Cascadia Wildlife Blog
News from the Wolverine Tracking Project and more
Before we get into the findings, though, we want to share some of the happenings at Cascadia Wild. We hope everyone has been staying cool but still enjoying the warm weather as an opportunity to get outside and explore. If you want a little inspiration to get out there, we have some ideas!
Also, this month we published the 2020-21 Cascadia Wild Annual Report! Each report includes a message from Teri Lysak, Board Chair, annual expenses and income, and a summary of our programs and accomplishments, including the Wolverine Tracking Project, classes, clubs, and community engagement. ICYMI: Check out our official Wolverine Tracking Project Annual Research Report, which summarizes all the wildlife findings from 2020-21's camera, tracking, fox, and wolf surveys! Looking for a new series to watch? How about one about wildlife? With new technological advances, nature documentaries have reached a whole new level. Check out Night on Earth and Earth at Night in Color for some never-before seen nighttime wildlife viewing! Many animals are most active at night, when it's hardest for humans - and most cameras - to see. These two documentary series enlighten us to new behaviors, giving us more insight into animals' mysterious lives. camera surveysNow onto the highlights from our very own wildlife cameras! We've seen creatures big, small, & everything in between - from black bears to golden mantled ground squirrels and more. Cameras have also documented the arrival of new babies in the forest! So come along as we show you the best of the best from this past month. Our first species is the black bear; these omnivores sure do have big personalities! Keep scrolling to see what black bears do when it warms up in the forest (you definitely don't want to miss the last one!).  
  Top to bottom, left to right: A black bear rubs up on the bait box, showing a white chest; a possible subadult walks in front of some flowering bear grass; a black bear is caught with a tongue out; a black bear is seen climbing a tree; likely a male, this black bear shows signs of scars on his head from dueling; a male and female mate. Now onto our carnivores - first up for felines is the bobcat. Bobcat sightings always pique our interest, and this time we found two on camera, a rare occurrence! This duo is likely mother and offspring. Juveniles will leave their mother's care and disperse to find territory of their own in late winter or early spring coming into their second year. Bobcats will disperse before they reach 2 years old, males traveling further than females to find new territory.   Top to bottom: two bobcats stroll through, one after the other; a solitary bobcat walks by. Our second and last feline is the mountain lion. We've caught a few mountain lions on camera this summer. These solitary hunters have been seen during the daytime and at night. 
Top to bottom, left to right: a mountain lion strolls through the camera site during the day; a mountain lion passes through the site at night; a mountain lion rubs its cheek along the bait box. Coyotes were the only members of the canine family detected on our cameras this month. Still, they provided us with plenty to look at! 
Top to bottom, left to right: A coyote rolls around in the snow next to the bait box; a pair of coyotes visits, one urinates on the tree before taking off in the next photo. Turkeys, adult and juvenile, were seen on a volunteer-owned camera. The little ones like to follow mom around, and are a spotty brown color.  Three adult turkeys and their offspring check out the camera site, then move offscreen in single file on a log. Nearly every camera we have set up documented deer. These abundant creatures also happen to give birth in the spring, so we have lots of cute fawns to share with you!   Top to bottom: A doe and fawn, still with spots, walk along the forest floor; two fawns with their spots glowing in the dark, sniff the camera site. Look at the progression between these two deer from late May to mid June - male deer, or bucks, start growing their antlers during early spring and finish in the fall, when they mate. The females carry the offspring through the winter, and give birth in the spring. Then the whole season starts again!
 Left to right (or top to bottom) : A young buck starts to grow his antlers; a buck shows off his velvety antlers; a doe and fawn pass by; two fawns stop to check out the camera site; a deer blows a raspberry. These animals may be small - but they certainly don't act that way. See these mischievous squirrels and woodrats in action! Western gray squirrels are below; these squirrels are larger than Douglas squirrels and have a white belly and gray coat. What really gives them away is their massive, bushy tail though!
