Cascadia Wildlife Blog
News from the Wolverine Tracking Project and more
Rain in the valley, snow on the mountain, and an undeniable bite to the wind! Winter is just around the corner. Much of the forest is settling in for the long seasonal slumber. The trees and perennials are steadfastly storing their summer bounty below ground, seeds are stored away for spring growth, and animals are changing their behaviors in preparation for the snow. Whether you are one to spend these cooler days like black bears and other forest hibernators, tucked away under blankets or by the fire with a book, or if you are one to brave the elements - we hope you are looking forward to the new season as much as we are!
Learn more: Community Clubs camera surveysBoth our summer camera and scat surveys are coming to an end, but we are still busy collecting photos and genetic samples from the forest. As we transition to winter, we are excited to share some of our final findings from the summer season with you. The first images we want to share with you are of one of our striking target species, the Sierra Nevada red fox! Top and bottom: A Sierra Nevada red fox explores an alpine camera site with Mt Hood in the background These are some of best Sierra Nevada red foxes photos we have ever received! You can clearly see the red coat of this fox in the morning light, as well as Mt Hood in the background. We have detected Sierra fox at this alpine site consistently throughout the summer, although the photos have so far only been at night when foxes are more active. This camera site has been taken down for the winter, so these images were a wonderful send-off from such a beautiful site. During the winter, we much more commonly detect Sierra foxes below treeline than in the summer, and we hope to get to see this fox again soon! We also received many, many photos of coyotes this season, but none quite so investigative as this individual... Top to bottom: a coyote rolls on scent bait placed at a camera site This individual rolled around this rock face for just under a minute. Mammals (from coyotes to bears to ungulates and more) use scent as a way to communicate. Our smelly camera sites provide a great opportunity for communication from rubbing parts of their body or by marking with urine and scat. The most clear kind of scent communication is when the animal is attempting to deposit its own scent on something else, and the animal will roll or rub its scent glands onto a variety of surfaces. Animals will scent mark with all parts of their body, including their backs, necks, heads, and faces. However, sometimes mammals will also try to get the scent from something else (usually another animal) deposited on itself. When an animal covers itself in the scent left by other animals, this isn't exactly communication. We actually don't know exactly why they do this! But we speculate that this occurs when an animal wants to mask their own scent, perhaps to hide their scent when they hunt prey. We suspect this is what this coyote was doing. Maybe this individual was about to go off and find itself some dinner! The individual made sure to come check out the camera after they had a thorough roll around. Check out the whole video here. Left and right: A coyote checks out one of our trail cameras We also received many images of black bears this past month, including this individual that had a similar reaction to the bait as the coyote. Top to bottom: a black bear rubs it's face against a rock face This bear also seemed intrigued by the bait, but instead of rolling their entire body in it, they rubbed their head against the smell. In general, bears are much more conservative rollers than coyotes. Where a coyote might roll with enthusiasm, a bear might be content with a cheek rub. Along with canines and black bears, our cameras also detected some felines, including a mountain lion. Top and bottom: A mountain lion walks across a log And some bobcats. Top: Bobcat eyes reflect in a night-vision image. Bottom: A bobcat walks through a camera site Both of these big cats do not hibernate and will continue to hunt throughout the winter. Both cats are generalists, meaning they can prey on a wide variety of animals, so their diet will shift to prey that is more attainable throughout the winter months. While many small mammals such as ground squirrels and marmots hibernate during winter, other mammals such as snowshoe hares and mice stay active - great food for our bobcats, and they are content to stay at higher elevations throughout the winter where this food is plentiful. Ungulates (deer and elk) will also stay active through the winter, though they head to lower elevations where there is more opportunity to forage. Mountain lions, who prefer ungulates over other foods, also follow them down the mountain. Speaking of ungulates, many deer walked past our cameras. Bucks, does, and fawns all made an appearance. Left to right, top to bottom: A doe walks through a camera site, a fawn walks through a camera site, a buck with new antlers sniffs around a camera site Throughout autumn deer fawns were losing their spotted summer coats and gaining their adult winter coats. But don't let the coats fool you! The youngins will stick by their mothers side for one to two years before going out on their own. Every year, bucks grow new