Identification and Cool Facts on Macroinvertebrates!

Did you know what a Crane Fly Larva looks like or that it can stretch up to 4x its average length?

What?! Soooo coool!! Check out more cool macroinvertebrates and investigate what they mean for stream health and how to look for them on your own in our slideshow.

Macroinvertebrates Week!

I'm sure you've already seen some of the cool critters that live in streams in our videos, but that's not enough. We are going to give them the food web highlight they deserve!

Typically before we release our trout we bring macroinvertebrates into our classes, so this week we'll be highlighting that lesson. As we begin, we have a cool video to share with you. This 10 minute video will fill you in on some of the background of aquatic insects and give you an idea of what to look forward to in the coming days. 

Keep an eye out for upcoming cool lessons, including how to make your own macroinvertebrate trap!

Did you know trout burp?!

Hi everyone,

Check out this video of a trout burping and keep reading to find out how it works!

Ever wondered how your trout can move up and down in their tank or in a lake? It may seem as simple as them just swimming up or down, but the physics are actually much more complicated. Water has different densities and more or less pressure at different depths, so your trout has to adjust as it moves through a water column (if you think about your body of water as an excel sheet, the column is the up and down dimension).

Your trout moves through the column of water by adjusting its buoyancy (fancy word for how much it floats or sinks). To adjust to different depths of water and change between them, your trout has a swim bladder. This swim bladder can fill with air to make the trout more buoyant, so that it floats, or less buoyant, so that it sinks. Swim bladders can be found in trout and salmon and are connected to their throat, so they can pull air into and out of them as they breathe (it's a little like you closing off your lungs when you swallow so you don't pull liquid into them). To release the air the trout burps, like you would after drinking a lot of soda.

Sometimes when a trout is caught in deep water it doesn't have enough time to adjust its swim bladder before it comes to the surface, when that happens you can have to manually burp the trout, as in the video above. If the trout doesn't burp and you release it, it will float belly up if it has too much air in its swim bladder, and can die before it's able to release the air.

You can check out a trout burping in person next time you're fishing with your family!

Final Classroom Trout Releases!

We released the last of our trout today! 

This morning on a live zoom with the ScienCenter we released brown trout into Cascadilla Creek by Thompson Park downtown and this afternoon we released brook trout at Lower Robert H. Treman State Park as part of our Giving is Gorges funding campaign.

In the videos you will see us using a macroinvertibrates identification guide and hear us assessing the stream's health. Both these resources can be beneficial if you want to go out to your nearest creek or ditch and assess its health. We will also be posting some cool ways you can sample for macroinvertibrates that don't involve fancy nets like the ones we had in the videos.

You'll notice we're using masks and distancing in our videos, we recommend you do the same. Now get out there and enjoy the outdoors!

The 365

When your hiking in the mountains, its a great experience to get to the summit and be able to see in all directions.  You can turn in a complete circle, 365 degrees, and nothing blocks your view.  That's a pretty special feeling.  

We have lots of hills in the Finger Lakes, but you won't find many of those 365 views.... unless you happen to hike down into a gorge.  That's right!  One of my favorite things about hiking in our neck of the woods is finding an actual hill within a gorge. 

Usually, when you climb to the top, you'll be underneath the tall trees, so you'll have lots of visibility.  Its not quite Mount Everest, but you'll be able to see what's going on below you in all directions. 

Over thousands of years, and many glacial episodes, our creeks have shifted many times within their gorges.  These high narrow hills are usually the result of a catastrophic event within that long history, and I figured there might be a common name for them.   When I searched "hills within gorges" online, I didn't get a name for these landforms, but just about every page had a reference to Ithaca!  

This is a picture of the path leading up to one of my favorite "mini 365s" at Upper Buttermilk State Park.   I also know of two in Six Mile Creek Preserve, several at Robert Treman State Park and one at Lick Brook.   Can you find a new one for me?

