Cascadia Wildlife Blog
News from the Wolverine Tracking Project and more
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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!
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