I've found water bears at summer river shore(St.Lawrence river/ny-canada border), in my backyard wooden barrel water-foutain,and hikeing in NY/NJ highlands this past 2/09.

I used to think they were hard to encounter...but if you go to open space,natural parkllands...collect a patch of moss(size of a cicken egg more than enough moss sample), at edge of stream collect a scrapeing of moss cover on a stream bed rock (size of a pat of butter more than enough sample). At home, at your microscope bench...you will find water bears...just take a sample of fluid from stream moss sample...slosh it in and out of collecting glass dropper insde/among that wetmoss..place this fluid on your microscope slide...with 10x eyepeice+ 10x objective...hunt for bear...but do stop to:'smell the roses' of all the other aquatic life you'll observe on that first slide. some days you eat the bear, somedays the bear eats you! charlie guevara NJ,US

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