Spring! (err- fox urine) is in the air!

Addie thoroughly enjoyed a romp and a friz toss yesterday!

For me, one of the signs that spring IS coming (and I know, it’s only mid-January), is catching a whiff of red fox urine on the air while I’m out hiking. This is a strange thing to recognize and almost enjoy, I suppose, but it’s like the scent of skunk spray, wood smoke, pine sap, etc. It’s a natural smell that is nostalgic for me.
Yesterday, in Cobleskill, it was right around 50 degrees out. Lovely weather to take the dog for a walk at my favorite place in town, the Town of Cobleskill Resevoir. It’s a nice place to let the dog off leash to sniff smells, run, gallop, roll, and just be a happy, young dog.

While I was walking in a field, prime red fox hunting land, I caught that unmistakable scent. It’s musky, it’s acrid, it’s wet dog-like. I can’t really explain it, but you’ll know if you smell it. It means spring to me, because the frequent urination of foxes this time of year, is not because their bladders are full, but they are scent-marking to deter competition, or lure in a mate. It means breeding season is on the way, and then kits are born, and we’re in full blown spring!

Fresh red fox scat found by Addie, photographed by me.

Last week we had FRIGID temps due to the polar vortex. Parts of the state got FEET of snow and 10′s of degrees below 0 in wind chills. Christmas is past, I’m not a skier- I say bring on the spring!

At one point, Addie stopped and found a nice little deposit, left behind by our friend, Vulpes vulpes. I’d love to stow a camera there on the property, but it’s open to the public, and I’m concerned someone might think “finders keepers” with my camera. But, I know they are there, and I know spring has to be on it’s way!

Snow tracks: Ruffed Grouse

Stokes Field Guide

 to Bird Songs-

 a set of 4 CDs. $16 at Walmart!

As I sat at my kitchen table last night, I was listening to tracks of bird calls. I’m in an ornithology course here at SUNY Cobleskill, and we will be learning 150 birds by sight and sound. Listening to the calls of Northern Cardinals, American Goldfinches, Song Sparrows, Red-winged Blackbirds, and Baltimore Orioles puts me in a good mood. It makes me think of longer, warmer days ahead. They are coming, right?

I will share with you today, an observation I made the other day. I was out volunteering with some Department of Environmental Conservation employees on Friday (3/1), which deserves another post which I WILL get to, but for now I wanted to share this brief experience.

I love tracking animals. I really got into it when I was a student at Finger Lakes Community College. One of the faculty members was very into learning about what the animals were doing via their tracks. And while you can track all year long, it’s easiest when there’s a nice blanket of snow on the ground!

On Friday we were traveling around to different sites all over Region 4. We spent the majority of our time in Delaware and Otsego Counties. For more information about the Wildlife Management Units in Region 4 check out: DEC Region 4 WMUs.

As we were out checking on various things here and there, snow was falling. A nice fluffy light snow. It made for a pretty time in the woods, and it was as well a great track medium. While we were making our way through the woods, I noticed a very interested track in the snow. It was something I had never seen before, but I instantly had a clue. Some scat was left behind. I find looking at scat extremely interesting. I know, it’s poop. But these little things left behind let us know who was there! Ruffed Grouse scat is pretty interesting looking, and in my opinion, is not easily mistaked for anything else in these neck o’ the woods.

If you read the title, you’ll know that I’m talking about the Ruffed Grouse (Bonasa umbellus)!

A Ruffed Grouse (and scat!) in

Yellowstone National Park, January 2012.

Photo credit: John Van Niel

The Ruffed Grouse is the King of the Woods. This is a hearty little upland game bird that is cryptically colored, and in my opinion, has quite a bit of character. He can be heard drumming on a log asserting his man-hood to the hens and other cocks. They’ve been described as being explosive: they will often sit still until the very last moment. You can literally almost walk upon them before they burst from hiding. On a forest floor of dead leaf litter, they are almost IMPOSSIBLE to see. I quite enjoy learning about these birds, and was happy to come upon very fresh tracks.



Ruffed Grouse tracks in the snow- March 2013



To describe these tracks, I’ll say “rodent-like” at first glance. I guess I mean the trail looked rodent-like to me, not the individual track. The individual track, or where the foot fell so to speak, was bird-like. I could count 4 toes which are anisodactylly arranged (3 toes in front, 1 in back). But this bird appeared to be shuffling! From a distance it looked like a but like a tunnel that had collapsed. Similar to what meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus) make in the snow. Upon further investigation though, I found a scat.

 

Ruffed Grouse scat on left (Photo credit: Walnut Hill Tracking & Nature Center),

Ptarmigan (Lagopus sp.) scat on right taken in Hope, Alaska.

