#tws2013

http://wildlifesociety.org/

Here I go again! I'm sitting in the Albany International Airport awaiting my flight to Chicago then to Milwaukee! I'm attending the 2013 National Wildlife Society Conference in Wisconsin this coming week. I've been looking forward to attending this conference for months, especially since I found out in June that I had been accepted to present a poster on black bear work I have been involved with for the past 3 years. I consider myself quite fortunate to have been connected with people at Finger Lakes Community College and also who are facilitating the National Science Foundation grant that FLCC administrates: the Community College Undergraduate Research Inititative.

I came into FLCC just as the CCURI grant was awarded (Finger Lakes Community College Earns $3.35 Million Grant) and my professor/advisor (John at Backyard Beasts) is also a co-principal investigator of the grant. I began studying in John's Black Bear Management class at FLCC, and learning about this interesting and understudied type of marking and behaviors that black bears have been observed creating. I began reading everything I could about black bears, and eventually John suggested presenting our class's work at a local student science conference (Rochester Academy of Science). I put together a 12(ish) minute long oral presentation, and started on a "quest" of sorts. I didn't realize at the time that in a few short years, I would be applying and getting accepted to national conferences with this topic. Since that first presentation, I've presented at: the Finger Lakes Institute Research Conference, the Northeastern Natural History Conference, the State University of NY Undergraduate Research Symposium, CCURI's own 1st national conference, and the National Conference of Undergraduate Research. It's amazing to me.

I am just so grateful to John, and Jim Hewlett (the brilliant man who wrote the grant, and who is now it's executive director) for all they are doing for URs like myself. There are countless others who have made this thing possible for me and other students, and I give you all a shout out as well!

So off I go! If you're at the TWS conference this week, perhaps we'll run into eachother.

 

 

John and I at the Quabbin Reservoir in Massachusetts this past summer, posing next to a bear-scratched and bitten red pine.

Travel, travel, and more travel!

As an FLCC student, I often got amazing

opportunities to work “in the field”

with live wildlife. Photo credit: John Van Niel

As a student at Finger Lakes Community College, I was very fortunate to be able to participate in an undergraduate research study about black bear marking behaviors.

Coincidentally, a professor at FLCC, Jim Hewlett, wrote a grant to the National Science Foundation several years ago. In I believe 2011, FLCC was granted approximately $3.5 million dollars to start up the Community College Undergraduate Research Initiative.

This was VERY exciting news for FLCC, but the grant has touched students at community colleges across the country. There are the 5 Original Regional Partners, 26 other Partners, and 4 New Regional Collaborators from New York to Hawaii, from Washington State to the Florida Keys. Check out the CCURI Partner Page to learn all about what kind of research CCURI students are participating in!

I’ve been able to present my study of these black bear behaviors several times over the past 2 years. I started out with local conferences: the 38th Rochester Academy of Science Paper Session, the 7th Annual Finger Lakes Research Conference, and the 3rd Annual State University of New York’s Undergraduate Research Symposium. Then I attended my first regional conference, the Northeastern Natural History Conference. I was receiving great feedback, people were interested in what I was learning about, and I felt I have a valid topic to share with other scientists.

This year I applied to, and was accepted to, the National Conference of Undergraduate Research (NCUR) in La Crosse, Wisconsin. I also was invited to attend our grant, CCURI’s, first national conference which was held in Bethesda, Maryland.

Learning about bears was always fun for me, so it amazes me that I just returned from 2 national conferences, and actually while I was in Wisconsin, I was applying for another one! I hope to present at the National Wildlife Society Conference being held in Milwaukee this fall.

My study poster, which I use when presenting.

Attending these conferences, whether there are 150 people like there was at the Finger Lakes Research Conference, or 3,500 people like at NCUR, is always exciting. I love to meet people. I also love sharing what I’ve been learning, as well as learning about what other students are up to across New York State, the region, and the country!



Presenting at Montgomery Community College in Maryland. March 2013. Photo credit: Michael Blocker



Presenting at the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse. April 2013. Photo credit: Melissa Miller

 

CCURI and FLCC representatives at NCUR!
Melissa Miller (FLCC student), Michael McIntyre (FLCC student),
Dr. Beth VanWinkle (CCURI Project Director), and myself (FLCC alumni).

