Camera Trap Collection

While I was in Alaska, I just got back to the East Coast about 12 hours ago, I had my Cuddeback Attack Flash set up for most of the time. If you've been following along, you've probably read my complaints that I think this camera is a lemon. It just doesn't work like I believe it should, and how I've come to expect Cuddeback products to perform.

Nonetheless, I was able to get some great shots...and the following are my favorites. Some might be repeats from earlier posts, but I wanted to share them all in one place!

Snowshoe hares

Grizzly bear

Red-backed vole species (unknown)

Porcupine

Snowshoe hare

Moose

Red squirrel

Coyote...talk about timing!!!

And can you believe she was out at that time of day?

The Final of The Big 5: Part 6: Moose

The final chapter of The Big 5 story from Denali National Park & Preserve, is about the moose.

The third and final day of our adventures in the park was a long one. We took the shuttle bus 92 miles into the park, to Kantishna. Our total trip time was 13 hours roundtrip, which was a long day...but totally worth it. We saw so many of Denali's critters and had great viewings of them, the day didn't seem so long.

Myself in Savage River Canyon, Mile 15 of the park road.

After we had reached Kantishna, and turned back to head 92 miles back to the entrance, everyone on the bus kind of quieted down and got comfortable for the ride back. After a few quiet minutes of bumping along the gravel road, someone yelled out "STOP!" scaring me half to death. They had spotted a moose running parallel to us up on a ridge several hundred yards away to our left. I've almost literally tripped over moose and calves outside my cabin at the wildlife refuge, so I wasn't particularly interested in fighting for window space to take faraway pictures of this running moose. But then, our driver turned to Katie and I (we were sitting right behind her), and says "I wonder why that moose is running? They usually don't run unless for good reason...". And this moose was in a flat out gallop. Not a trot, not a lope, a reaching, ground pulling run. Within seconds of her saying this, from the back of the bus we hear "Oh my God, there's a brown bear!".

Well it didn't take much thought to piece together the story. That bear was after that moose. We were just entering back into the treeline, so there were shrubby, bushy spruce, alders, and willows littering the landscape, making it difficult to keep the chase in view. We were also running a bit late, as we had had too many of these "Nat Geo" moments that day. Our driver apologized to us that we couldn't wait it out to see where they met, and also I don't know if she was ok with letting a bus of 40 people watch this dramatic scene play out. So, we moved on.

Just as we rounded the corner, the moose burst from the shrubs on our left, and we made a quick stop to let it pass. The following pictures are the only that Katie and I were able to catch.

Photo credit: Katie Boye

I actually was so enamored with this predator-prey scenario and that I didn't waste the time fussing with zoom, focus, aperture, etc etc etc...I wanted it committed to memory.

It was an intense few moments, and I'm glad we got to experience it. The bus seemed to have been split into teams, rooting for the bear or the moose. I'm not sure who I was supporting, but either way someone would have benefited!

The Big 5: Part 1

Over the weekend of July 21-23, my friend Katie and I visited Denali National Park & Preserve. It was a soul-soothing, spiritual, amazing experience. I've been to several National Parks (Acadia in Maine, Glacier in Montana, Rocky Mountain in Colorado among others), but none have really struck me quite like Denali.

As I mentioned in my previous posting, the National Parks Service Rangers and Staff are amazing. Informative, friendly, and truly have the Park's well-being and visitor safety first in mind.

Many visitors go to Denali with The Big 5 in mind: gray wolf (Canis lupus), moose (Alces alces), caribou (Rangifer tarandus), Dall sheep (Ovis dalli), and the almighty brown bear (Ursus arctos). I'm going to use the term "brown bear" even though they are technically the same as grizzly and Kodiak bears, but in DNPP they refer to them as brown bears.

People come to the park with hopes of getting a glimpse of these animals, from a bus, and getting that awesome "Nat Geo" shot.

I entered the park with hopes of seeing all 5, but also with hopes of seeing a wolverine (Gulo gulo), any of the ground squirrels: hoary marmot (Marmota caligata) or arctic ground squirrel (Spermophilus parryii), red fox (Vulpes vulpes), and especially a collared pika (Ochotona collaris). So I had a "Big 10"!

