Cascadia Wild

  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Equity Statement
    • Land Acknowledgment
    • Board of Directors
    • Supporters
    • Annual Report
    • Contact
    • Covid-19 Response
  • Wolverine Tracking Project
    • About the WTP >
      • About the WTP
      • WTP Findings
    • Camera Surveys
    • Scat Surveys >
      • About Scat Surveys
      • Fox Scat Survey
      • Wolf Scat Survey
    • Winter Tracking >
      • Winter Tracking Surveys
      • Tracking Apprenticeship
      • Be a Tracking Leader
    • Internship
  • Classes
    • About our Classes
    • Botany Classes
    • Naturalist Training Program
    • Outdoor Survival Skills Classes
    • Tracking Classes
  • Get Involved
    • Donate
    • Join the WTP
    • Community Clubs
    • Join the Board
    • Calendar
    • Join our Mailing List
  • Blog
  • Shop
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Equity Statement
    • Land Acknowledgment
    • Board of Directors
    • Supporters
    • Annual Report
    • Contact
    • Covid-19 Response
  • Wolverine Tracking Project
    • About the WTP >
      • About the WTP
      • WTP Findings
    • Camera Surveys
    • Scat Surveys >
      • About Scat Surveys
      • Fox Scat Survey
      • Wolf Scat Survey
    • Winter Tracking >
      • Winter Tracking Surveys
      • Tracking Apprenticeship
      • Be a Tracking Leader
    • Internship
  • Classes
    • About our Classes
    • Botany Classes
    • Naturalist Training Program
    • Outdoor Survival Skills Classes
    • Tracking Classes
  • Get Involved
    • Donate
    • Join the WTP
    • Community Clubs
    • Join the Board
    • Calendar
    • Join our Mailing List
  • Blog
  • Shop

Cascadia Wildlife Blog

News from the Wolverine Tracking Project and more

Fall Wildlife Update

10/29/2019

0 Comments

 
Our summer season is winding down, but this time of year is when things really start to heat up for us at Cascadia Wild! Like our friends in the forest, we are busy gathering all our resources together to ensure a great winter survey season.
We have several upcoming classes, including classes in wildlife tracking for every skill level - don't miss out on our Pressure Releases class December 7 and 8th! - and classes in ornithology and our Naturalist Training Program - see our full list of offerings here: About Our Classes.  
Each Fall, we are also busy getting ready for our winter wildlife surveys under the Wolverine Tracking Project. This means that we get to spend a lot of time with this handsome fella (see picture right or below), on loan from ODFW to help with our Winter Tracking Surveys. He may be a familiar face to many of you already! For those not yet introduced, this young male was the last confirmed wolverine on Mt Hood. He was likely staking out territory on our mountain when he met his fate crossing  I-84, back in 1990. Though there have been several sightings since, none have yet been verified. 
​

We are hopeful though: in the past decade, despite obstacles like multilane highways, dwindling habitat, and fragmented wildlife corridors, wolverine have been recovering their former range and have established themselves as close by as Mt Adams and the Wallowas. If this young wolverine could make it to our mountain almost 30 years ago, surely it is just a matter of time before others follow in his path, successfully navigating the natural and human landscape that lay before them.​​
Picture
Last confirmed wolverine on Mt Hood, 1990. On loan from ODFW.
This hope of their return is what started the Wolverine Tracking Project, and though the project has grown to incorporate other wildlife, the hope is still alive today. Join us this winter as we continue our search for wolverine and document other rare carnivores like gray wolf, Sierra Nevada red fox, and Pacific marten. Our Winter Tracking Surveys, done by snowshoe in small groups and led by 1-2 experienced Tracking Leaders, start in December, and training has already begun. Training dates are filling up quickly, so register here soon: Join a Tracking Team. A big thank you to those who have already signed up!
Our Camera Surveys also collect abundant wildlife data and operate year-round. We have just completed our Winter Camera Survey orientations, and we are excited about all the new volunteers that have joined us and to see so many returning faces!