Trout release at Virgil Creek

Hey Everyone!
Yesterday, I collected trout from Leo Guelpa and Ashley Munson's tanks at Dryden Elementary.  These intrepid teachers were banking on school reopening and held onto their trout like champs.  Alas, reopening was not to be... but I had a chance to release well over 200 beautiful little brook trout.  I thought I'd share... we'll start in Mr. Guelpa's classroom:

Once we got the tanks all cleaned up (Thanks Mr. G!), I headed to the Dryden Rail Trail, where it crosses Springhouse Rd.  

I walked about 100 meters in to a bridge over the creek.. and founda  spot I thought they'd really like.

Now, the Dryden Rail Trail is open to everyone.  Its a great place for a hike or a bike ride, and if you go, I bet you can spot some of the little trout, if the water is clear.  

You'll be glad to know, there were lots of mayflies and scuds (like little freshwater shrimp!) in teh stream, and our trout went right after them.  This one even had part of a worm sticking out of its mouth!

I think they'll be just fine!  Let us know if visit the spot and find them.  Take a picture and send it in to me at floatingclassroom@gmail.com.

~Bill

The ScienCenter featured our trout in their educational zoom yesterday!

The ScienCenter is participating in our Trout in the Classroom program for the first time this year and we are glad to have them on board, especially in times like these! While we had to early release all but a few classrooms' trout at the beginning of the quarantine, the ScienCenter has been able to keep theirs and feed them along with the rest of their animal exhibits. Yesterday we got to take a look at their trout and teach some kids about trout coloration and camouflage. Check out the video below to see my presentation and watch the trout swim around. You can even participate in the drawing activity if you like, using this worksheet.

If you enjoy watching the trout, they are currently setup on the livestream camera at the ScienCenter and I encourage checking out the other educational videos the ScienCenter has been putting together!

How Do Trout Change Color?

Hi everyone!

As our trout are adapting to their stream environments, they will undergo some color changes to help them blend in and survive in their environment. These changes will take on three major forms of camouflage:

Can you find the 17 trout in this picture?

1. Concealing - the trout will adapt its color to mimic the colors in its environment
2. Confusing - the trout will adapt its markings to mimic the patterns in its environment
3. Countershading - the trout might differentiate colors on its ventral and dorsal sides

The trout make these changes using color cells called chromatophores. A chromatophore cell has a central pigment granule that is a certain color. The color changes size in response to the trout's hormones. For example, if the trout's eyes sense that its stream environment is mostly yellow, hormones will release that inform yellow chromatophores to expand and cause the trout to appear that yellow color. 

While the color change in a trout is far from instantaneous, it does allow a trout to move between environments and to differentiate between seasons. 

Here is a worksheet with an outline of a trout, think about an environment or season that your trout might live in and color your trout to camouflage. You can share your drawing here or on our Facebook page. 

Our Science & Education Coordinator, Marina, will be livestreaming with the Sciencenter this morning, checking in on our Trout  in the Classroom aquarium there (still has trout!) and leading an exploration into trout camouflage.  Check it out!

Zoom Link:  Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/930403338?pwd=djFsMU9JMXpaOXh2RlBhdThxSG9sdz09

Go to Sciencenter Page.

Virgina Waterleaf!

Hi everyone! 

 
After hiking to our trout release location at Upper Buttermilk I’m inspired to offer our third “fishy plants” post of the spring. So far, we’ve covered Trout Lily and Shadbush.. today’s feature is Virginia Waterleaf (Hydrophyllum virginianum)

Waterleaf is a common plant in forested streamside (riparian) areas this time of year. It’s one of those plants that come up very early and disappear as soon as overhead trees leaf out and block all the light.  It loves moist soils under deciduous trees like sugar maple, beech and yellow birch. 

Just like those trout lilies, this plant is named for the appearance of its leaves, which literally look like they have drops of water on them!  

