Cascadia Wildlife Blog
News from the Wolverine Tracking Project and more
october NewsHappy Fall! For some of our alpine trail cameras, it's even starting to get a bit wintry!  Snow on an alpine slope after a recent mountain storm. Before the snows stick around for good, we hope you are enjoying the crunch of leaves, crisp air, and are taking the time to read some good books, take some long walks, spend time with those you love, and connect with the natural world. For a little added inspiration, join us for our Nature Book Club and Halloween Tracking Club!
Looking forward to winter? So are we!  We are busy getting ready another season of wildlife surveys! We hope you can join us as we head out to the mountain and document the wildlife of Mt Hood National Forest! Register for a Camera Crew or Tracking Team by October 24! Wildlife Survey FindingsOur summer surveys are winding down, but that doesn't mean life in the forest is stopping! Here's the best of our camera and scat surveys from the past month. Next month, we'll be back with a highlight of all the findings from the summer season! While trail cameras haven't documented any of the target species from the Wolverine Tracking Project yet this season, we did find a few instances of potential Sierra Nevada red fox tracks and scat, as well as a potential gray wolf track. Scat from our target species is just as valuable as photos - if not even more so - since it has the possibility to provide a wealth of genetic information.   Top: Two likely Sierra Nevada red fox tracks in a soft, light-brown path. A hand is there for scale. Bottom: A goopy, hairy scat, which has good potential to belong to a fox. The ends are tapered, the average diameter is less than half an inch, and the scat looks relatively fresh. Shown above are potential tracks and scat from a Sierra Nevada red fox. Potential suspects for this track are domestic dog, coyote, and fox - all members of the canine family. The heel pad on the front foot (top track) is closer to the toes than it would be for a coyote. The heel pad is also more linear than triangular in shape, as a coyote or dog's would be. Based on this evidence, we believe this track has very good potential to belong to a red fox. The scat shown in the second photo is tapered on the ends and contains a lot of fur. The size (about the size of a pinky) is also spot on for our fox scat collection guidelines, so this has good potential to be from a fox. Once genetic testing is done, we'll be able to know for sure who this scat came from. The tracks below could belong to a gray wolf! Unfortunately the track has been smeared, so we're not able to make out the details, but the shape and size of this imprint lend themselves to be a potential wolf track. Another animal this could belong to is a large domestic dog. However, due to the sliding, we can't be sure of one or the other.  A nearly four inch canine track, imprinted in mud. Now onto the other wildlife of the forest! We'll kick things off with bears, in tune with last week's Fat Bear Week - however we'll be looking at black bears instead of grizzlies, as Oregon only houses that one species of bear. We saw this chunky bear passing through the camera site. Black bears should be gorging themselves on food by now, and they'll be going into hibernation within the next month or two. It is important that bears gain as much weight as possible before going into hibernation (torpor), because they will utilize their fat stores to help get them through the winter.   Top to bottom: A large adult black bear walks by; a smaller, subadult black bear looks up at the camera as they walk. Black bears experience what's called delayed implantation, meaning the female won't get pregnant immediately after mating, which happens in the summer months. Instead, if she is healthy and has gotten enough to eat in the summer months, she will get pregnant in late fall or early winter, and birth her cubs around January. Bears aren't "true" hibernators, which makes sense, since the sow (female bear) wakes up several times during hibernation to birth and take care of the young. Bears of any sex can wake up throughout hibernation - especially if conditions are warm enough to encourage a bit of mid-winter foraging. Black bears have a 2 year reproductive cycle - they mate every two years and naturally, only have offspring every two years. To tie it all in, the cubs stay with their mother for - you guessed it - around two years. This cub will stay with their mother for another winter before heading out on their own.  A juvenile black bear cub explores the bait setup and looks around before walking off to the right of the screen. Wow! We wonder what has got this bear in such a hurry! Fun fact: black bears have a top speed of around 35 mph! Although they're not likely to chase you down since they're usually pretty shy around humans, it's still a good idea to periodically call out into the forest (especially in early spring when the bears are just starting to wake up) to let them know of your presence.  A small black bear bounds across the camera site at an alarming speed. These black bears are displaying a flehmen response! Many animals, not only bears, will utilize this technique to gather information on novel or interesting smells. They will also utilize the response to determine the reproductive status of a mate. The word flehmen is German in origin, meaning "to bear the upper teeth".   Top to bottom: A close up of an adult black bear, looking at the camera with what looks like a goofy grin on their face (flehmen response); an adult black bear sniffs the ground close to the bait setup, opens their mouth briefly, then continues sniffing before walking off. We also got some bear track and scat photos turned in this past month. Both their tracks and scat are usually relatively straightforward and easy to identify as they are the biggest animals in the forest. The tracks are characterized by the toes being in a line above the foot pad (versus on either sides of the foot pad in canines or felines). Black bear scat in summer is characterized by the presence of berry seeds, as they are highly omnivorous. There's usually a whole bunch of scat to go along with it, too!