We have set up our first winter cameras, and as of this past weekend, all our summer cameras have either been taken down or reset for winter, when we use different bait and have different installation procedures. It will be a few weeks before we have footage back from the winter sites, but in the meantime, summer footage is still rolling in. We have a lot of summer footage to catch up on, so here it goes!
Perhaps the most exciting news from the past several weeks is the detection of Sierra Nevada red fox! 
Picture
 A Sierra Nevada red fox inspects the camera and smells then rolls in the commercial scent bait at one of our high elevation sites. See the full video here.
Though this site was only up for 5 weeks, we had two separate visits from our target species Vulpes vulpes necator - one of the most rare mammals in North America, and an uncommon sight at our summer cameras! We have been operating under the hypothesis that we see this high-mountain fox at our cameras more frequently in the winter because they are drawn in more by the type of bait we use: in summer months we use commercial, scent bait; in the winter we use an eco-friendly meat bait. However, given this detection, we are now considering that perhaps elevation is key. It's possible that these foxes are only at higher elevations in the summertime, living off the ample mice and golden mantled ground squirrels (see below) on these more barren slopes, following food sources down the mountain as winter sets in. This is something to explore in coming seasons, and testifies to how little we know about this elusive animal. 
Picture
Picture
A golden mantled ground squirrel forages and inspects the camera - hello!
We also saw quite a few rolling coyote as well. Like the fox above, not many canids can resist the urge to roll in some nice, stinky bait. Here are a couple sampling the potpourri of Hiawatha Valley Predator (one of our commercial scent baits):
Picture
Picture
Coyotes roll in commercial scent bait.
Coyotes can also be stoic. The lean and lanky look of this coyote indicates it could be a juvenile, but with its transitional coat it's hard to tell:
Picture
Compare to this coyote, who is a bit ahead of the game with its bushy winter coat:
Picture
The red coloration of this coyote is remarkable, and it's suitable camouflage for the pine needles on the ground. Coyotes can be difficult to discern from other canids, like foxes and wolves, especially when they have coloring like this. One giveaway is the tail: coyotes most often have a dark tip on their tail, while red foxes often have a white-tip on their slightly more bushy tail. Though it should be noted that gray foxes, who are rare on our mountain but more common to the south, also have dark-tipped tails, and coyotes can even sometimes have white-tipped tails, so it's best to take in other visual clues to their identification. Another clue: the ears are long and pointed on a coyote, but a fox has more rounded ears (see the photo of Sierra Nevada red fox above for a great ear-comparison). Compared to a wolf, coyotes are smaller, have slender faces with narrower snouts, their legs are more long and thin, and they walk more closely to the ground.
​This site detected several instances of coyote, including a couple instances where the coyote was carrying prey!
Picture
We also had another instance detecting a lucky animal with its dinner:  
Picture
This bobcat is carrying what is could be a gray squirrel, not unlike a squirrel seen at the same site just a couple weeks prior. However, with striped skunk also in the area, anything is fair game!
Picture
Picture
We also detected a bobcat doing something we don't often see: rolling in the bait!
Picture
Picture
A bobcat rolls in the scent bait under a log. See the video here. 
This is a trait much more commonly seen with canids, like the ones above, and is the first time our cameras have caught this from a felid. The reasons behind a cat doing this are likely the same as a dog: to relieve itchy backs, disguise their scent, an/or cover themselves in something that smells so good. 
We also caught a few instances of bobcats scent marking trees, like this one:
Picture
And we got to see some photos taken in the daytime, really showing off their distinct markings:
Picture
Picture
Most of our footage of mountain lions is also at night, but we detect them during the day from time to time, and caught some beautiful shots at one of our eastern sites:
Picture
Picture
We also detected several instances of another of our common forest predators, the black bear:
Picture