 

I had an experience in the summer of 2012 where I found Ptarmigan scat in Alaska (click here for my Ptarmigan stories). I was working up there for the summer, and on a day off I went on a birding field trip with the local bird club. I found that pile of scat shown above, and I immediately thought of Ruffed Grouse, but it did not live where I was in Alaska. I was also on the tundra, above tree line- not suitable Grouse habitat. I had an inkling to what it was, and I was right. Ptarmigan and Grouse are very similar birds. Small-medium upland game birds. They eat similar things like vegetation and small invertebrates. Of course there are regional differences to what they are eating specifically, but generally similar diets. Just to be sure though, I referred to my Bird Tracks & Sign book by Mark Elbroch and Eleanor Marks. The authors have included awesome illustrations and photographs of all types of sign left behind by North American birds. For the serious birders out there- check it out!



Ruffed Grouse scat found in snow- March 2013

Perhaps a small, inconsequential bird terd to most, but to this aspiring biologist, a very neat clue to an animal that had very recently been in the area! And we joked that it was probably watching us work and/or just waiting to scare the heck out of us on the way out of the woods. Thankfully, that did not happen.

Could the 'Ruffed Grouse Shuffle' be the new 'Harlem Shake'???

Ruffed Grouse winter adaptations on feet.

Photo credit: Mary Holland

One last bit of information about Grouse tracks. According to the Bird Tracks & Sign book, as well as a variety of websites I’m perusing, Ruffed Grouse are known to grown these “small, fringelike or comblike additions. … It is believe that these “fringes” aid in winter travel, acting like snowshoes and distributing the weight of the bird over a greater surface area” according to Elbroch and Marks. These fringes are not feathers, rather tissue and they are deciduous. Apparently they seem to wear away as the winter season closes and spring time opens. Unfortunately the snow was a bit too dry, and I did not see these little projections.

And so ends the story of the Ruffed Grouse tracks. I know it’s not one of my more exciting tales of the wild, but interesting enough to me to want to share. If you’re interested in wildlife, check out a local nature or interpretive center and see if they ever lead tracking workshops. It’s fascinating to start learning about what animals are doing when we aren’t looking. Consequently, that’s also why I love using camera traps!

River otters in the Finger Lakes

This is a long one, so get comfortable!

January 11, 2013

Today I had the pleasure of accompanying a past professor of mine from Finger Lakes Community College (John), and a current Biotechnology student (Will) on a tramp through the woods. We were at the Hi Tor Wildlife Management Area in Italy Valley, NY. The goal: to find a river otter (Lontra canadensis) latrine site.

Some brief natural history about the river otter: they are in the weasel family (Mustelidae) along with wolverines and badgers (which do not live in NY), fishers, martens, mink, short/long-tailed weasels, and least weasels. They’re all very long-bodied, veracious hunters and fighters, and they all contain a scent gland that leaves behind a very musky scent. Weasels are smelly, but I love them! Around 12ish years ago, river otters were locally extirpated in the Finger Lake region. They could still be found in pockets in the Adirondacks and perhaps the Catskills. The DEC, along with private monies, collected and live-trapped otters from these regions. They were then rehabilitated, vaccinated, fattened up, and then released at various areas all over the Finger Lakes. It’s ONE example of an animal trapped and releases in another area that was a success story. Over the past decade +, the river otters have been coming back in force. There is not a season for trapping allowed, because it has not been determined that they are THAT stable, but they’re back. There have been live and sign sightings, incidental trappings, and roadkills found all over the region. Oh, and what’s a latrine? It’s also referred to as a “toilet” site. The otters (and some other critters) will defecate and urinate in the same spot over and over. This is a territorial marking behavior.

There is a study going on currently out of the Environmental School of Forestry (SUNY ESF) in Syracuse that hopes to document where the otter are, a potential abundance of them, and then “who” is around. Camera traps are being used, as well as scat samples are being taken so that DNA work can be done to determine the “who” or genetic variation. Much of the camera-trapping has begun over the summer of 2012, and not much work (to my knowledge) has been done in the lab working on scat samples.

Will, the biotech student from FLCC, is assisting in the scat collection. Since these easily-accessible latrines were found, and he lives nearby, he and others will be monitoring the area for fresh scats. John knew the location, and so off we went.

Our destination location: River Otter Pond

 As we approached the pond, we made sure to keep quiet. The last time John had visited the pond, he observed an otter on the shore. We hoped that this would be the case again today. Well, we were NOT disappointed! After a short 2-3 minutes of standing still and scanning the ice, I spotted a little head pop out of an ice hole that the otters were breathing at. I unfortunately don’t have any pictures to share of that sighting, but we counted 3! Below is a picture of the ice hole, with tracks leading to/from it.

