Sometimes You Have to Botanize to Realize the Bigger Prize

Trip 1: Perth-Wiluna-Perth

Purpose: Priority Flora Survey

Total Distance Travelled: 1400 km 
Distance Travelled Year to Date: 1400km

Not a particularly mind-blowing way to start the survey year; a grid search of a post-mine exploration apocalypse looking for a hairy little shrub (the Priority 1 species Eremophila congesta) that looks not dissimilar to every other hairy looking shrubs. What is worse is the fact that it is 43+⁰C in Wiluna at the moment. I shan’t complain, however, as any survey anywhere at any time could result in an opportunistic encounter with some epic beast.

It's that little dot in the middle of W.A.

To be honest, I actually prefer doing targeted surveys for only one (or two or three) particular species rather than comprehensive baseline surveys for all species, even if the species I am chasing is a plant. This may be a little hard to comprehend: why would I want to wander around looking for one thing when I could be racing around catching and recording everything? 

It is quite simple; during a baseline biological survey I am flat out from pre-dawn ‘til dark (and sometimes beyond). There is everything to do and no time to do anything. I really do feel like a 24/7 biologist; mix bait, clear traps, set traps, download data from cameras and bat acoustic monitors, upload data to devices, identify animals, release animals once they have been identified and maintain animals in captivity that have not yet been identified. It is hectic, to say the least.

When doing a targeted survey you have your proverbial blinkers on; your eyes and a small part of brain are focused specifically on a single search image. You look and you walk and you walk and you look. Meanwhile, your heart and the rest of your head floats freely, taking in every single detail captured by your peripheral vision. And that is when you see the good stuff. You stop and observe and enjoy; interact even. I usually can’t help myself. 

Sometimes you just have to botanize to realize the bigger prize sits just beyond the corners of your eyes.

This is how a zoologist sorts botanical samples. Not neatly and not using the appropriate techniques or equipment.