antlers. During a bucks first year, they will just grow little antler nubs, or buttons - hence their name of "button bucks." As a yearling, they will begin to grow their first set of antlers. These antlers will typically be smaller than the antlers of older adults, as they are often just a couple of spikes with little to no branching. You can make out in the photos that at this point, this gent's velvet has shed and their antlers are done growing, completing what may be their first rite of passage into adulthood! Genetics and health also play a role in how large or small a buck's antlers are each year - some yearlings can grow large antlers, while some 5 year olds still just have the spikes. Along with deer, our cameras also detected quite a few elk. Many of these elk were traveling with a much larger group. Top to bottom, left to right: Elk cows walk through site, elk cows and fawns walk through site, an elk bull walks by the camera, an elk cow with fawn looks at trail camera, elk cows and fawn walk though camera site For most of the year, elk stay in same sex groups, or groups composed of cows and calves. Throughout the year these herds can get very large, sometimes with more than 200 members. However, from August to early winter dominant bulls will follow groups of cows. These harems are formed during mating season, and will have 5 to 20 cows and one or two bulls. A dominant bull is a bull that is in their prime, somewhere between about 5-10 years of age. Bulls breeding success will peak at age 8. These bulls will protect their harems from other bulls. Older and younger bulls will stay on the periphery of these large harems or find their own harems closer to winter. Our cameras also detected some mammals, and a first!! Top to bottom: A mink explores a log For the first time in Cascadia Wild history, a camera detected an American mink! Minks are semi-aquatic and feed on a diet consisting of rodents, fish, frogs, and birds. They are most often nocturnal and will almost always look for food at night. Minks do not hibernate, so this new friend will be looking for food all winter (when they're not bundled up in their burrow!). Our cameras also detected some of our usual small mammals including skunks, golden-mantled squirrels, western gray squirrels, and a Douglas squirrels. Top to bottom, left to right: a skunk, a golden-mantled squirrel, a western gray squirrel, and a Douglas squirrel. The Douglas squirrel (bottom right photo) has a much shorter tail than is expected. Though tails serve a few functions, one of the most important functions of a squirrel tail is balance. Squirrels use their tails for balance as they scamper through the brush or jump from tree to tree. This partly explains why tree squirrels tend to have longer tails than ground squirrels, and flying squirrels tend to have even longer tails than tree squirrels. It is not unusual for a squirrel to lose part of their tail. Squirrels have many natural predators, such as snakes, hawks, raccoons (and more) who will bite down on a squirrel's tail, and squirrels can also lose part of their tail to snags in trees or fences. When met with a predator or snag, a thin covering of tail skin and muscle can be torn away without life-threatening impacts. scat surveysVolunteers have been hard at work on scat surveys this month! So far this season, volunteers have collected at least 9 potential wolf scat samples and 15 potential fox scat samples! Here is some potential wolf scat from a recent Wolf Scat Survey. When identifying wolf scat, three important factors are shape, size, and contents. We look for hair and/or bone in the scat, which is indicative of a carnivorous diet. Canines are opportunistic and can have seeds, grasses, berries, and even insects in their scat! However, wolves are especially carnivorous canines, and we especially expect to see hair from ungulates, their preferred diet. A twisted shape with tapered ends is also characteristic of canines, and for wolves we look for an average diameter of at least 1.25 inches - large enough to exclude all coyotes and most large dogs. In this sample, there seems to be some matted hair in the scat, which is positive sign. Even the largest dogs tend to have vague contents, reflecting a uniform diet of kibble and other dog foods. The general shape of this sample fits, too. The largest piece has a twisted shape and the ends are tapered. The average diameter might be just shy of 1.25 inches, meaning perhaps this was a very large meal for a coyote, or perhaps a wolf had a small meal. One of our volunteers also found some potential Sierra Nevada red fox scat. This scat displays the canine characteristics of shape and contents, and it also is indicative of fox scat due to its smaller size: under 1/2" or the size of your pinky. Both scats, along with the several others that volunteers have collected over the season, are potentially valuable sources of information about these important canine carnivores that call Mt. Hood National Forest home. While the snows on the mountain may have concluded our alpine fox scat surveys, there may still be a few more good weeks of wolf scat surveys left. As we head into winter, though, we will be collecting less scat and transitioning to seeking out tracks. Lots to look forward to! Until next time, stay safe, stay warm, and enjoy the season.
