19. Yes, our monitoring team was on site at the Little Falls Branch to do the spring census of macroinvertibrates. Frank Sanford, team leader, conceded that it might be a monitoring first! We don’t have any photographic evidence though. Frank explained “No pictures. We just wanted to finish. Definitely safe. Rain was light but steady.”
stream rates fair
Black fly larva and small minnow mayflies were the stars this spring. They found 32 of the zippy minnow mayflies nymphs, and 38 of the black fly larvaes, accounting for more than 60 percent of the total count. Unfortunately, they found only seven species, giving the creek a rating of 2.4 or Fair on the ANS IBI scale. Results are HERE.
The abundance of minnow mayflies is means food for fish and birds as well as bats, dragonflies and water beetles. They live most of their lives in the water (up to 50 months for some species), before emerging as adults in what is called “the hatch”. The winged adults have no mouths and live for only a day or two, focused entirely on mating and laying eggs. It is these hatches that provide abundant food for local fauna.
from the field:
A special thanks to my rain drenched crew - Emily, Averill, Maria, Susan H., Sally; possibly the only time we monitored in a steady rain! Also Doug McRae from Nature Forward who helped collect and did some interviews for a stream project he is preparing.
Our count included the usual:
Aquatic Worm - 1;
Planaria - 13;
Sowbugs - 3;
Midges - 1;
Black fly - 38;
Common Netspinner - 15;
Small minnow mayfly - 32
Salt watch - 213 ppm (Averill said last week it was in the 100's. My guess, rain washed some more out today)
Looking forward to a warm dry July for summer monitoring.