The continued "tail" of the squirrel...

Last week I posted a camera trap image (seen at left) of a stray cat with a strange looking red squirrel in it’s mouth. Red squirrels are mostly…well, red. Of course there are variations, and they’re not ALL truly red. But this was really something, the body appeared (in this picture) to be either naked of fur, or covered in a very light coat of white fur. Strange color variations can occur in all mammals like leucism (lack of pigment in localized areas), melanism (excess of pigment), and albinism (complete lack of pigment: all white/blonde fur, pink skin and eyes). If it was anything, I guessed this squirrel was leucistic through it’s trunk/abdomen area. Other theories were that this was a baby squirrel, it was albino, it had an ectoparasite like mange, it was shaved, and/or fur loss. Having only this grainy, unfocused camera trap picture to go by, we could only guess.

Then, yesterday morning I opened the back door to let the dog out, and there was ANOTHER “white” red squirrel in my backyard, this time alive, and happily feeding on bird seed. I quickly got my camera and started taking pictures.

A side by side of the front and the back of Squirrel #2.

As you can see, he or she appears very healthy and is gorging on black oil sunflower seeds. You can also probably see that this squirrel IS covered in fur, but just a fine downy layer. It was suggested, and I agree, that this squirrel appears to just be missing the guard hairs, but the downy undercoat is still there. If you have a dog or a cat, part their fur and you’ll likely see a color difference in the coat. Longer hairs also are longer and coarser than the fine down.

So, are these squirrels just shedding or molting? It’s the strangest thing.

I stuck my camera trap back out to try and get some footage of them. Here are a few of the images.

 

Then, this morning I sit down at my kitchen table, at which I have a great view of the backyard, and there are TWO of these strange-looking squirrels now! So a total of the strangest looking red squirrels I’ve ever seen, end up in my back yard!

Two “white” red squirrels in my yard, Schoharie, NY

The bar you see in the above picture is part of an old porch swing frame that I use to hang my feeders from.
I’ll leave you with this video of Squirrel #2 yesterday afternoon. Feel free to comment with ideas. I’ve sent pics in to the DEC and am awaiting a response!

 

Flying squirrel video

After the last couple of posts, I decided to go for something a bit more pleasant for ALL, on Christmas Eve.

Minty things seem to please all cats, 

domestic and wild, according to many 

forums I’ve read. SO, I found a catnip 

spray for pets on discount at the local 

farm and garden store, and used up 

the last bit of toothpaste on my set.

I set up my Bushnell Trophy Cam HD at my home in Schoharie about 3 weeks ago, and made a “set” to hopefully lure in bobcat. Well, that didn’t work. All I captured were white-tails, crows, cottontails, and this 1 flying squirrel video. It’s not the best, but if you watch it several times, you’ll get to see him. To make the “set” for bobcat, which is a term that trappers (camera and otherwise) use when describing the area around a trap (camera or otherwise). I used a few things I read bobcats would be interested in. See picture at right.

Over a year ago now, in September 2012, I camera-trapped a bobcat in my backyard. Even though I hung a feather (which is a known visual attractant for bobcats), I think he or she was just passing through and got a picture taken. It’s a great “first” for me, but I want more! Anyway, I’ll ALWAYS take pictures or video of a flying squirrel. They are certainly a favorite of mine. For more information about them, please peruse my other flying squirrel entries.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Blessed 2014!

(by the way…the date and time are WAY off…I changed batteries and forgot to reset it!)

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

House special: Merganser and crab legs



Dr. Michael Losito performing a
necropsy on a Common Merganser
at SUNY Cobleskill.

A few weeks ago, in my Waterfowl Management & Ecology course, our professor performed a necropsy on a Common Merganser (Mergus merganser) so that students could get a good look at internal and external anatomy. We started with external parts, feather groups and names, feet type and toe orientation. Then he cut into the bird, and eventually removed most of it's internal organs. I personally love dissections/necropsies. It's really interesting to especially look at a "fresh", and I use that term relatively, specimen as opposed to something that's been soaking in perservatives and chemicals for who knows how long...

Since I'm always thinking of my camera trap sets, and it was dead already, and pretty mangled, I asked Dr. Losito if I might have the carcass. I explained that it would make great bait to leave in front of my Bushnell Trophy Cam, and he agreed. So, we bagged the Merg' up, and off I went.