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As we head into the thick of Autumn, cooler days and earlier, golden sunsets, we are finding hope in the change of seasons. Like our friends in the forest, we are also busy preparing for the coming winter. We are excited to announce our Winter Wildlife Survey Season, and we hope that you will join us! As always, volunteers will strap on snowshoes and head to Mt Hood National Forest to help document wildlife on the mountain and search for rare carnivores, like Sierra Nevada red fox, Pacific marten, and gray wolf, and continuing to monitor for wolverine. To help protect our community and offer the opportunity for folks to participate in the Wolverine Tracking Project, we have restructured our Tracking and Camera Surveys. Click the links below to learn more, and apply by October 31st! Read more about the Wolverine Tracking Project And, don't forget about our Community Clubs!
Left (top): A stump showing beaver, deer, and human sign, and Right (bottom): mink tracks. Both photos from August Tracking Club. We hope to see you soon! Camera SurveysWith the delayed reopening of Multnomah County, our camera surveys this summer have been limited to only a handful volunteers and staff. Many of our cameras have not been checked since mid- or late-August, as well, due to the wildfires and closures in Mt. Hood National Forest. We can't wait until the forest reopens and we can see who's been visiting our cameras in the past month(s)! In the meantime, we have some photos to share with you from the footage collected in August. To start us off, we have one of our target species, the Sierra Nevada red fox! A Sierra Nevada red fox explores a camera site This is the third detection of a Sierra Nevada red fox at this camera site this year! Cascadia Wild has been been collecting data about the Sierra Nevada red fox since their "rediscovery" in Oregon on a Cascadia Wild trail camera in 2012. Most of what we know about Sierra Nevada red foxes come from a population living in Lassen, California, as this is the longest standing red fox study. It is thought that the known California populations together comprise less than 50 individuals. Oregon population numbers are largely unknown and speculative. However, with every passing season, Cascadia Wild and other state, federal, academic, conservation, and nonprofit organizations continue to study red foxes throughout Oregon and add to our growing knowledge of them in the region. In Oregon, the Sierra Nevada red fox was classified as a Data Gap Species and has since been designated as a Conservation Strategy Species by Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. The US Forest Service has designated the Sierra Nevada red fox a sensitive species in Oregon. Another canine visitor to our cameras was the coyote. Top to bottom: a coyote pauses at a camera site, and a coyote with its mouth wide open (in a yawn or pant) trots down a game trail. Both Sierra Nevada red foxes and coyotes are opportunistic eaters, and they both prey on small mammals such as rodents and squirrels, and also eat berries, insects, and carrion. Some studies suggest that they have a competitive relationship with each other due to their similar diets, however sometimes coyotes will prey upon red foxes, while red foxes can benefit from the carrion left behind by coyotes. More research needs to be done on the Sierra Nevada red fox in our region to allow for a more comprehensive comparison of these two canines diets and their relationships. Another opportunistic carnivore that visited our cameras was a black bear. An adult black bear sniffs the ground Just like canines, black bears eat small mammals, roots, berries, and insects. They also eat grasses, fish, large mammals, carrion, and can develop a taste for human garbage - a good reason to always pack out what you pack in and secure your food and trash. While black bear activity is not new to our cameras, we have been detecting much more rolling than usual! First, our camera detected bear cubs rolling in bait. Youtube videos of black bear cubs rolling on the ground near scent bait And then, this past month our camera detected an adult rolling in bait. An adult black bear rolling near scent bait We often see canines, and even the occasional feline, rolling in our very potent commercial scent bait - usually to mask their scent from other predators or prey, or to perhaps add their scent to the potpourri as a way of communication. While black bears are known to communicate with scent by rubbing and scratching on trees and posts, it is not very common for them to roll. In past seasons, we've used a particular stinky blend of bait, called gusto, as a broadcast scent lure. This would hang in a canister from a tree, and the canisters were often found torn off the tree and smashed to bits. It seems the bears could not keep their paws (and jaws) off! This year, we are using gusto as one of our baits instead. The bait is applied underneath a log or protected area, and it seems possible that is has the same strong appeal. Our cameras also detected a couple of big cats this past month, like these bobcats. Top to bottom: A bobcat walks through a camera site, a bobcat pauses by a log at a camera site And the other big cat detection was of a mountain lion. A mountain lion walks through a camera site. Though both big cats roam the forest, there are many key differences between them.