In the top picture, I'm standing on the side of the pond we first approached, and that is the view 

I watched the otters at. The arrow is the ice hole. The bottom picture is across the other side of the 

pond, looking back in the direction I originally was. The ice hole is much easier to see from here.

The sighting was VERY cool for me. Weasels in general are very intelligent and wary critters. They are curious, but quick. We were able to sneak up undetected and catch a glimpse of them acting naturally and doing “otter stuff”. It was amazing, and yet ANOTHER confirmation that I’m in the right field of study and work! After watching the otters until they went back under the ice, we set to work looking for the 2 otter latrine sites that were known to be at the pond’s edge.

The first location was easily spotted. There was otter scat in abundance.

Otter latrine site #1. Notice the entrance/exit hole at left.

Otter scat is easy to identify, in my opinion. Because their primary diet consists of fish, and invertebrates like crayfish, the scales and exoskeletons are found in the scat, because it’s too tough to digest. See below.

Note the scales and delicate fish bones in the scat.

Will collecting scat samples.

Will is looking to determine which method of preservation will best keep the integrity of the scat. Once it is expelled from the body, the scat is decomposing, thus the DNA is breaking up. Since the work to determine the genetics of the scat can't be done in the field, it must be preserved until lab time. Will is trying no preservative (L), a chemical I don't remember (M), and ethanol (R). Then all samples will be frozen until he's ready to work in the lab.

Once Will took what he needed from this location, we hiked over to the other side of the pond. Still no sign of the otters.

On this side of the pond, John knew for sure there was a latrine site. He actually visited this exact spot the last time he was here, and he deployed a Cuddeback Attack IR camera at the site. Bound to get otters, right?

The Cuddeback Attack's view of the latrine site.

Success! Two river otters in a 'slide'. This is a behavior otters often do, to get from point A to point B. 

Photo credit: John Van Niel

AND TRIPLE SUCCESS! 3 otters this time! Is this the 3 otters that we saw earlier? Regardless, what an awesome capture. Photo credit: John Van Niel

Total success! The grad student in charge of the overall project is going to be so excited when she sees the site and the pictures.

Lastly, after Will took his samples he did one last thing. The grad student I just mentioned, Elaina, will be visiting this spot in the future to check it out, and to collect samples. Another thing you can do to make sure that you have a good scat sample, is to get the freshest possible. Well, how do you know if the poop is fresh? Sight? Smell? Texture? Gross.

Well, you can glitterize it!

Sprinkling glitter on the scat will tell Elaina which is freshest. Tomorrow, when she visits,
she'll know that any 'unglittered' scat is less than 24 hours old.

Pretty!

This latrine site was huge. Probably 8 feet wide and absolutely covered...with poop.

What a wonderful day. I know to many, this seems like a bizarre thing to be interested in and to get excited about. But seeing the otters was a total chance, yet sign left behind is much easier and common to observe, and can tell us so much about the lives of these amazing animals.

I will soon have a blog entry or 2 about Otter’s cousin, Fisher. Another fascinating wild animal!

PS- for John's take of the day, check out his blog Backyard Beasts: All that glitters is not gold, sometimes it's otter poop.

A Post About Ptarmigan.

I must keep posting about my Alaskan adventures. There are still many to share, and it helps to soothe my aching heart. I did not expect to fall so in love with a place, a job, a group of people again (after my lovely 3 summers at Raquette Lake Girls Camp in the Adirondacks of NY), and so I will write a few more stories.

Ptarmigan. Tar-mi-gan. Silent 'P' for this little bird. Similar to a grouse, the Ptarmigans are a small, hardy upland game bird. There are several species found in Alaska, but the one I'm going to share with you is the Willow Ptarmigan (Lagopus lagopus) which  I almost literally stumbled upon in Denali National Park & Preserve.

Just over a month ago, my friend Katie and I, were traipsing around DNPP. We were looking for wildlife, mountains, and peace and quiet. We did a shuttle into the park the first day, which brought us alot of wildlife sightings, but also brought us around many other visitors.

On our second day in the park, we decided to hop off the bus at mile 15, and do some exploring at Savage River. There's a beautiful river, not so savage at that time of year, a canyon full of wildflowers, and of course the wildlife.

The interpretive signs at the beginning of the trail we took instructed visitors to be on the lookout for the arctic ground squirrels, Ptarmigan, and pika, and the hoary marmot. All 4 species hang out at the higher elevations above treeline among the rocky, shrubby nooks and crannies. Along our walk, we were rewarded with half of those critters AND less of a crowd!

