This week I went to Prospect Park. It was a pretty cold day, but I decided to try my luck. At first I searched around paths and places where people walked but quickly learned that that is not a good place to search for them. Next I went off paths, into places that most people don’t go. Things of interest were: dark colored soil, large dead logs, and areas that looked undisturbed. I also tried to dig up holes in some areas and look inside places that had holes. When I did find a good looking dead log, I tried to peel the bark and see if there were any invertebrates hiding inside. As a last resort I tried shaking logs to see if anything would scurry out.

Before I knew it, I realized I had dont a full circuit of the park via paths that people dont take. It was frustrating not finding anything, but I learned valuable information about invertebrates because of it. I learned later that during winter, many invertebrates go into hibernation, overwinter as larvae, nymphs, eggs, and pupae, and lastly migrate to other areas. Many burrow deep underground, further explaining why I couldn’t even see any.

The largest irony was in the fact that once I got home, I found at least 7 bites on my body, no doubt from the invertebrates playing hide and seek with me.