Join Professor Tom Tyning, an expert on amphibians and reptiles and an authority on New England’s natural history, for a guided walk at the 15th Berkshire Biodiversity Day, and look at the value of cover boards for finding and counting small animals that live in upland meadows.

Surveying for many animals can be difficult due to their small sizes, nocturnal behavior, seasonal abundance, behavioral quirks, or their use of complex ecological communities. To better understand these species, various survey methods have been developed to help understand and ultimately support their conservation. Fluorescent lighting, live traps, tracking, scat counts, browse surveys, sound recordings, and others are examples.

Berkshire Community College (BCC) has a small number (about 15) of wooden and metal cover boards that allow us to discover and monitor the activity of small mammals, invertebrates, and especially upland snakes. Seasonal variation of appearance in these 3 x 4-foot units indicate either movement of animals away from cover or changes due to interactions with other species. The boards are not distributed randomly here, so population density and use are not collected.

Venture into the upland meadow and turn all the boards to record all species, and learn how to identify snakes in particular by species and sex and assign relative ages to each!

This walk is one of many activities happening during this year’s Berkshire Biodiversity Day that’s taking place on September 13–14, from noon to noon, on the Berkshire Community College campus. In addition to the expert-led walks, there will be presentations and demonstrations led by experts, all of which are free and open to the public. Click here to learn more about this program and other planned activities.

DATE: Saturday, September 14

TIME: 10:30 AM to Noon

LOCATION: Berkshire Community College, 1350 West St, Pittsfield, MA — Meet in the Koussevitzky Arts Center lobby, outside of K-111 Auditorium

This year’s program is organized and sponsored by Berkshire Environmental Action Team (BEAT) and Nature Academy of the Berkshires. It’s co-sponsored by Berkshire Community College, Greylock Federal Credit Union, and Panera.