Cascadia Wildlife Blog
News from the Wolverine Tracking Project and more
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We had camera checks at Bear Springs Far, Clear Lake, and Government Camp West, plus our intrepid trackers went snow camping near Timberline. Check out what they found, plus hear about a couple upcoming events! The overnight tracking trip (as well as all the snow in the city!) has us thinking about what we need to do to stay warm - and gets us thinking of all the different ways the animals in our region are specialized to deal with this winter weather. Tracking Trip Updates The snow tracking survey trip this week did an overnight trip to the Timberline area. They followed a marten trail, then in the evening some of them were amibitious enough to build snow shelters to help stay warm. The shelter below looks quite cozy! 
  This marten was traveling with a very unusual gait, but if you look closely, you can see 5 toes on all four feet. Wildlife Camera Findings Coyotes' ability to capitalize on any available resources might be one of their greatest adaptations that serves them through winter. Rodents? Great! Deer? Sounds good! Nuts and berries? Love it!
Bobcats (and lynx, too) are unusual in the feline family because of their short tails. Perhaps due to their preference to hunt in dense, woody areas, a long tail was no longer necessary in their quick-pivoting, brushy chases - similar to the Coopers Hawk, which has shorter, rounded wings for hunting among the tree branches.    Round two of the weasel escapades! This camera station is undoubtedly this weasel's favorite place to pass the time. The last camera set was a tale of weasel-vs-woodrat, while this set found a competitor-less weasel luxuriously enjoying its surroundings. (Check out the full sets for weeks of this weasel bounding and jumping through the days) Weasels are extremely inefficient at conserving heat due to their high-surface-area body shape. To counteract this, they have an extremely high metabolism that keeps them on the move and searching for food. When they're lucky, the catch prey that had a nice, warm den for them to commandeer!
Snowshoe hares have adapted in many ways we are all familiar with, like their extremely large, furry hind feet that keep them up on top of the snow. Additionally, snowshoe hares typically turn white at the beginning of winter. In some areas, however, this change does not occur due to the lack of reliable and consistent snowfall. This is a good thing for these creatures, as their bright white fur would be a dead give-away on a brown, snowless day. 
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Tracking Trip Updates A group visited Froglake Snopark over the weekend and observed coyote, squirrel, hare tracks. Coyote feeding habits differ in the winter as opposed to the more plentiful times of spring and summer, and we can expect to see them not only along the trails of their favorite prey animals, but also scavenging more often and doing their best to conserve their energy. Wildlife Camera Findings This Meadows marten left us picture-perfect tracks. Here we can observe the angled two-print pattern and we even see the hints of what could be the five toes and claw marks.   At the same camera, we got an excellent view of a coyote's meadnering tracks.    This Bear Springs Near coyote is displaying a habit most of us wish our dogs at home could resist! Scent-rolling, wallowing, or scent-bathing are all names for the act of rolling in something most of us would turn our noses up at. However, for these predators and our pups at home, this habit offers a convenient way to disguise their own scent. Not only is there the potential for them to hide their own scent from their prey, but it would also hide their scent from any predators coming after THEM! This is especially true for the smaller predators who practice this ritual.
Lastly, Alpine got picked over by two ravens, but they were kind enough to wait until only a few days before the camera check to steal all the bait!  More tracking and camera trips coming up, be sure to sign up and we will see you soon!
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The tracks below display a typical canine side trot (the gait that your dog commonly does when it is pulling on the leash). This trail pattern, along with the oval shape of the tracks, tell us it is definitely a canine. The crew identified the tracks below as being from a coyote, but these can sometimes be difficult to confidently identify. Is at a coyote? Or perhaps a fox? Maybe a domestic dog?
There is a lot of overlap in the size of the tracks themselves. However, fox are smaller animals than coyotes and will therefore have a smaller stride. Fox also have furry feet, so it is rare to find a clear track. Also, the track itself is wider, so if negative space is definable, coyote tracks will display and X, while fox will typically display a negative space closer to an H.
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Two groups visited Little John this week, and both found signs of weasels. The narrow, focused trail shown below is indicative of a weasel in a hurry! As mentioned in a previous email, weasel tracks can often be identified by the meandering, curious, erratic paths they create as they investigate their surroundings.
Weasels typically hunt under the snow, seeking out mice and other small rodents. It is possible that it is the females that are hunting underground, while males stay above ground. This could be attributed to their size difference, as it would be easier for the smaller females to fit into the narrow burrows beneath the snow.
Weasels typically hunt under the snow, seeking out mice and other small rodents. It is possible that it is the females that are hunting underground, while males stay above ground. This could be attributed to their size difference, as it would be easier for the smaller females to fit into the narrow burrows beneath the snow.
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Wildlife Camera Findings
This group of 3 coyotes was lured in to our ODFW Lands camera, but wasted no time in organizing themselves to search out some real prey for themselves. Although we are used to seeing coyotes in almost every habitat we can think of, the open grasslands are where they originally thrived, sustaining themselves on the small rodents found in abundance in that landscape.
They've come a long way in the past few hundred years, diversifying their habitat, diet, and social structures, but seeing this small group working their way through the grass is a happy sight to see, and reminiscent of these coyotes' origins.
They've come a long way in the past few hundred years, diversifying their habitat, diet, and social structures, but seeing this small group working their way through the grass is a happy sight to see, and reminiscent of these coyotes' origins.
It's hard not to assume this jolly looking deer was enjoying the (relatively) warm weather!
Don't be fooled by the sunny, grassy backdrop of these photos though, these visitors are still pushing through the cold! This solitary elk only appeared once on camera, amongst night after night of deer.
This deer passing by McCubbins #2 was not enjoying the luxury of warmer weather like above, but it is still highly capable of thriving in the cold. Deer can capitalize on many food sources still readily available in winter, even including lichen and fungi
This Government Camp West bobcat might have been lured in by the scent of an easy meal. Unlike the lynx, bobcats' smaller feet cause them to sink into deep snow, making hunting more of a challenge.
This individual probably moved on in search of one of their more typical meals for this time of year, which could include snowshoe hair, mice, voles, and even deer.
This individual probably moved on in search of one of their more typical meals for this time of year, which could include snowshoe hair, mice, voles, and even deer.
 | Every once in a while we will get an unexpected visitor at a camera, and that was especially true this week! Check out GoogleDocs to see the full sets from each camera. Best, Cascadia Wild |