Left to right, or top to bottom: Two distinct tracks left by a black bear; a large pile of scat with berry seeds dispersed, a hand is there for scale. We had several coyote detections this month. They're one of the more curious creatures when it comes to checking out the bait setup and will scent-mark, roll, rub, and paw at the site. The coyotes below exhibit pawing and scent-marking via urination. They are doing this in response to the sticky, stinky bait that's meant to attract our target species, but works really well for attracting many others as well.   Top to bottom: A coyote paws and sniffs at the ground by the bait stump; a coyote pops a squat and marks the ground near the bait setup before taking off. What soulful eyes! These two coyotes looked directly into the camera. The photos are practically good enough to be profile pictures!   Top to bottom: A coyote looks into the camera head-on while standing in the middle of the camera site; the head and leg of a coyote is shown, the coyote is looking directly into the camera. This coyote seems to be distracted by something and is looking into the blanket of trees behind the bait stump. Their voluminous tail indicates they're preparing for cold weather by growing a nice, thick winter coat.  The back and side of a speckled gray, white, and light brown colored coyote, who has a thick, fluffy tail. The coyote is looking at something in the trees in the background. We've also got some coyote tracks to share, shown in the photo below. It looks like this path was used by quite a few animals! Here we see coyote tracks (circled in green) and skunk tracks (circled in red). Coyote tracks are distinguishable from feline tracks most notably by the overall shape of the track and orientation of the toes. Canine tracks are symmetrical and more oval in shape, and their front two toes are side by side. Feline tracks are more circular, and they have one toe that is longer than the rest, like a human's middle finger. Since one toe sticks out further than the rest, it ends up appearing further ahead than the others. However, misidentification of coyote tracks most commonly happens with domestic dog tracks (depending on size of dog), not feline tracks. Coyote toes tend to point forward more than a dog's and their tracks aren't as round. Skunk tracks most often get mixed up with raccoon and opossum tracks. However, if you know what to look for, the three have characteristics that clearly distinguish them from one another. Skunks have an extra heel pad, denoted by the red arrow in the photo (although this may not show up in all tracks). They also have five toes on both the front and hind feet, and there is an obvious gap between the toes and the heel pad. Raccoons' five toes will connect with the rest of the foot, so the track has no gap between the toes and the heel pad. Their toes are also longer than a skunk's would be, and look a bit like fingers. Lastly, opossums, like both skunks and raccoons, also have five toes, but their thumb extends out to the side. This is quite easy to see on their hind foot, as the thumb is quite large and leaves a very distinct track. On the front feet, the toes tend to splay out, and the thumb is harder to distinguish. Like with raccoons, their toes also connect with the heel pad.  Several skunk and coyote tracks on a soft, light brown dirt path. Moving onto the feline family, we had a few bobcat sightings throughout this past month. It's possible this one is catching their next meal! These (usually) solitary creatures feed on rabbits/hares, squirrels, small birds, mice, and even juvenile deer.  A bobcat darts into the left side of the screen, looks around, then moves to a different spot where they sniff the ground. A couple of beautiful bobcats were captured during the daytime, allowing us to see their gorgeous spotted and striped coats.