This bear, not a strict carnivore by any means, is likely foraging in the vegetation. Like most other animals right now, bears are busy gathering their winter stores. Whereas squirrels stash their stores, bears carry their stores with them.
Bears are thoroughly inquisitive, curious animals, and often spend a good deal of time inspecting sites, like this one seen here smelling both our bait area and the camera. 
Picture
Picture
A bear inspects the bait log and the wildlife camera. See the full video here.
One of our summer sites used meat bait, and this was a very popular attractant for the neighborhood bears.
Picture
Picture
Picture
One instance the bear went after the bait, another instance the bear gave up and instead had a good scratch, and a third instance the bear forewent the bait entirely and climbed the tree. Whether the bear climbed the tree to get a better vantage point or was spooked by something in the area, is hard to say. It's possible it could have been spooked by one of the several cattle wandering through these woods:
Picture
Picture
These cows were also interested in the bait. In the second photo, the lighter cow is holding its mouth open in what is called a Flehmen response - something we haven't seen yet this summer but is common in ungulates like cows, deer, and elk, as well as in felids and bears. This is when an animal curls back its lips and breathes into its mouth, holding the air behind its teeth to better smell an area (read more about Flehmen response here).
The bait was also a strong attractant for a family of deer, the youngest still with their summer spots.
Picture
We saw deer at several of our other sites as well, like these two young bucks enjoying some early snow:
Picture
Given the antler and overall compact size of these two, and given that their muscle development does not seem mature (compare overall size and especially neck thickness with the buck below), it is likely that these gents are yearlings. Yearlings will also often travel in bachelor groups of two. While there may be additional deer we do not detect outside of the camera's field of view, a group of two would also support this age guess.
For family Cervidae, this is a busy time of year: rut, or mating, season. The soft velvet of buck antlers has been shed, and the hardened antlers are now being put to use. 
Picture
Generally, the rut for black tailed deer begins in the first week or two of November, though that timing can vary due to a number of factors, including a cooler season, early snow, changes in food resources, or the individual. You can see that the buck above has one antler smaller than the other, which could be due to a growth abnormality or a sign of an early season sparring match with another buck. 
For elk, we have passed the peak of rut in Oregon, but it's not uncommon for a second or third rut "wave" to happen around this time of year. Not long after seeing this cow - or female elk - and her calf, we saw the mature bull elk pictured below:
Picture
Picture
Picture
It's not hard to imagine that this bull is covering a lot of territory right now, searching for a mate. If you hear something like this while you're out in the woods, there are elk around! While male elk will bugle year-round, it is especially common during rut.
We hope you all are staying warm and having good luck readying your own winter stores while enjoying the changing of the seasons. Until next time!
Picture
Mt Hood from one of our high elevation summer cameras, in early October.
0 Comments

    Categories

    All
    2018
    2018+19
    2019
    2019 20
    2020
    2020 21
    2021
    2022
    2022-23
    Bats
    Birds
    Black Bear
    Bobcat
    Buck
    Camera Survey
    Canine Interactions
    Chipmunk
    Classes
    Coyote
    Deer
    Elk
    Grouse
    Hare
    Horse
    Marmot
    Marten
    Mink
    Mountain Lion
    Mouse
    Owl
    Raccoon
    Raven
    Red Tailed Hawk
    River Otter
    Sandhill Crane
    Scat Survey
    Sierra Nevada Red Fox
    Skunk
    Squirrel
    Summer Wildlife Surveys
    Turkey
    Turkey Vulture
    Weasel
    Wildlife Identification
    Winter Tracking
    Winter Wildlife Surveys
    Wolf
    Wolverine Tracking Project
    Woodrat

    Past Posts

    January 2023
    December 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    August 2020
    May 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    December 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    November 2013

Volunteer Login:
Camera Crew
Fox Team
Wolf Team

Tracking Team​
​5431 NE 20th Ave Portland OR 97211
info@cascadiawild.org
503-235-9533
Picture
Copyright © 2021