Winter Weekly 12/21/2018

Another exciting week of tracking trips and camera surveys! Lots of beautiful scenery, carnivore tracks (and more!) and plenty of visitors to the cameras. 

TRACKING TRIPS

A Cascadia Wild member was on an independent trip near Tilly Jane this past week and came across some very interesting tracks - BEAR! It's almost January, so finding these tracks came as a bit of a surprise. As you can see, there's no arguing with that ID!
Thank you to this individual who is adding to the knowledge of bears in our area and providing this interesting insight into when bears might go into hibernation. Typically, bears begin hibernating when the first snow begins to fall and food starts becoming scarce.

Bear (above)
Bobcat (below) near Tilly Jane

Devil's Half Acre came back with a mystery after their trip this weekend. Was it a squirrel? A weasel? A squeasel!?

While it is difficult to tell, it is possible that these tracks were left by a weasel. It is a jumping pattern of two prints together, with a large stride and a narrow trail width. With squirrels, one would expect to see a bit wider trail width (picture the way their hind legs come around the outside of the front legs when they hop). However, with weasels one would expect to see one foot slightly in front of the other in the pair, which is not apparent in the photo. What do you think?

The trip to White River enjoyed incredible scenery and took some breathtaking photos despite the lack of carnivore tracks left for them to find.

WILDLIFE CAMERA FINDINGS

A red fox visited the Glade camera! We unexpectedly got a photo of a fox near this location last year. Originally it was thought that the foxes mostly used the alpine-forest interface, but these photos continue to show that they are using high elevation forest areas regularly as well.

A rabbit also visited Glade only once during the set, but spent long enough that we could get quite a few clear photos of it.

Meadows was visited by a marten:

A mouse and a bushy tailed woodrat take turns at the bait at Bear Springs Far... 

Until a weasel shows up and claims it for itself (perhaps with a few challenges from the mouse!) The weasel visited day and night for the duration of the set. 

Additionally at Bear Springs Far, some coyote tracks were found in the area from an individual who came very close but didn't approach the camera close enough for photos.

(Trail pattern below)
 
Don't forget to check out all of the full photo sets on GoogleDocs

THANK YOU to all of our supporters!

Do you enjoy these pictures, and your citizen science work in the snow? The best way to say thank you is to pay it forward with your year-end gift or membership today!

  An anonymous supporter will make an additional donation for every gift or membership of $50 or more received in December, and will double it if we reach our goal! Please give by December 31.
   

Please make a year end gift or become a member today.  


Help us reach our goal and keep these programs going in 2019!