Left to right, or top to bottom: A head-on shot of a light brown bobcat. Spots and stripes on their legs can be seen; a sideview of a bobcat in mid-stride. The bobcat is medium brown with lots of spots on the body and striping on the legs. Most bobcat detections are of them passing through the camera site at night. Below is one of their more typical visits.  A cautious bobcat sniffs in a crouched position before getting up and walking over a downed log. Pop goes the weasel! This weasel "popped" by one of our camera sites last year, but due to unfortunate circumstances, we weren't able to retrieve the camera until now. Too bad the camera wasn't in focus to capture this little one...  A blurry, closeup photo of a weasel crouching on the snow. The weasel has dark brown coloring on their head and down their back, and a white chest. Thankfully we had another weasel sighting this month! Usually we'll detect weasels at night, but this time one was spotted in the daytime. Both long and short-tailed weasels are present in Mt Hood National Forest, but sometimes it can be tricky to tell them apart because their size and habitats overlap.  A weasel is captured scurrying across a downed log. Speaking of weasels, take a look at this weasel skull! This was found nearby the camera site shown in the photo above. Weasels are carnivorous mammals belonging to the family Mustelidae. Other members in that family are wolverines, badgers, otters, martens, minks, and ferrets, just to name a few. Those razor sharp incisors help the weasel efficiently kill their prey. Despite their small stature (11-18 inches long), weasels take down mice, voles, squirrels, chipmunks, and even snowshoe hares!
 Left to right, and top to bottom: The lower mandible of a weasel; the upper mandible of a weasel, mostly showing the front incisors; both the lower mandible and the rest of the weasel's skull. Put together in a line they are less than three inches in length. Here we have a gang of elk. We haven't seen any elk since the start of summer, so it's nice to see them again. Older, more experienced cows (female elk) normally lead the group - this one consists of 9 individuals, where at least one individual is a calf (juvenile elk). Elk move in groups pretty much all of the time, but the group dynamic changes during the breeding season, which is in the fall. During most of the year, gangs of elk consist of cows & calves, but also may include young bulls. The older bulls are in gangs of their own for that time, until early fall when they temporarily join the cows, which is then called a harem. The dominant bulls try to gather as many cows into their harem as possible, competing with other bulls to do so. A successful bull will mate with multiple females in his harem. Harems range from a handful of cows to as many as 20 or 25 cows. During the mating season, adolescent bulls form small gangs of their own and hang around near the breeding harems, but don't participate. Although bulls socially dominate the harem, the group still moves with an older, experienced cow as their leader. Since elk breed in early fall, their activities are coming to a close soon. In about 8-9 months, healthy cows will bear a single calf each.  A gang of elk, mostly obscured by a tree, passes by. Several different individuals can be counted, including at least one calf. Within the same family (Cervidae), we have deer. Deer are our most frequent visitor across the board for almost all sites, although they were detected with higher frequency in the height of summer than they are now.
 Left to right, and top to bottom: A doe and her fawn put their heads together while sniffing the bait log; a doe curves her head and neck around to her backside to scratch an itch; a small deer comes up to a doe laying down in a field, after which the doe gets up and takes off, leaving a cloud of dust behind her. By now, the bucks (male deer) have all shed their outer velvety coating to reveal the hard bone underneath it all. This buck has only two points on his antlers, indicating he is relatively young. Bucks grow more impressive antlers each year, peaking at around year seven.  A closeup of a young buck, who is sporting a 2-point antler that has shed its velvety outer layer to reveal hard bone. Onto rodent sightings! First up, we have the California ground squirrel, who was spotted only twice this month. These squirrels are practically only seen on the east side of the forest, and live in relatively open areas such as fields, pastures, and lightly wooded forests. Thus, most of Mt Hood National Forest is not their preferred habitat, greatly favoring the warm, open areas of the Willamette Valley.
