Eufaula NWR on Facebook

How I love social media. I really do. Sure, some people use it for bad things, but I like it for its “bringing people together” capabilities. While we all might be behind a computer screen, having access to pictures, text, video, and many types of communication applications at your fingertips is so cool, and can really united people. I grew up with computers just starting to be placed in our classrooms during the 90′s. We usually had 1 computer per classroom, and we had “computer class” in which we sat at our old Apple computers in the single computer lab learning to type “The quick brown fox…” blah, blah, blah. Fast forward almost 20 years, and here I am blogging pictures which maybe you’ll read on your tablet while on a flight, on your smartphone while waiting for a doctors appointment, or on your laptop while watching tv tonight. It’s cool, and I love it. I’m truly a Millenial!

SO, why am I blabbing on and on about all of this? Well, I want my dear blogging audience to follow me on Facebook now! I am moderating our refuge page (Eufaula NWR on Facebook!), so click there.. then “like” the page, please! And while you’re at it, you should look up other government agency Facebook pages…other refuges, national parks, state parks, etc. It’s a cool way to “connect” even though you may be thousands of miles away.

Greetings, from the entrance to our 7 mile wildlife drive. Open 1.5 hours pre and post daylight, 365 days a year!

 

I’ve been camera trapping, as usual, and doing odd jobs while I’m waiting for my background investigation to clear, and for the waterfowl hunts to begin in another week. Tomorrow I’m taking a hunter safety course, which will be interesting. I’ve never taken one before. I don’t really have plans to hunt while I’m here (but, maybe?), but I think it’s a good idea to have a solid understanding of state law when it comes to hunting regulation, as I will be running waterfowl hunts through out the winter months.

I’m really enjoying life here in southeastern Alabama. Here are some images and brief narrative. I’m hoping to do some solid blogging soon!  

“Scent wick” in the foreground with doe estrus on it. These are used to apply scent to lure animals into a trap set, whether it be camera or other. There are a variety of scents used from urine to anal glands to perfume even! In this case, I wanted to see if I could get an interested buck to appear. No luck, but I DID capture a bobcat (Lynx rufus) passing through. He or she was disinterested in deer scent.

Another visitor to my set. I have another, lesser quality picture, that indicates THIS animal was drawn in by the scent of doe. This being the better image, is the one I decided to share. Gray foxes (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) are quite common here. I’ve seen 1 or 2, and cam trapped them about the same over the past 3 weeks. Beautiful animals.

Common buckeye butterfly (Junonia coenia) see in our Upland Unit, right off the side of the wildlife drive. These medium sized butterflies are very common, very beautiful, and you can’t help but take a good picture of them.

Pied-billed grebes (Podilymbus podiceps), seen November 2nd, on our Houston Unit.

I’ve now seen 2 timber rattlesnakes (Crotalus horridus), and unfortunately both have been hit by cars in the road. Yes, they are venomous, but they will not seek confrontation out. THIS particular snake was alive when I slowed my truck in the road. I was going to drag it off the road with a iron rake, but noticed it was obviously hurt. It coiled into a strike/defensive position, and rattled at me. Can’t blame it. I regretfully turned around and did a mercy run-over, as there was no fixing his issues. Just like turtles in NY, people AIM for these creatures when they see them in the road. Why? I do not know.

Enjoy your weekend, where ever you are in this beautiful country!

2 new camera trapped species!

Life in Eufaula, Alabama is just fine, and I’m really enjoying it! The birding is great, the weather has been great, my dog is loving exploring with me, and the food is fantastic!

Of course you know I brought my camera traps with me (Cuddeback Attack Flash and an IR Bushnell Trophy Cam), as I do where ever I move to. I’ve been here about 2 weeks, and I’ve gotten 2 new species for my bucket list. Enjoy!

Addie knows something lives just beyond her reach…but what is it?

A nine-banded armadillo! Just behind it, is a hole that it dug out to scoot under the fence, much to Addie’s frustration. This is a new species for me!

Gray fox. I first “trapped” these in the Outer Banks of NC, and then also in Cobleskill, NY.

Another new species! A fox squirrel. These are found in the Southern Tier/Finger Lakes of NY, but I’ve never seen them.

Fox squirrel

Fox squirrel

Nine-banded armadillo

Gray squirrel

Stay tuned for more! There are MANY more interesting critters here that I’m hoping to catch on camera!

Lately lackadaisical

I've certainly been lackadaisical lately, and I'm sorry (especially to myself) for not keeping up with this blog. I'm 10 days from graduation, still unemployed, and trying to figure out my life...I've been very busy.