Another regular on our trail cameras is deer. We have received quite a few tender photos of does and their fawns. Top: A doe walks through a camera site followed by her fawn Bottom: A doe and her fawn look at each other According to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife most does and bucks do not live more than five years and very rarely live more than ten years. A doe can start reproducing at the age of one and can give birth to one or several fawns a year, meaning a doe will reproduce regularly throughout her life. A doe and her fawn nurture a close relationship until the fawn is weaned. In this approximately three month period the doe will carefully protect her young from predators and fawns will spend most of their time hiding in the woods or brush. Their mother will visit them throughout the day for feeding. Most fawns are born in spring, so by now most fawns are completely weaned and beginning to be less reliant on their mother. Their coats at this time will have lost their spots, in exchange for the coat of an adult. Another ungulate friend visited our cameras this month - elk! An elk cow's head in profile close to the camera, with a bit of vegetation hanging from her mouth Deer and elk are both ungulates with many similarities including their digestion process and reproductive cycle. Both are ruminants, meaning they have a four chambered stomach with bacteria which allows them to digest nearly all plant matter (lucky them!). They also both mate in the fall and fawns are born in the spring. However, elk are much larger than deer and communicate louder and more distinctively than deer. And while they can both eat a wide variety of plant matter, elk are grazers and deer are browsers. Elk will feed on a variety of grasses whereas deer prefer woody plants, but will also eat shoots, leaves, and grasses. As mating season approaches, elk's antlers will reach full maturity and they will shed their antler velvet. Left to right: A bull elk walks through the site, a bull elk walks through the site and there are a pair of eyes in the background. The bull in the image above seems to be shedding his velvet (indicated by the loose skin-like material hanging on his face). And there are a pair of eyes behind him... just in time for spooky season! We also had a fair number of small critter visitors, such as a striped skunk... A skunk dashes off a log ...as well as a rabbit... A rabbit sits on a log ...a yellow-bellied marmot... A marmot stands by a rock with Mt Hood in the background ...and a couple golden mantled ground squirrels. Two golden mantled ground squirrels stand in a camera site Though they are small, mammals like skunks, rabbits, and marmot are important to their ecosystem. They act as pollinators, seed dispersers, support forest regeneration and maintain forest health, aerate soil and allow for increased plant diversity, provide food for carnivores, and enrich our recreational experience. And the final trail camera photo is a Cascadia Wild first, and just in time for Halloween! Our camera detected bats! Bats fly in front of the camera Out of the 1,300 species of bats in the world, Oregon is home to 15, eight of which are ODFW Conservation Strategy Species. Bats can range greatly in size and weight, and not all species echolocate, but all species are important pollinators, seed dispersers, and, with the exception of vampire bats (which are not in Oregon), are insectivores. Scat SurveysLet's start off with some big scat! Black bear scat next to a 52mm camera lens cap for reference (the lens cap is approximately 2 inches in diameter) As we discussed previously, black bears are opportunistic eaters, meaning that they can adapt to what food is available. Based the purple color of this scat, it looks like this bear came across some huckle or blueberries! Berries make up a large portion of a black bear's diet, especially in late summer when the forest is bursting with them. One of our volunteers conducted a Complete Species Wolf Scat Survey in which all mammal and bird sign encountered are documented, in addition to that of our target species: wolves, Sierra foxes, marten, and wolverine. They found a variety of interesting sign! A log torn open by a black bear. This is a dead tree trunk that was torn open by a black bear. In late summer, bears are trying to put on as much weight as they can before hibernation, so all food sources are sought after. Deadfall can be a wonderful source of insects for these omnivores! Though they have the characteristics of a ruthless predator, like strong curved claws and long canine teeth, black bears seldom use them for anything more than climbing trees and consuming insects and fruits. Black bears use both their claws and their canines to break open insect-ridden logs in late summer, to supplement their diet of berries and nuts. A mountain lion scrape. This is a mountain lion scrape. With their back legs, a mountain lion will scrape ground-cover backwards to create a small pile with a shallow hole about 8 inches long in front of it. Then, they will urinate on the mound or mark the mound with scat, but no scat was found at this site. This action is a kind of scent marking, and will often be found on the edge of a mountain lion's territory or where their territory overlaps with other cat's territory.