Savage Rock

As we were walking along the river, I approached a bush that came alive. A family of Willow Ptarmigan were hanging out amongst a...willow! I unfortunately didn't get a picture of the young, they ski-daddled pretty quick into some thicker brush, but Mom and Dad hung out and I got some beautiful pictures of them.

 

Mom on left, Dad on right.

 

Mom

 

Dad

 

Dad

 

Mom

 

I love their feathery feet! These Ptarmigan are quite well adapted for snowy, cold life. In the winter they turn all white, and those feathers help insulate them.

 

The final picture I want to share is not from DNPP, but from the Palmer Creek trip I took with the Keen-Eye Birders in July. I found this scat on the trail, and ID'd it using Bird Tracks & Sign (Elbroch), as Ptarmigan (species unknown...):

 

Palmer Creek, July 14th 2012

Hope, AK

 

 

And, by the way!: in the past week I've moved back from Alaska, had my car severely break down (get towed, and has been at the dealership since), move all of my belongings from a storage unit 3 hours across the state, unpack, and today was my first day of classes at the State University of New York at Cobleskill. I'm going to try and keep up with blogging, but my life is about to get reeeeal busy again!

 



 

Rest In Peace

Richard White - August 24, 2012

First Denali National Park & Preserve Grizzly Bear Fatality

Warning: Bears

Let me start by telling you all (unfortunately) that I have not had an experience with a grizzly or black bear yet here. I haven't even seen one from a distance! I'm torn between wanting one and not...as grizzlies are something I'm not used to. I feel quite comfortable and confident roaming the woods in NY, and if I should come across a black bear, we'll part our seperate ways amicably.


Grizzlies, I learned in my "Bear Aware" training, are ruthless. They are quick to defend territory, young, prime feeding spots, and will also actively hunt you. Also, the cherry on top, is that they can run up to 35mph so I've heard. We're required to take a 12 gauge shotgun out with us when working in the field, and we are only to shoot to kill- no warning shots.



So, that being said I wanted to share just a couple of pictures of things I've seen around here that confirms the bears are around.

Isn't this pin cool? I got it for completing the course.

Fun fact: Alaska is the only state that is home to all 3 North American bears. Grizzly (same as brown and Kodiak bears), black bears, and the largest: polar bears!

First, this is something that I always carry on me. I think it's more of a mental health thing than actually a life-saver...but it brings peace of mind. The shotgun is not always handy...

The second time I was out at the Funny River Weir, I noticed this salmon (probably a chinook/king) that was not there the night before. It's head was eaten off...which is common for bears (among other species) to do when there is an abundance of food. They can be picky, because the brain is SO protein rich. I don't know who did this...but I would not be surprised if it was a bear.

And this lovely stuff is grizzly scat. It's old, probably from last fall...and really just hair/bones that couldn't get digested. This is literally 2 steps out of the "office" out there at the weir, which is just a canvas platform tent. So, the grizzlies are around.

This is a short entry, I know, but I wanted to share this part of my job in more detail. It's kind of scary, and it's always in the back of my mind...

What Shat That Scat?

Yesterday our Wildlife Society Club visited one (we have two!) of our field stations, the East Hill Campus in Naples, NY. The point of the trip was to allow students to learn how to use camera traps, specifically the Cuddeback Captures, both IR and incandescent. We dragged along our local camera-trap expert, Dr. JVN.

We had a gorgeous day, there was a slight threat of rain, but it held off! I love this place, I really do. It came into official possession of the college's in the summer of 2010, right as I was coming into the fold at FLCC. The man who donated the land, facilities and assets is with us still, and I've been able to forge a nice relationship with him. He is truly and "old school" conservationist who has lived through the hard times of war, economics, politics, and ecological "stuff". I guess I can say that I am living those hardships as well, but he's of the era that we're learning about now in the classroom.

This property is the perfect representation of land that can be managed and used for multi-purposes...blissfully. He's owned the land for 25 years and shortly after buying it, he constructed hiking and cross country skiing trails, a campground with an A-frame, lean-to, fire pits, and newly added: an outdoor classroom as of last summer! There is a pine plantation, grassy fields, ponds, and all of it is ours :) Oh, did I mention that it's OPEN to the public? Year round? For FREE? His trails can connect you with the Finger Lakes Trail system, and eventually to the Appalachian Trail. So, Mr. Fraley- thank you for the outdoor classroom, generosity, and the laughs (at my expense)!


Now, back to our fun yesterday afternoon!