Throughout the semester, of course I've been camera trapping. I've kept the cams close, because I can't spend time wandering the woods looking for good "sets". This picture was taken within 25 yards of my backdoor. My landlord last summer was doing some drainage digging back there, which left some trenches. I found this board, and laid it across a trench. This is the most interesting picture I've gotten so far.

Please tell me what you think is going on, I have my own thoughts that I'll share later.

PS: It appears as though I've lost ALL my pictures on my blog. I don't know how or why, and I'm pretty upset about it. Any thoughts as to why?

I just can't win

Cuddeback, you are the bane of my camera-trapping life. Sometimes the camera doesn't work, and for no apparent reason. Other times, it's hypersensitive, and takes pictures of nothing.

Lately I've been lucky, and it's taking pictures, even though it's so cold out. My last post I shared how overexposed the images are though, because of the snow bounce-back.

Eastern cottontail

So I tried to cover the flash partially with thick, opaque tape. Well, that toned things down, but still gave me less-than-ideal images as well.

Eastern cottontail

Sigh.


By the way, yes those ARE deer legs poking out of the snow! A friend of mine had saved them from last fall's harvest, wanting to create some kind of gun rack or something out of them. That didn't happen, so he donated them to my camera-trapping cause.

Stale chunks o' bread

This winter has sucked in the Northeast for camera trapping, in my opinion. It's been frigid, which really takes a toll on the batteries, and we've been dumped on with snow! Feet and feet of snow! So, if I actually had had cameras out during December-January-and the beginning of February, they may have gotten covered over, or it would be inconvenient to check on them. And, the animals don't move around as much!

An Eastern cottontail...blinded by the flash!

Well in recent weeks, I've stuck my two cameras (a Bushnell Trophy Cam and a Cuddeback Attack) in the woods right behind my house. I've had all the wild canids that call NY home, bobcat, fisher, cottontails, squirrels, an owl, a hawk, other littler birds too. And it's easy to get to.

The Cuddeback Attack's flash is so bright, it just can not take pictures in the snow, unless I cover up the flash somehow, so I don't have any pictures that are worth sharing. You can see in the picture at left how washed out it is. It is taking pictures though, so that's a plus! (it doesn't always take pictures...)

But, my trusty Bushnell pulled through with some nice pictures. I threw out some crusty, stale bread...which the woodland creatures seemed to enjoy.

By the way, the date and time is not correct. Rookie mistake: changed the batteries and didn't reset the clock!

One of the first Eastern chipmunks I've seen this season! Chippies do not hang out above the snow, and are one of NY's true hibernators. BUT, with slightly milder temps, longer days... they somehow know that it's time to wake up!

Two Eastern cottontails enjoy some bread too!

Blue Jays

And finally, a spindly-tailed red squirrel. I wonder if someone took a grab at him!

 It's odd to me that I haven't seen any of the usual scavengers around lately, either by picture or by tracks in this snow. Raccoons, opossum, striped skunks, and even porcupine love a free meal.

Finally, here's one last picture I will share from the Cuddeback. It's REALLY too bad the snow was so bright, but did I catch the first mating pair of Ruffed Grouse for the season?

A visit from a Grouse

As I have mentioned in previous entries, I was working on a group project within my Mammalogy course which we dubbed "The Fisher Project". The project, in a nutshell, was that we had access to beautiful private land, a GPS collar funded by that private landowner, and the support of our local state biologists and professor to try and live-trap a fisher. We'd learn all about REAL science, put into action. Research design, protocol writing, learning how to program fixes on this collar. We ALMOST had it together, except no damn fisher. None! We had 3 locations: 1 on this private property, 1 on the property I live on, and then a 3rd private property. All have history of fishers. In fact, the day before we set the trap at my house, I had a fisher on camera trap.

So, since the final write-up is due next week in class, we all bailed on the project (to be picked up later), so that we could actually write something and get a grade for it. Disappointing, but realistic.

The last time I checked the camera at my house, I got a nice picture of a Ruffed Grouse (Bonasa umbellus). He is quite close to the camera, which is a flash camera, so it's a little overexposed. I also included a picture which shows an Eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus). Nothing too exciting, but I wanted to show a set up of our live-trap from the side. It's just basically a "hav-a-hart" trap, but the brand we used is Tomahawk.

Anyway, the Ruffed Grouse picture is pretty neat, and I wanted to share! Check this link out for other Ruffed Grouse entries!

Ruffed Grouse - Schoharie, NY

Eastern Cottontail - Schoharie, NY

Camera trap catch-up

The past 2 weeks have been so totally insane out-of-control hectic, it aint even funny. Work, a death in the family, a trip to Massachusetts for a black bear field study I’m involved with, and FINALLY getting to go back to my home in Cobleskill after weeks away…one good thing to come out of all of that, is that I’ve left my camera trap alone and unbothered…

Since I haven’t shared any camera trap images lately, I think I’ll share the best of the past 2 weeks, and let the photos speak for themselves.