I know this isn’t a very exciting wildlife entry, I just wanted to share what I’m up to when I’m NOT in the field playing with bear cubs or camera traps! It’s exciting to be involved with something “bigger than myself”. I can not thank enough the CCURI team: Jim, Beth, Heather, and of course John. What you do, plus all of the other “staff” at other colleges, are doing, are amazing and progressive things for those of us who got our start at the humble community college.

(PLUS...I got to meet Trailblazer, and some of his amazing students!)

CCURI and NCUR

I know, that's a lot of letters. I'm in a bit of a lull with camera trapping and other fun projects, so I thought I'd share these exciting upcoming events with the Blog World.

Myself and a male black bear in Addison, NY
February 2012. Photo credit: John Van Niel

While I was a student at Finger Lakes Community College in Western, NY I was able to participate in a truly unique course titled "Black Bear Management". For my entire life I have been infatuated with black bears. I will admit that up until 3 years ago, my infatuation was totally based on looks. I was shallow. Bears of all sorts are so darn cute!

But since participating in this class, I've grown to love them for what's inside. And what they do. And how they do it! Black bears are relatively common in NY. They are not found at an even dispersement across the state, and you are not able to hunt them just everywhere yet. But, they are conspicuous and pretty darn cool. So when they ARE around, you know it.

The one part of BBM that I want to share briefly is this project of studying a particular marking behavior that black bears do. If you'd like more information on the specifics, see here and here.

Through a grant that jim Hewlett, a faculty member at FLCC wrote, the Community College Undergraduate Research Initiative through the National Science Foundation was born. CCURI has been influencing undergrads across the nation for the past 2 years, and I was lucky enough to attend the homebase college. CCURI funded not only the class, but funded a trip for my class to attend an area in Massachusetts where these marking behaviors were being documented by a couple of researchers. After that trip, the professor of the course, John, was so excited about what we were learning that he urged us to put a presentation together to share it with others. I ended up being the only student left that following semester (Fall 2011) because everyone else had graduated. That's the problem with community colleges...high rate of turnover! Since that summer, I've presented at the:

·         38^th Rochester Academy of Science Paper Session, Monroe Community College, Henrietta, New York, October 29, 2011

·         7^th Annual Finger Lakes Research Conference. Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, New York, November 19,2011 (Awarded Best Student Poster)

·         3^rd Annual State University of New York’s Undergraduate Research Symposium, Empire State Plaza, Albany, New York, February 19, 2012



·         Northeastern Natural History Conference, OnCenter, Syracuse, New York, April 16, 2012



From left to right: Barb Dagata, the SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher,

Courtney Stein, and myself at the SUNY Undergraduate Research Syposium.

February 2012 - Photo credit: Beth Van Winkle 

And NOW I'm excited to share that I was asked to attend CCURI's very own national conference this coming March in Washington, DC! I will not only be presenting my poster, but I will be speaking to a group of students about the struggles and triumphs I've experienced as an undergraduate researcher in a community college. Even though I am no longer at FLCC, those 2 years were the best of my life so far and that is largely because of the opportunities I was presented as a student.

Also, back in November, I applied for the National Conference of Undergraduate Research (NCUR) which is being held in La Crosse, WI. I, along with 2 other FLCC students have been accepted to present our work. Melissa is presenting on work she's done in the caribbean monitoring coral reef degradation, and Michael is presenting on methods of river otter scat preservation for future DNA testing. We are all honored and excited to rub elbows with other undergraduates at this prestigous event!

 

I have one possibly two more events coming up this year that I will be presenting at. One has not been announced yet, and so I'm going to jinx myself and share that...just yet. The other is the National Wildlife Society Conference being held this October in Milwaukee, WI.

 

I have a lot of exciting things coming up, and I'm very thankful to have these opportunities available to me.