Its large leaves are deeply toothed and in mid to late spring.  Like parr marks on a trout, the "watermarks,” fade as Waterleaf gets older and  summer comes on. Waterleaf blooms in late spring (May).  By June, each flower is replaced by a seed capsule that splits open to release its seeds. By mid-summer, the visible parts of the plant die back. Underground, however, tough roots and runners are storing up energy for next spring. 

Trout Lily leaf

Waterleaf if a great plant for bees--I see them in the flowers constantly. And this time of year, bees need all the nectar they can get! The plant has also provided food, at times, for humans. The edible leaves are sometimes known as “Indian Cabbage” 

Just like trout lilies, the leaves are the giveaway. 

Once you know what to look for, you’ll certainly find this plant when you head out to explore a gorge or check on your trout release site.

See you at the stream, and don't forget your Facemask!

~Bill

Upper Buttermilk Stream Check

Hi all, I took a quick hike to our trout release site at Upper Buttermilk State Park and thought I'd share a few observations and a quick video (below).

First, I am always amazed at the variety of spring wildflowers you can find on this easy walk from the main parking area off of West King Road.  I took a few pictures....

Starting at the parking area, and walking toward Treman Lake along the paved road, you'll see these beauties just to the left pretty quickly.  Red Trilliam (or "Stinking Benjamin" or "Wake Robin")

Another deep red flower can be found at the based on Wild Ginger plants, along the road, and particularly to the right, toward the creek.

Blue Cohosh.  This tiny purple flower requires a close look.

Showy Virgina Bluebells are just coming out, but you can't miss the brilliant blue and vivid green of the leaves.  Right side of the road as you approach the spot where the drive crosses the creek.















Virgina Waterleaf isn't blooming yet, but the leaves are distinctive.  More on that later!  

OK, we're at the stream crossing.  Take a left
here...



And you'll find the spot with 4th grades from South Hill Elementary School release their trout (normally).  We released a few here this year, and marked it with a cairn.  Check out my video for some cool stream observations.

Cinquains for Trout!

"Brave Trout" a Cinquain by Camille L.

Students in Ms. Kilts 4th grade at (virtual) Northeast Elementary worked on cinquain poems during April, which is National Poetry Month.  Here's a close up of this awesome art!

 Have you ever tried a cinquain poem?   There are a few options, but here are the basic rules:

The first line is the title of the poem.

The second line contains two words which are adjectives that describe the title.

The third line has three (or four!) action words that tell more about the subject ("ing" words.). 

The fourth line has four words that show emotions or create an image.

The fifth line is one word that is a synonym of the title or that reveals more about the subject.

There are many forms, actually.  Here is a slightly different style from Gift S. at Northeast.  If you don't want to do a Trout cinquain, maybe you could try a Mother's Day cinquain!

Alevin

Young and Small Trout

Hides Under the Gravel

Its Food Sources is it's Yolk Sac which

Feeds it.

Alevin

Not Fully Grown

Can't Find Food for Itself

Depends on Nutrients from its

Yolk Sac.

(Hey, those are pretty scientific!)

Thanks for the gift of poetry!  ~Bill

How Do Trout Breathe?

Hi everyone!

Check out this video of a trout breathing shared with us by South Seneca 5th grade teacher Liz McCheyne. You can't see from the angle in the video, but the trout is breathing by bringing water through its mouth and into its gills (which you can see moving). How fast do you think the trout is breathing? Can you count the number of breaths in the 20 second interval?

Oxygen is mixed into the water as it runs
over the rocks above Upper Treman falls.

Trout breathe through a process called diffusion, where oxygen in the water moves across a membrane in the trout's gills and into their bloodstream. Much like when we breathe air, the concentration of oxygen in the water determines how quickly the trout breathes and how much oxygen is brought into the blood with each breath. In the videos of our trout releases and in our classroom visits, we often talk about our trout needing cold water. This is because cold water is able to hold more oxygen, allowing the fish to breathe more easily without stressing their gills.