Of the true Big 5, I saw all of them. It was almost too easy, I was so surprised, and maybe we were extremely lucky. Actually, I KNOW we were lucky to see at least one of them

Of the second set of my wish list, I saw the arctic ground squirrels and a red fox. Squirrels fall right after black bear and tie with porcupine for me. I think they're A) adorable, and B) incredibly resourceful and SASSY!

I'm going to keep this entry brief, and follow up in subsequent entries with the story behind each sighting.


First sighting:

A gray wolf.

I'll be honest though, I'm really skeptical about this. When I first saw it, I didn't form an opinion. Everyone was saying wolf, even our bus driver. Then Katie turned to me and asked me for confirmation...and I said:

"Um...I don't know, it looks like a coyote to me. BUT, I have never seen a gray wolf before."

Really profound, right? I went along with wolf, because I didn't want to be the jerk on the bus, ruining everyone's hopes and dreams in this amazing National Park that's known for wolves with saying it's a (common pest to some) coyote.

I later described it to a ranger, and she accurately described back to me a gray wolf, and our recollections matched. Long legged, bushy tail, coloration...etc. I don't know though, I STILL feel like some would call this a 'yote. For my touristy sake, I'll call it a wolf. But I'm interested to hear opinions.

I borrowed this from JVN's blog (Backyard Beasts), and I realize different time of year and state, BUT...that's what a proper gray wolf should look like :)

Photo credit: John Van Niel

Thick, barrel-chested, gorgeous coat, gray/black/white coloring...


BTW, for what it's worth, this animal looked like a coyote to me too:

Red wolf (Canis lupus) at Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, North Carolina

And this is DEFINITELY a red wolf.

Second sighting:

A caribou!

Third sighting:

Brown bear!

Fourth sighting:

Dall sheep!

A moose! (This is an AWESOME story...stay tuned :) )

And that's The Big 5!

Are you impressed? I was, by how close we got to the animals. Keep in mind I took all of these pictures from the shuttle bus. Yes, I have a 36X zoom...but they also came in close.

And I'll share a few pics of my other favorite mammals that I got to see:

Arctic ground squirrel :) How can you not smile at this little guy?

And finally....

A red fox....dressed in a really interesting outfit. I'm doing a bit of poking around and gently harrassing some Alaskan trappers and officials about color phases of the red fox here. More on this later!

After my last depressing entry, I wanted to share fun, happy stories of animals I got to see in the park. A final picture I'll leave you with is probably the most sought after "thing" at DNPP, and the most rarely seen.

Mount McKinley, or Denali.

20,328 feet: tallest peak in North America

I feel honored to have seen it and actually several times. This mountain will get it's own entry eventually as well. Talk about awe-inspiring.



Moose-stang Sally & Co.

As I mentioned in the previous posting, I got to see a new mother moose, and her hours-old calf. The picture in the previous entry of the pair I did not take, but I wanted to share it anyway because of the Cute Factor.

As I mentioned in the last entry, the end of last week was dedicated to learning how to recognize grizzly and black bear behavior, and then how to defend myself. The day I got here I was told that although bears are a threat, the real scary animal here is the moose. Especially a moose with a calf. Apparently they will feel threatened at a much further away distance than a bear, and are considerably faster. I've heard that grizzlies can run up to 35mph. I can only imagine what a longer legged, leaner animal can clock out at. Plus, they are defending their young this time of year. That baby is a BIG investment!

So last Thursday, I'm learning all about learning to avoid large scary animals, what to do, what not to do...etc. Thursday night as I was making dinner, Sally wandered into our cabin area. This was the first time that I had seen her and so close. If I were to guess, probably at 20 yards or less.

Coworker Matt getting some shots of Sally

Sally, that pretty girl!

This picture from my other entry:

Photo credit: Kurt Wadenius

...was taken earlier Thursday. This calf was born THAT day! How cool is that?

I was very excited, as I am about all wildlife encounters, and everyone was telling me to leave Sally alone and remember what I had just learned. I honestly have no intention of messing with critters who outweigh me. People keep telling me to be careful, and that is my goal.... but I had a camera trap that I was itching to put in a good spot. So I waited for Sally to leave the area, and I headed to where she had been browsing to find a spot for my camera.