Black bears in the Berkshires

Bear crossing sign on Route 2 between
North Adams and Charlemont, MA

On Saturday, 10/27/2012, I drove to Charlemont, Massachusetts for a day trip. Without telling too much of the backstory, I met Nick and Valerie Wisniewski of Walnut Hill Tracking & Nature Center in the summer of 2011 through a class I was taking at the time at Finger Lakes Community College. If you’re interested how I got into tracking black bears, please check out my previous blog entries over at Blogger:


-Back to blogging
-Thank you, Finger Lakes Institute
-2012 SUNY Undergraduate Research Symposium
-2012 Northeast Natural History Conference

(and on a side note, I’m in the process of applying to a conference in Wisconsin and Washington DC to present these findings!!!).

Anyway, the workshop I took with them was entitled “Black Bears in the Berkshires“. It was $50 for a day in the woods with these experts, learning about my FAVORITE animal, the black bear (Ursus americanus). Nick and Valerie have been keeping tabs on this location we travelled to, which was on Mohawk Trail State Forest land. The bears have been using this land extensively for years.

I was interested in taking this workshop because these people are a wealth of knowledge. And I’m a sponge. AND it was only a 2 hour 30 minute drive! So close for such a great opportunity.

So without getting too technical, I’ll share photos of what we saw and explain briefly what they are.

'Twas a foggy morning in the mountains, but a lovely day in the woods!

Nick showing us a bear bite on
this small birch tree.

We learned about a handful of types of markings that bears leave behind. There are varying thoughts of WHY they do this, but Nick and Val (and I) agree that they’re trying to communicate something with eachother. The markings are too deliberate to have no purpose. Bears are famous for packing on the pounds through out the summer and into the fall. And then they hole up somewhere cozy for the winter months, and must rely on those fats stores to get them through the winter. Female bears even give birth in the den, so her fat stores must support hungry baby mouths as well as herself! 

I’m going to try out a metaphor, and I hope it works. All wild animals must be constantly foraging, hunting, and planning ahead for their next meal. They don’t get a bowl of kibble, they don’t call out for take-out. So all burning of energy must be focused and “budgeted”. Wild animals don’t waste a lot of their time playing or doing other “expensive” activities that will burn up important calories without replacing them. This marking that the bears do has seemingly nothing to do with stuffing their faces. They bite, claw, and rub on trees so often that the trees can die from all the activity. But perhaps they are telling eachother something? Like: “Hey sexy man bear, I’m a pretty girl bear looking for you!”, “Don’t come in this area. I’m big and scary, and this is my land!”, “There is REALLY good food here, check it out!”, “How about those Mets?”…well maybe not the last one.

 

A fresh bite on this birch, evident by the orangey cambium showing through the bark.
 

BTW, yes bears DO **** in the woods!



Marking on a birch tree.

Many wild animals have “interdigital scent glands”, or stinky feet. Every step they take, they’re leaving behind a “foot print” of scent.

We can’t see it, and we definitely can’t smell it.

But for anyone who has a dog, and taken them on a walk before, you know that Fido’s nose is to the ground snarfling around learning about who was there before. So this scratching is a visual marker to other bears as well as a chemical, or scent marker as well.

The photo at left is on a beech tree. And if you aren’t aware, beech trees often yield a large crop of beech nuts. This is like filet mignon to a bear. A concentrated food source (they can literally sit in the tree on or the ground without moving) with high protein fruits. Win win! The marks on the beech have a different intent, or actually no intent at all. They are merely incidental of the bear trying to climb. They look different, I think we can all agree, than the marks on the birch. Those were long slashes, and these on the beech are small little grip marks in the bark.

This was a great day, and again I urge all you outdoors enthusiasts to check Walnut Hill Tracking & Nature Center out. They offer great programming, and are wonderful naturalists. I can’t wait to get back to MA this winter and do a winter tracking workshop!

 

Hugging a bear tree: the NEXT best thing to hugging a bear :)

 

 

 

Warning: Bears

Let me start by telling you all (unfortunately) that I have not had an experience with a grizzly or black bear yet here. I haven't even seen one from a distance! I'm torn between wanting one and not...as grizzlies are something I'm not used to. I feel quite comfortable and confident roaming the woods in NY, and if I should come across a black bear, we'll part our seperate ways amicably.


