On the hunt for Drills

 Nothing is more elusive than a species that you need for your experiments. Oyster drill hunting this spring has taken me to some beautiful stretches of coast, and on a roller coaster ride of abundance. Thankfully, on our road trip to our southern collection sites in Georgia, the Carolinas, and Virginia, oyster drills were accessible and plentiful. They've been a little more cryptic here on the northern end of their range, resulting in quite a few futile road trips to shores in New Jersey, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire. But I now have almost all needed populations collected, and getting ready to move them to the Gloucester Marine Station for experimentation!

Collected oyster drills in holding tanks, feeding on a sacrificial oyster

Finding charismatic invertebrates like this Horseshoe Crab make unsuccessful field days more enjoyable