Left to right (or top to bottom): a western gray squirrel eats on top of a downed log; two western gray squirrels chase one another on horizontal log. Here's a Douglas squirrel in action - notice the smaller build and tail than that of the western gray squirrel. This particular individual ran over the bait box and shifted it slightly.  A Douglas squirrel scampers on a log, going up and over the bait box, moving it slightly. Our second to last rodent is the bushy-tailed woodrat, whose eyes shine brightly in the dark. The woodrat has a round tail, and can easily be confused with the northern flying squirrel which has a flatter tail. Both of these animals are nocturnal, and are seen almost exclusively at night. This woodrat decided to have a little fun with our bait box!  A bushy-tailed woodrat moves the bait box. A northern flying squirrel is shown below for reference. The flat tail is a good giveaway for these tricky night squirrels. It may come as a surprise to many people to see these squirrels in the forest!
Left to right (or top to bottom): A northern flying squirrel sits on a log with its body towards the camera; a northern flying squirrel shows off its tail. Wolf & fox Scat surveysAlthough our cameras didn't pick up any detections of our target canines - the gray wolf and Sierra Nevada red fox - our diligent volunteers did find some (potential) neat scat of each while surveying forest trails for genetic samples and sign! The volunteer who found the scat shown below broke it apart, revealing digested hair, bones, and grass (circled in red)!   Top: An intact, old scat. Bottom: The same scat broken apart, with vegetation circled in red. But who could this belong to? Felines will eat vegetation to clear out their stomachs, but not to this extent. Therefore, we've ruled this scat is likely from a canid, since the dog family is a bit more omnivorous. The average diameter is just shy of 1.25" inches, our cutoff size limit for wolf scat collection. All coyotes will leave scat smaller than this, but some domestic dogs might leave scat this size. Domestic dogs are also capable of eating a large amount of vegetation, but likely would not have hair and bones inside their scat, making this a good candidate for possible gray wolf scat. Unfortunately, this scat is likely too old to gather DNA from. So far this summer, volunteers have collected several possible Sierra Nevada red fox scats! Two of these are shown below. As canine scat, they are tapered at the ends and twisted, but are much smaller than wolf scat and coyote scat, about the size of a pinky. The presence of hair potentially eliminates domestic dogs as a possible culprit as well. Although we can't know for sure until the samples are analyzed, these are also good candidates for possible fox scats!
The two photos above show the twisted scat with tapered ends that may belong to a red fox. Other findingsWhile camera crews and the fox and wolf teams are out in the woods, they often find some pretty interesting signs of wildlife! One camera crew confirmed that, like foxes and wolves, bears do indeed relieve themselves in the woods.  A large pile of bear scat (normal sized for a bear) with a hiking boot for reference. Bear scat can have different shapes and consistencies, depending on the seasonal availability of different foods and their changing diet. However, there is always quite a lot of it! A member on our wolf team also found this well-preserved bear skeleton:   Detail of a bear skull (top) and the rest of the remaining bear skeleton (bottom). Sometimes, the signs that wildlife leave behind of their presence can present a good story, like this bit of cambium chew on a small tree. Below this sapling, is a rodent hole - given the teeth marks and location, the very same rodent to burrow in this hole is also likely chewing on this tree. Pretty handy to have your kitchen pantry so close by! 
Top: A small tree showing signs of cambium chew. The teeth marks indicate that the animal responsible is a small rodent. Bottom two: A burrow at the base of the small tree with tiny rodent tracks shown entering and leaving. Sometimes, we are lucky enough to see actual wildlife, and not just sign of their presence, while in the forest!   
Top to bottom and left to right: A tree swallow sits on a fence line; a fence lizard basks on a stump; two ground squirrels peek out of their burrow; a turkey vulture feasts on some carrion in the road; a second turkey vulture in flight. That's all we've got for this month! Thanks for supporting the Wolverine Tracking Project, and we hope to see you back here next month for more of the exciting wildlife news from Mt. Hood!
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