We had 9 cameras to set out, 7 students, and John...so I got to pick two spots :) I've been so focused on being precise and neat and tidy with setting my cameras lately, since I've been conducting a mini independent study with them, so it was really fun to pick camera sites that "looked good" and set the scent willy-nilly flinging it everywhere or shoving in a hole in the ground.

Judi and Adam set a camera in the background, and are now digging a little "cat hole" to stick the scent in. I took the New York State Trapper Education course this weekend, and am now certified to live trap, if I get my license. I took the course to learn about how trappers draw the animals in to their sets, because I'm pretty much doing the same with my cameras. So it was suggested to dig a hole and put the scent or bait in there to make the animal work a bit more for it. In their case, they want the animal to dance around and step in the trap. In my case, I want their cute little picture :) !!!

Next Dana and John chose this spot because it's a cross of trails. There's a trail coming in from the woods opening out to the mowed lawn we were standing on, so we thought it was a nice travel corridor to set a camera on.

John and Dana checking out the site :)

And here is where I got this entry's hilarious title. I found so many good scats that day! This happens to have been left by a Wild Turkey. I narrowed it down to Ruffed Grouse or Turkey...and was learned on the differences between them. Basically- this is a bit too big for RG.

Next on the list...who shat that? This is from one of our beloved foxes. Immediately I say red fox because that's who I have the most experience with. Until several weeks ago, I'd never seen one, and THAT was in North Carolina (the gray literally walked up to me as I was setting the camera). But, I asked, and John confirmed that YES there's probably an overlap in: size of scat, composition, habitat and so it could belong to a gray, but more likely a red.

On our way up the hill, we found a den or burrow that looked fresh-ish. There wasn't any fresh soil disturbed, but it wasn't completely closed in and plugged up with dead leaves and debris either. John's on this woodchuck kick right now (Woodchuck Love) so he was eager to set a camera on the entrance.

Adam, Judi, John and Dana...anyone home?

Kara setting an IR camera on a chunk of wood close to the entrance. I can't remember if we scented this site or not, but I think not. We wanted to see 'au naturel' activity here..if any.

Further up the hill we found this cool pine tree that was clinging to the top soil with all the strength it had. Again, all of us looking for a "cool" spot, were drawn to this little hidey-hole that some animal may live in, or at least come in to check out. So, Tyler set a camera.

Tree hugger gone too far? I think he's trying to grab the strap from around the tree, while holding the camera in place...

Now THIS scat...this is special scat. We, on good faith, know this belonged to a Mustelid, or loosely: a weasel. The tell-tale shape, twistiness, and composition of hair and little bones screamed weasel to us. When I say weasel, I kind of refer generally to all of those that are from the weasel family in NY. In this area and habitat, we could have: fisher (rare), mink, long-tail, short-tail, and the least (rare). We also have river otter and marten in NY, but not in this region or habitat. So, John thought that this was perhaps a little too small for mink, so maybe I filled in, a long-tailed weasel. Again, with the foxes, there's so much overlap. It's hard to tell.

Same scat again. To describe the habitat, we were in a pine plantation, and this scat (and the one below) was specifically on the berm of a small fire pond. Well, this year I guess we should call it a vernal pool- it was SO low and it's only the beginning of April!

A different scat, but perhaps a little more fresh. It was small, twisty...weasel-y.

Second scat again.

Dana and Adam are setting a camera to get the weasel. The pond berm is to my right in the picture, and in the picture below...

I'm standing on the berm, the pond to my left. Usually that pond is up to the lip of the berm. Not so much this spring...poor salamanders and frogs!

I convinced everyone to stop for a minute so I could set up and get a picture. That's the past yearbook editor and future mom in me. I like to include everyone! Especially now that I'm blogging!

On our way back down the hill, a final shat of the day. This is a beautiful coyote scat! Sorry for the lack of scale, but the pine cones are 4"-6" long.

It was just full of hair, and John explained to us that usually when you find a scat full of hair, it can mean that the animal was just picking a carcass clean. First choice at a fresh kill would be the meaty parts, but later in the season, or a late comer to the party is left with the hairy, boney parts. And that's what I found while pulling this apart- lots of hair and bone fragments.

I LOVE learning about scat, it's almost as cool as the remote cameras to me. Like the cameras, I don't have to 'be there' to learn all this information about the animal. I can come across it later and either look at the pictures, or examine the scat to get an understanding of foods, behaviors, habitats, etc etc etc. And scat is often NOT smelly (although I've heard raccoon scat should be handled with care), and not really gross. Just a lot of cellulose or keratin that the animal can't digest.

Anyway, we'll be letting our cameras soak for two weeks, and then hopefully I'll have all kinds of majestic creatures to share!