Our fish in the tank at South Hill
Elementary have an air bubbler
  to add oxygen to their water.

Did you count how fast the trout breathes in the video? How do you think that would change in colder water? In warmer water? Do you think the trout's breathing in the video is only related to water temperature? Might the trout breathe faster if stressed by being out of the tank and under observation?






Liz's classroom is the only one to still have trout, out of our 20 Trout in the Classrooms, check out her trout respiration experiment! We work with a whole host of amazing teachers in our programs, so shout out to all the teachers out there who are putting in extra time and effort to create virtual lesson plans. Discover Cayuga Lake is here for you! 

Trout Lilies are Blooming!

This "spring ephemeral" wildflower depends on the gets before the trees overhead leave out...

Image courtesy of Chesapeake Bay Program, EPA.

In 1890, naturalist John Burroughs wrote about the “Fawn lily”.  He wrote that the two leaves, on either side of the flower, stand up like a fawn’s ears, giving it an alert, wide-awake look.  Most people today call it the “Trout Lily”, because the leaves remind us of the spots and parr marks on a young trout.  It is one of the most beautiful of our early spring wild flowers, but for some reason, people seem to pay more attention to its leaves!  Which name do you like?

Burroughs also loved this plant’s root system. Each plant has a little round bulb a few inches underground.  That bulb grows “droppers” that burrow deep down into the soil. At the end of each dropper, up to a foot away from the mother plant, a new bulb and a whole new plant grows using food sent to it by the parent.  But, if the dropper hits something hard, like a rock or another root, it stops growing and the parent plant makes flowers instead.  This explains why some Trout Lily patches seem like they are just leaves, while others have many flowers.

The flowers stand only a few inches above ground, but the plant grows deep and far underground, protected by a thick layer of decaying leaves of the forest floor.  Ants and other insects living there pollinate the trout lilies while enjoying their nectar.

Photo by Rachel Dickinson 2020.

Cool Facts

Trout Lilies, with their “dropper” roots, can form extensive patches if left undisturbed. In protected stream valleys and gorges, where no one has ever farmed or built houses, patches of trout lilies that might be 200 or 300 years old!

Native Americans and settlers used trout lilies for medicine and collected the dropper roots for food. You can boil them and eat them like spaghetti. See if you can find them, growing under the decaying leaves, but leave them in place so the plants survive!

Please note:  A lesson plan version of this post is available on the "For Teachers" page.

Feeding the Lake!

Today, May 1, is supposed to be the first day of our 2020 cruise season on Cayuga, kicking off a busy spring season taking classes and guests onto the lake.  Alas, COVID has delayed that, but here’s one part of what we would’ve experienced.  This recent aerial image (courtesy of our friend, Bill Hecht) shows you what the lake pretty much looks like today.   

And here's a picture from the Floating Classroom on a similar day!

There is certainly a lot of mud and debris entering the lake, right?  But it's not all bad…consider that this is how our lake ecosystem gets “fed” every spring, fertilizing the plants that feed the fish.  More on that to come, but let’s check in upstream...  

Here’s a picture of Six Mile Creek at Plain St., in downtown Ithaca.  (Thx. Franny Lux!)

This was at about 9am this morning, and Franny pointed out that water levels were going down, because she could see the debris line that marked high water.   

Can you see what she is talking about? She was absolutely right!  Six Mile Creek crested at about 11pm last night, as is indicated on this USGS graph of Six Mile Creek Water levels a bit upstream.

 

You can look up local water levels anytime.  Just search “USGS”, “New York” and the name of your stream.   

Today's Fun fact:  20 years ago, when I worked at the Environmental Protection Agency and conducted stream assessments, we judged high water marks in many areas by the “Toilet Paper Index”.  That’s right, how far up in the streamside trees did floating toilet paper get deposited during a flood?  Yuck!  We’ve come a long way… but not everywhere!    ~Bill