A woodchuck "selfie" - Latham, NY

Striped skunk

Woodchuck cleaning out the barn?

 

Eastern cottontail "selfie" - Latham, NY



Red fox - Latham, NY

American Crow "selfie"...in flight?! - Latham, NY

Red fox bringing home a meal? - Latham, NY

Gray squirrel and an American Crow - Latham, NY

 

Fisher - Cobleskill, NY

Virginia opossum - Cobleskill, NY

Two gray squirrels - Cobleskill, NY

White-tailed deer...young buck! - Cobleskill, NY

Family of 4 raccoons - Cobleskill, NY

American Crows - Cobleskill, NY

 

Eastern cottontail - Cobleskill, NY

My SECOND experience with taxidermy: part I.

Back in February, for my first experience with taxidermy, I had to prepare a museum specimen mount of a European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) as a project for my ornithology course I’m currently in. I did not grow up in a hunting household, so I was not desensitized to blood and gore as a child. I’m not ANTI hunting, I just don’t partake in it. So cutting open the Starling and removing all it’s innards was a challenge. I was faced with doing another taxidermy project…or “something else”. The something else was a project that I would have to come up with, and it would have to equal the amount of time spent preparing a bird mount. Plus a written paper. I mentally could not handle that at the time of the semester, trying to be creative and come up with a really GOOD project to rival beautiful birds mounted by other students. And, I was morbidly (well maybe not morbidly) interested in pushing myself to cut into another bird.

By the way, I should mention again and clarify how SUNY Cobleskill comes in possession of these birds. European Starlings are an invasive species that were brought over from…Europe, go figure. Having no natural predators here, their populations exploded and they often compete with and out-compete other native birds for food, shelter, etc. It’s not a good thing. Although they are pretty to look at, many consider their large flocks to be a nuisance. A lot of noise, and a lot of poop.

 

For this second taxidermy project that I completed, I was fortunate enough to work on a Barred Owl (Strix varia). Other birds I could have chosen from included: falcons, hawks, waterfowl, songbirds, and other owls. I chose the Barred because he is so handsome. I have fond memories as a child listening to them sing “Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you- alllllllllll?” from the trees. Listen here. And more recently I was very fortunate to get one landing in front of my camera trap- if only for a few moments.

They are a very common Owl, but because they are nocturnal, we don’t get to often observe them. Anytime I’m given the chance to handle a wild animal- dead or alive- I take the opportunity. So this Owl likely was hit by a car, or hit a glass window, or something like that. He was not hunted and killed by me or anyone, for the purpose of this project. And that goes for the rest of the birds that I could have chosen from. Many of these birds are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (1918), which is federal protection.

 

The Act prohibits, without a specific permit:
-pursuit,
-hunting,
-taking,
-capturing,
-killing,
-attempting any of the aforementioned,
-possessing any part of a migratory bird or it’s egg,
-selling/offer for sale,
-purchasing/offering to purchase,
-shipping/delivering for shipment,
-transporting/delivering for transport,
-or any other cause to be carried or transported

 

of migratory birds as listed here: Birds Protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

 

Permits can be issued in specific cases for: scientific research, captive propagation, incidental taking, or education. SUNY Cobleskill has the correct permits in place to allow the collection of protected species, and for students to learn from them. The way I look at it, these birds, who likely died by the indirect cause of humans, will not have died in vain if students like myself can learn from them post mortem.

Alright, enough of the boring and onto a few pictures!

My chosen Barred Owl, back and front PRE-taxidermy.

 

The Owls have a ‘zygodactyl’ toe arrangement: 2 toes in the front, 2 toes in the back. They also have the special ability to rotate their fourth digit to the front. This helps the owl perch, hold its food, and grab its prey.

For now, that’s all I can share. The next entry will include the first cut into the bird, skinning it, and cleaning the skin. It’s an arduous process, but well worth the effort. Stay tuned!

The King of the Forest

What comes to mind when you think of the King of New York’s forest?

Bobcat?
Black bear?
White-tailed deer?
Wild Turkey?

Noooooope.

Ruffed Grouse caught on camera trap in Naples, NY.

For me, it’s the Ruffed Grouse (Bonasa umbellus). This sturdy, charismatic little upland game bird runs the woods. This past March I stumbled across some fresh Grouse tracks in the snow. These were tracks I’d never seen before, and I’m glad to have added him to my “list”. He struts around, feeding and protecting his territory. He perches and “drums” from a specially chosen log.