Grizzlies, I learned in my "Bear Aware" training, are ruthless. They are quick to defend territory, young, prime feeding spots, and will also actively hunt you. Also, the cherry on top, is that they can run up to 35mph so I've heard. We're required to take a 12 gauge shotgun out with us when working in the field, and we are only to shoot to kill- no warning shots.



So, that being said I wanted to share just a couple of pictures of things I've seen around here that confirms the bears are around.

Isn't this pin cool? I got it for completing the course.

Fun fact: Alaska is the only state that is home to all 3 North American bears. Grizzly (same as brown and Kodiak bears), black bears, and the largest: polar bears!

First, this is something that I always carry on me. I think it's more of a mental health thing than actually a life-saver...but it brings peace of mind. The shotgun is not always handy...

The second time I was out at the Funny River Weir, I noticed this salmon (probably a chinook/king) that was not there the night before. It's head was eaten off...which is common for bears (among other species) to do when there is an abundance of food. They can be picky, because the brain is SO protein rich. I don't know who did this...but I would not be surprised if it was a bear.

And this lovely stuff is grizzly scat. It's old, probably from last fall...and really just hair/bones that couldn't get digested. This is literally 2 steps out of the "office" out there at the weir, which is just a canvas platform tent. So, the grizzlies are around.

This is a short entry, I know, but I wanted to share this part of my job in more detail. It's kind of scary, and it's always in the back of my mind...

Nags Head Beach & Another Evening at ARNWR

To start our day, we took a stroll along the beach combing...and it was a GORGEOUS, warm morning!

Good Morning, Atlantic Ocean!

Black-backed Gull sp. (Larus)

Black-backed Gull sp. (Larus)

Ring-billed Gull (?)

Today's adventure centered around Nags Head Woods, which is owned by The Nature Conservancy. It's a 1,000+ acre chunk of land that has a wide range of habitats that includes forested dunes, ponds, marshes, and other wetlands. Resident critters include a variety of amphibians, resident and migratory birds, wetland mammals, reptiles, and during the summer months- I'm sure insects GALORE! We saw quite a variety today- and got some awesome pictures. AND my #1 bucket list critter was checked off today! As I wrote about last week, I was jonesing to see a nutria (or coypu)...and my wish was granted!

Nutria - Coypu (Myocastor coypus)

Nutria - Coypu (Myocastor coypus)

Nutria - Coypu (Myocastor coypus)

Nutria - Coypu (Myocastor coypus)

Turtle species

Turtle species

Green anole (Anolis carolinensis)

Green anole (Anolis carolinensis)

Green anole (Anolis carolinensis)

Brown anole (Anolis sagrei)

Brown anole (Anolis sagrei)

Brown anole (Anolis sagrei)

After lunch and a nap, we headed back to Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge for another sunset drive...hoping for some of the Big 3 (Black bear, bobcat, red wolf)! While on our drive around the refuge, we came across this pile of scat. It was literally a PILE! To me, at first glance, it looked like horse poop...but something felt very "bear" about us. We weren't sure if horses were allowed in the refuge or not for trail riding, because the sheer mass of this scat seemed like it could belond to a horse.

But the composition of it was just decomposing, compacted leaves. There were some "nuggets" (as described by Mady), and logs. I referred to my Elbroch mammal signs book, and it seemed that maybe this scat could be consistent with bears.

Photo credit: Mady Alfieri

So, as a good environmental/wildlife student...I bagged it and will be taking back to NY for some further discussion with faculty at school. I always have rubber gloves and baggies in the car just for this reason!

We found "our" bear back in its spot, that we saw it in last night. I want to believe this is a male bear for several reasons: sheer SIZE, and lack of cubs. This time of year, sexually mature females should have cubs. Up North, in NY, I would think that MAYBE this bear could be a female without cubs because of the winter weather perhaps. Or not having gained enough weight to support the cubs. But here, and even there this winter, it's been so mild...adverse conditions probably haven't really affected the bears and their young.

Look at the SIZE of this bear!

Fantastic day 3. Tomorrow: Pea Island and Cape Hatteras National Seashore!

Lastly...our visitor the gray fox was confirmed with this picture!