Bones of a deer Additionally, these bones were found outside of an official survey, by a volunteer on their way to a camera check. These bones belong to a deer, and were found on the eastern side of the forest. This is confirmed habitat for many carnivores that love ungulates, like bobcat, mountain lion, and coyote. This is also suitable habitat for wolves, and ungulates are their preferred meal. While wolves have not yet been confirmed in the particular area where this was found, signs like this are encouraging that they could be. The forest is full of sign that tells the story of the animals that live there, for those who take the time to look! Whether on the mountain or in your own backyard, we hope you are enjoying the abundant life all around you. Until next time!
Amidst all the uncertainty of the season, one thing remains constant: our natural world. On the hillsides of Mt Hood, rivers and lakes are ripe for swimming, huckleberries are reaching their peak, spring's newborns are exploring their range, and some juveniles have even fully fledged! We hope that you have had the opportunity to spend time outdoors and enjoy the bountiful beauty of the Pacific Northwest summer. 2019-2020 Annual ReportOur 2019-2020 Annual Report is out! Check it out for a summary of all that we were able to accomplish during the year, from our annual budget to our classes, clubs and events, to community engagement. Also, in case you missed it, our Wolverine Tracking Project 2019-2020 Report was also released a few months ago. This report covers all the findings of the Wolverine Tracking Project. Check it out or read our end of winter blog to see detailed photos and findings. A big thank you to everyone who made 2019-2020 a success! Community ClubsTracking Club met at the end of July for the first time since February, and it was great to get our noses to the dirt again! Tracking Club is an informal gathering for beginners and experts alike; all are welcome. Join us the last Sunday of each month at Oxbow Park. Tracks found at the July Tracking Club. Left: Mink tracks follow the bank of the Sandy River. Right: The tracks of great blue heron (large) and spotted sandpiper (small). Nature Book Club is held online the fourth Tuesday of every month. Participants come together to discuss the ways nature writing shapes our experiences and relationship with the natural world. Our next meeting is August 25 to discuss Rare Bird: Pursuing the Mystery of the Marbled Murrelet by Maria Mudd-Ruth. Learn more about our Clubs and Events Camera SurveysWhile we are eagerly awaiting a time when it is safe to send all our camera crew volunteers to the field, a handful of volunteers have been helping maintain our 16 wildlife cameras stationed around Mt Hood National Forest. Like seasons' past, we have installed cameras to focus on our target species: Sierra Nevada red fox, gray wolf, Pacific marten, and the ever elusive wolverine. This summer season has delivered a wide range of wildlife, including one of our target species, the Sierra Nevada red fox! A Sierra Nevada red fox explores the camera survey site The Sierra Nevada red fox has been one of our target species since they were detected on our cameras in 2012. We frequently detect Sierra Nevada foxes in the wintertime at our cameras stationed just below the tree-line. We have detected them during the summer as well, just much less frequently. We are lucky to have a couple of detections this summer. These sightings were at high elevation, which is fitting since Sierra Nevada red foxes have only been found above 4,000 ft in Oregon so far, but these sightings occurred even higher than that. This is valuable information for us, because we initially hypothesized that we were more frequently detecting Sierra Nevada red foxes during the winter because they were experiencing food scarcity and therefore would be more drawn to our meat baits. However, now that we have detected individuals at high elevations for two summers in a row, this could suggest that these foxes are migratory and spend the summer months at higher elevation and the winter months at lower elevation. Foxes are opportunistic and will eat berries, plants, insects, and even carrion. But the primary diet of Sierra Nevada red foxes is carnivorous and is mainly comprised of small rodents. Because of this, Sierra Nevada red foxes tend to be most active when rodents are: at dusk and during the night. Perhaps that explains why our cameras detected these individuals at night! Our largest regular visitor this season has been the black bear. One black bear walks through a camera site Despite their name, not all black bears have a dark black coat. Their coats can range from light brown to jet black and some individuals can even have blonde or white coats! Black bears are more commonly cinnamon, blonde, or brown in the west than other parts of the country - researchers think this might be to help