Just about a year ago, the Wildlife Society student chapter I was involved with at Finger Lakes Community College, had set out camera traps. We ended up getting a Ruffed Grouse all “ruffed” up, but because it was the group of us, I don’t count it for my person collection of camera-trapped species.

For the past 5ish months, I’ve had my Cuddeback Attack camera set up on this log in my backyard. It’s yielded raccoons, Crows, coyotes, fisher, opossum, squirrels, etc etc. So, imagine my surprise when I checked my camera the other day, and saw a Grouse visiting!

Unfortunately, he was not drumming. Or she. But, it was pecking around at rotten trout eggs I had thrown out there over the winter. At the fish hatchery at the college, there was a bucket of “dead” eggs that had not taken to being spawned. I took them, thinking they would be excellent critter bait. No one was really interested, except the Grouse!

 

 

This bird is the epitome of the term “cryptically colored”. I have had the experience of stepping off-trail once for a …break… and almost losing it because I just about stepped on one of these. They blend into the forest floor SO well, and their tactic is to sit still and then burst out of hiding at the last moment. Can you say…heart attack inducing?

They’ve been known to be very interested in their own reflection, because their little bird brain perceives the reflection to be competition. I’m thinking about going to the dollar store and getting a makeup mirror and attaching somehow to the tree my camera is on. I think it would make for some AWESOME pictures if this Grouse comes back.

For now though, I'll leave you with this video of the King.

 

 

A Bluebird Saturday

A Bluebird Saturday walk with Addie

As of Friday, I began my spring break!

I’m not going anywhere totally glamorous with surf, sand, and cocktails, but I traveled back to the Finger Lakes to spend the week at my parents house. When I left Cobleskill, it was dumping snow. I think we had 6″ by 10am from overnight, which made for annoying packing and treacherous travel. I eventually drove out of it, and the further West I came, the nicer the weather.

Yesterday morning it was a balmy 45 degrees, and I took my pup for a walk. It was a truly Bluebird Day. Clear blue skies, and the sun felt like a spring sun.

I don’t want to quite divulge yet what kind of fun things I’m doing this week, and trust me- they are FUN!, so I’ll share yet another different camera trap setup I came up with for the week I’m out of town. I left a Cuddeback Attack camera set up in my yard in Schoharie, and I’ll be checking it when I come back next weekend.

My last creative setup yielded some great pictures of a fisher climbing a tree, although the set was short lived (Fisher destroyed it)! I wanted to come up with another “hanging” something or other to lure in the crittters. I don’t like throwing scraps on the ground for a few reasons: the Crows immediately come and steal them all, and then linger. My batteries get worn down, and I end up with hundreds of pictures of them. Also, sometimes the Crows carry off bits and pieces of whatever I throw down, and drop it elsewhere. I’ve pulled chunks of stuff out of my puppy’s mouth, and I don’t like that. My roommate also uses cameras, and threw down cooked chicken bones. I’ve always been cautioned to not let my dog have cooked bones (they can splinter) and that holds true for wild animals as well. Ok, so I didn’t have any scraps to put out, so instead I used just straight scent lure.

Fisher food lures

Scent lure is either is used to LURE in an animal, imagine that, but does not provide a reward, as bait does. Scent lures have different bases. They can be a food lure- something that a target animal would eat. For example, often bear lures are sweet in nature, or black licorice smelling. There are hormone driven lures, like deer urine used during the rut season. And then there’s another type: a curiosity lure. I guess the term “curiosity” lure can be applied to the first two I mentioned, but this one is usually REALLY stinky. It’s often ground up glands from certain animals. Like beaver castor, for example, are ground up beaver castor glands. Trappers will often use this to scent their traps and beavers will come in to check it out and defend their territory.

Ok so I used fisher food lure this time. They were from two different companies, but both local to New York. These lures smell DISGUSTING, as they’re made up of some kind of meat base. Fishers are carnivores, and they almost, if not completely, rely on meat as a food source.

Here’s how I set it up:

Supplies used for this set: aluminum wire, cotton pads, an old film canister.

I took about a 3 foot length of wire, and wound it around the cotton pads.

Then I threaded the wire through the film canister, so I could pull the cotton up into it. This will protect the cotton and scent from the weather.

Before I pulled the cotton into the canister, I slathered it with the scent lures.

Here's my 'scent capsule' hung up in a tree.

I'm hoping that the motion of this set and the smell of it will lure in fisher and MAYBE even a bobcat.

And that’s it! I hope that this works. I like the idea of hanging stuff up off the ground. The scent can carry further and like I said, animals can’t carry it off easily.