Left to right, or top to bottom: A California ground squirrel climbed a sizable tree stump and sniffs the top of it; a California ground squirrel on a downed log, with their head and upper body leaned over the log. Next we have the western gray squirrel. Typically we don't see these squirrels in pairs, but this summer has been the exception. These tree squirrels are distinct from other squirrels in Mt Hood National Forest due to their large, bushy, gray and white tails. These squirrels start burying conifer cones in the fall, to be dug up in the winter as a food source. Unlike the California ground squirrel, the western gray squirrel prefers habitat that is heavily wooded, since they are arboreal.
 Left to right, and top to bottom: Two western gray squirrels, one on the ground to the right, and the other on the downed log facing the first squirrel; two western gray squirrels, one is facing away from the camera, looking at the second squirrel, who is on the ground looking intently at a tree; A single western gray squirrel bounds from a downed log to the right of the screen. Those little feet sure do a lot of scampering! The tracks shown here are squirrel tracks. Although they don't look small in the photo, these squirrel tracks are only around 1-2 inches in length.  Multiple squirrel tracks on a soft, light brown dirt path. Up next we have the chipmunk. They mostly inhabit coniferous forests and rocky outcrops. The two chipmunks found in Mt Hood National Forest are the Townsend's chipmunk and the yellow pine chipmunk, and both are omnivorous. They feed on insects, bird eggs, berries, acorns, maple seeds, conifer cones, fungi, and lichen. 
Top to bottom, and left to right: A chipmunk is on a tree stump close to the camera. After sniffing a branch, putting their hands to their face, and climbing on top of one of the branches, the chipmunk leaves; the side profile of a chipmunk. Dark brown and white stripes can be seen stretching across the face; a chipmunk's backside, that has alternating dark and white stripes going down the back. Next up we have the snowshoe hare, who are frequent visitors at certain sites and can be found pretty much all over Mt Hood National Forest.  A snowshoe hare jumps a step, looks into the camera lens, then bounds off to the right of the screen. These tracks belong to a snowshoe hare. The photo is from the stranded camera, mentioned earlier, which we only retrieved recently. Hares usually make distinct "T" or "Y" shaped tracks. When a hare is bounding, the two smaller front feet land first, usually staggered one behind the other, and this makes the stem of the "T" or "Y". The large hind tracks land next, side-by-side and in front of where the front feet just landed, forming the top of the letter.  Tracks left by a snowshoe hare in the snow. The path of movement goes from left to right. Our next rodent we have to share is the bushy-tailed woodrat, also known as the packrat. Normally we don't see this member of the Cricetidae family in such clear view as they are nocturnal, quick on their feet, and also very small (approximately 15 inches in length and weighing around 11 oz), making it a challenge for the camera to capture good photos. Woodrats are found in most parts of Mt Hood National Forest, save for the alpine and subalpine habitats.  A bushy-tailed woodrat leaps onto the ground, pauses and sniffs, then moves to the bait stump and disappears behind it. Last up on our rodent list is the mouse. These agile creatures generally spend their time on land, but are good swimmers as well. There are many species of mice that can be found in Mt Hood National Forest, including deer mice, western harvest mice, pacific jumping mice, and house mice. Many species of voles, shrews, and the black rat can also be found in the forest. Different species inhabit different habitats. Some can be seen in all parts of the forest, while other species are limited to certain areas.  A mouse captured climbing on a tree log angled at 45 degrees. These tracks were left by a mouse. Like the snowshoe hares, mice also place their front paws down first, followed by the back legs, which swing out and land in front of the front paws.  Tracks left by a mouse, going up towards the bait setup, then heading right till they are off-screen. A Canada jay and hermit warbler also decided to stop by briefly. Canada jays are found all across boreal forests in the northern parts of the United States and in Canada, as well as in tall mountain ranges in the western United States. Hermit warblers are found in tall coniferous forests in mountainous areas along the coast of California to Washington. They winter along the coast of central and southern California.   Top to bottom: The backside of a Canada jay, who is positioned close to the camera, turns their head to the side before walking off to the right of the screen; a hermit warbler sits atop a branch close to the camera and looks directly into the lens. That's all we've got for this month's blog! Tune in next month for our seasonal wildlife review where we highlight the best from our Summer 2021 surveys. Till next time!
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