them blend in with the abundant meadows we have out here. However, about 70% of black bear individuals nationwide have black coats. A mama bear and her yearling explore a camera site Black bears are typically solitary animals, with the exception of occasional social groups or a mother bear and her cub. A cub litter can usually range anywhere from one to four, and cubs will typically stay with their mothers for two years, sometimes longer, until they are ready to be on their own. Here, our cameras spotted a mama and her yearling walking around the site. Our feline friend the bobcat walked through our sites on several occasions. Top to the bottom, left to right: a bobcat pauses, a bobcat walks over some fallen branches, a bobcat trots through a camera site This cat is named due to its tail, which appears to be "bobbed". Bobcats are elusive and nocturnal, thus are rarely spotted by humans. Luckily our camera's have detected a few individuals this season! Another one of our Mt Hood felines, the mountain lion, stopped by. A mountain lion looks at the camera While it may look like the mountain lion is smiling for the camera, it is actually performing a flehmen response. This behavior can be identified when a mammal curls back its upper lip and exposed its front teeth. This allows for pheromones or other scents to be transferred to the vomeronasal organ, which is located above the roof of the mouth. A mammal may perform the flehmen response when it's investigating new odors or tastes. This image is particularly cool because the flehmen response is most often observed in ungulates, so observing it in a big cat is a treat! One of the most common visitors to our sites are coyotes. Top to the bottom, left to right: one coyote smells bait and one coyote rolls on the ground, one coyote sniffs the ground, one coyote pauses with one front paw raised. Coyotes are one of more investigative visitors to our sites, and are often detected sniffing all around the site. Our cameras also often see them marking the site, either by feces, urine, or rubbing. Above are images of coyotes rubbing their backs on the ground, as well as sniffing their surroundings. The last image features a coyote pausing with their paw raised, which is indicative that they were concentrating on something in their area. Perhaps they were looking for the source of what they were sniffing! Another common visitor to our sites are black-tailed deer. Now that summer is in full swing, our cameras have been detecting does with their fawns. Top to the bottom, left to right: a doe and two fawns stand together, a doe stands and two fawns explore, one fawn bounds through a camera site Fawns are characterized by their brown coats with white spots, this pattern helps them camouflage into tall grass and brush. Fawns are born in the late spring and will weigh between 6 and 8 pounds. It is common for a doe to give birth to twins, though a single birth is not unusual. Does and fawns can create family groups which are led by the oldest mother, while bucks will not help raise the fawns and instead create bachelor groups for the summer. Top to the bottom, left to right: top three images - a buck walks closer to the camera, a buck looks into a camera, a buck stops to observe the camera site Bucks can be distinguished from does due to their large antlers. Antlers are actually an extension of the deer's skull and are usually only found on male deer. As growth occurs at the tip of the antler, cartilage is added which is later replaced by bone tissue. As the antler is growing, it is covered with a vascular skin called "velvet". The velvet is almost fuzzy in appearance. The velvet supplies oxygen and nutrients to the growing bone. According to a Cornell University Press publication, deer antlers grow faster than any other mammal bone! Once the antler has reached its ultimate size, the velvet is lost and the bone dies. This dead bone is the most mature phase of antler. On average larger than black-tailed deer, our cameras also often detected elk. An elk bull walks through a camera site Elk are one of the largest species within the deer family and are one of the largest terrestrial animals in North America. Bulls are distinguished by their their antlers and loud vocalization consisting of screams known as bugling. Beloved for their tall ears and endearing hop, rabbits are no strangers to our sites. A rabbit hops through a camera site Rabbits and hares are common and important prey for larger mammals, such as bobcats, foxes, coyotes, and even birds of prey. They have adapted to moving swiftly through forests to avoid being an easy meal, finding a wide range of plant matter for their own snacking. As a food source for larger carnivores and as avid herbivores themselves, rabbits play an important role in the ecosystem. Left to right: a Douglas squirrel sits on a log, a Northern flying squirrel walks through the grass. The Mt Hood