They eat this hideous stuff...Devil's Club (Fatsia horrida).

In that first picture of Matt I literally walked between that cabin and the brown building and there's some brushy alders and more of this Devil's Club. I didn't see Sally anywhere, so I took a few steps into the brush and looked down...and there was baby. It took me 3.5 seconds to register that I was looking at the lone calf all snuggled down like the white-tail fawns are back home this time of year. And then I ran. I never saw Mama, but I didn't want to. I have never been so terrified in my life, and I don't think I've ever moved so fast back in my life, to the kitchen and stood on the steps hyperventilating telling one of the guys this story. He didn't have any sympathy for me :) but that's ok. Had I been trampled, I would have deserved it. BUT I wasn't and I had an awesome glimpse at an hours-old calf. I unfortunately didn't get any pictures, all I had was the camera trap.

But the moose sign is everywhere here...

I'd be interested in trying to find out if this a front/hind, left/root foot based on sizes and cleave orientation...   :)  

And then it wouldn't be a proper mammal post without a picture of scat. I have a whole blog entry writing itself in my head about the poop I come across here!

Moose scat

I haven't seen the calf since, although Sally made an appearance here over the weekend...but maybe they're on my camera trap that I did eventually get set up in a new spot over a dead snowshoe hare I found. Hopefully I'll have some good pics to post soon!

Mama Moose and Shotgun Shootin'

In this entry I wanted to share with everyone one of our "non paying" residents of the camp I live in. She's a big girl, probably 8' tall, 1000#...and has a kid.

Photo credit: Kurt Wadenius

Moose-stang Sally and baby! Mama was named by Kurt, the wildfire firefighter who lives here...he sees them a lot and snapped this pic on Thursday, the day the calf was born. We have yet to name the baby, but we're all trying to think of something clever!

On Thursday and Friday of last week, I went through a bear behavior and awareness training. Since I'll be working in the bush with fish, the bears (grizzly and black) will often run into us. I learned both lethal, non lethal, and "less lethal" methods of deterring them. Lethal includes shotguns and rifles, and even the cracker shells or rubber bullets that can be loaded into the shotguns (the wrong placement could kill the animal). Non lethal includes: cracker shells, which are shells that detonate like an M80 60 yards out (have to be a good aim and get it between you and the bear...not behind the bear), and rubber bullets.

Rubber bullet and shell

Shotgun shell

Rifle shells

After sitting through a classroom portion, we were introduced to the firearms. I was the only one who had never held or fired a gun before, so I felt a bit out of my element. But, the biologist, Ken, who was instructing us was very patient with me. I feel like I need to defend myself constantly on the use of guns...and it's probably all in my head but I still say it. I didn't grow up with guns in the house, and so I was never exposed to it. I'm not a hunter by nature, too much of a soft-heart, but that doesn't mean that I am against guns.

So the next day, Friday, we went to the shooting range to get used to handling, loading/unloading, and shooting the guns.

Remington 870 shotguns

The targets

I think I did pretty well for my first time shooting and handling a gun. I was able to pull it up, get it in my shoulder, and fire off a round pretty quickly and relatively accurately on the still targets.

This was the moving target that we had to shoot at. It was rigged up on a pulley system, and someone would run with a rope and pull it towards the shooter. To be a designated firearm carrier, one had to get two shots within the "kill zone". It took me about 10 shells, but the last two made their mark. It was VERY empowering and exhilarating.

My still target: not bad if I do say so myself! I kept the poster as a reminder of how serious safety is..and it's pretty bad ass :)

I am probably the LAST person who would want to kill a bear. But grizzlies, and even blacks here, are very aggressive. Quick to defend territory and young. And working with fish out in the bush, we'll likely be coming into contact with them. A grizzly can run up to 35 mph! We were taught to use every resource available of non/less lethal means of deterrent before taking a lethal shot. But it can and does happen. Hopefully not to me though!

And this lovely bruise is what I have to remember my first time shooting a rifle by :)

There's more to the story about the moose, but the internet is aggravating me and it's getting late. More on Sally and baby tomorrow!