forest is full of a variety of small rodents, and though they have somewhat similar characteristics, each species is physically and behaviorally distinct. This season we have received images of the Douglas squirrel, the northern flying squirrel, the golden-mantled ground squirrel, and the yellow-bellied marmot. Douglas squirrels are tree squirrels with bushy tails, brown coats and tan bellies, though they appear very dark in black and white photos. They are one of the smallest squirrels in Oregon and are active year-round during the daytime. The Northern flying squirrel are also tree squirrels with dark coats, but their bellies are white and their tails are not as bushy; their tails often appear flat in our photos. Weighing under five ounces, they are the smallest tree squirrel in Oregon. Like the Douglas squirrel they are active year-round, except they explore their surroundings during the night. Left to right: A Golden-mantled ground squirrel looks into the camera, a Golden-mantled ground squirrel walks by the camera As opposed to tree squirrels, who dwell in trees, ground squirrels spend most of if not all of their time on the ground. In contrast to the Douglas squirrel and Northern flying squirrel, the golden-mantled ground squirrel is, as the name suggests, a ground squirrel. Golden-mantled ground squirrels are active during the daytime in warmer months, they hibernate throughout the winter season. Their body size and markings lead them to be commonly mistaken for chipmunks, however they are distinctive due to their lack of face stripes and singular lateral white stripe bordered by two black striped on each side of their body. Left to right: a Yellow-bellied marmot looks at the camera, a Yellow-bellied marmot pauses on a rock Though significantly larger than the previous species, the yellow-bellied marmot is also a ground squirrel. Like the golden-mantled ground squirrel they are also winter hibernators and are actually one of Oregon's longest hibernators, resting from as early as July through April or May. They are our states only marmot and one of the largest squirrels in Oregon. They can be identified by their brown or golden coloring, squat legs, and somewhat bushy tail. A striped skunk stands on a log Striped skunks are omnivorous, meaning they eat both meat and plant matter. Their diet influenced by the seasons: in the warmer months their diet is primarily insectivorous when grasshoppers, beetles, crickets, and other arthropods are abundant. During colder months the switch to a more carnivorous diet and they will eat smaller mammals, hatchlings, and eggs. One of the most exciting detections was of a Greater sandhill crane. There are actually two individuals in this photo, can you spot the second one? Two sandhill cranes walk through a camera site This species is Oregon's tallest bird and is characterized by its red crown and white cheek patches, which contrast with its light gray or brown body. There are only a few pairs of sandhill cranes nesting in the east Cascades, and this bird is one of ODFW's Conservation Strategy Species, so this was a very exciting — and lucky — sighting Scat surveysMembers of our gray wolf and Sierra Nevada red fox surveys have been busy hitting the trails and forest service roads to search of our two canid target species. So far, we have 10 probable Sierra fox scat samples and 8 promising gray wolf scat samples! This genetic data is invaluable in helping us learn about the population, native ancestry, and habitat use of these canids. Combined with the long-term data collected on our wildlife camera and winter tracking surveys, the scat surveys help to tell an overall story of the forest ecosystem that these rare carnivores call home. Identifying scat can be terribly tricky! There are some traits common to all canine scat such as
However, our target canines have more specific characteristics Comparing these two samples, they are similar because are both twisted in shape and contain both hair and plant matter. However, the potential gray wolf scat is larger overall than the potential Sierra Nevada red fox scat. If you are planning on hiking the alpine trails of Mt Hood and would like to help out with our Sierra Nevada red fox scat survey, let us know! The more eyes we have on the mountain trails, the more we learn about this rare animal, which in turns helps determine their protections. Contact us for info on how to join, or read more about the Sierra Nevada Red Fox Scat Survey. For those of you who are unfamiliar, this is what GPS data looks like from our scat surveys. This is a “track” or GPS route from a recent survey. Note the CaW (Cascadia Wild) shout-out! Thank you to all our volunteers who keep our wildlife surveys going strong and to our community for your valuable support. Until next time, we hope to see you out in the woods and enjoying some PNW sunshine!
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