In the spring, at this location, I had hung a Wild Turkey drumstick that a friend of mine had given me after he got a spring bird. The way I hung it made for months of entertainment. I'm sure it was smelly, but there was no purchase for critters to rely on to steal it from me. So they were drawn in but couldn't make off with the prize. Fishers especially tried and tried. That Turkey leg is still hanging, but there hasn't been meat on it for quite awhile. I decided to bring this Merg' up to this spot, and hang it in the exact same location.

 

So I put it up with hopes of a fisher and/or bobcat coming through. I just passed the 1 year mark since I captured my first and only bobcat picture almost in the same spot as where my camera is now. Alas, no Mustelids or Felids showed their fuzzy faces to my camera this time.

Instead, I had MANY pictures of the raccoon(s) checking the set out. Not only was there a dangling Merg', but I had also thrown some empty crab legs up there after dinner one night. There was little or no meat left on them, but I figured they'd be stinky enough to bring in some critters. The raccoons seemed quite pleased with the house specials.

 

I love how comfortable this raccoon appears! He or she is just sitting back on its haunches, snacking away on a scrap crab legs.

 

I have used multiple types of baits and lures, and by far the one that works the best is a carcass. Not only is it visual- hanging in the tree- but it is quite stinky and I'm sure it can be sensed from a bit of a distance. Surprisingly, in the past I've gotten many Crows to the set. This round, not a one showed.

 

 

I'm finally getting back into the groove of school, work, personal life, etc. This past weekend I attended the NYS Chapter of The Wildlife Society's fall field meeting. It was held at my alma mater, Finger Lakes Community College. The theme was research, and the struggles associated with it. We had a great panel of experts from varying backgrounds.

 

In a few weeks I am then attending The Wildlife Society's National Conference held in Milwaukee, WI this year. Life is busy, but I'm still blogging...slowly but surely!



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.

 

 

Check these videos out...

I have 3 weeks left in my semester (WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO) so time is short. But I got a few cool videos on my camera trap a few weeks ago, and I figured I'd share them!

The camera is a Bushnell Trophy Cam HD, and this was taken in Schoharie, NY.

I used the following scent lure to see who I could get to respond to it (really was hoping for a bobcat):

 

Fisher

 

 

American Crows (wait til the end...they almost take out my camera!)

 

 

The elusive gray fox...I love these small Canids, and I'm happy to have gotten one in my backyard!

 

 

 Camera-trapping is so addictive! I've said it before, and anyone else who's a 'trapper I'm sure will agree!



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.

1,355 pictures of.....

...pretty much nothing! If you're new to this blog, I'm referring to the previous entry A new camera trap set! in which I wrote was bored with how I have been recently setting up my camera traps. I took a few extra steps to try and lure in the fisher (Martes pennanti).

Although 98% of my pictures were duds, Fisher DID stop by and check out my set for a little bit.

Before I share those pictures though, I wanted to share this little story. Last night (February 26, 2013), I got home from being in class all afternoon, and took my dog out for a walk around the backyard. I live on about 8 acres, but most of that is a very steep wooded hill. It was exactly 6pm (I checked), and it was still a bit light out, or maybe it seemed that way with all of the snow on the ground. Because of the white snow, I could see a ways up into the woods up the hill, almost to my camera trap set. As I'm standing there waiting for the dog to do her business, my camera flashed. It's way up the hill, and just over a small landing that I think used to be a logging road, so I can't directly see it. But the dim lighting in the woods allowed me to see that flash. I froze...and stared into the woods, hoping to see a deer, fisher, bobcat, bear SOMETHING bounding through the snow. Nothing. The flash went off 6 times in all before I went in. I'll admit it- I got spooked haha. SOMETHING had to be up there, right? SOMETHING was setting off my camera, right? I could hardly wait to trudge up the hill today and check. Here's the last picture that was recorded on my camera.

 

Notice anything? No. Neither do I...except that the timestamp is over an HOUR before I noticed the flashes. This was the last picture recorded. Sigh. Cuddeback, you've done it again. I will say that when I checked the camera today, the battery level was at 10%. That's low. But what I don't understand is that the camera was still flashing, but not recording images. From what I understand, the flash mechanism is the more "costly" feature of the camera. It burns a lot of battery.

 

Anyway, I did get a few nice images of a fisher and an Eastern cottontail...just moments apart too.

 

The bag that held the delicious treats of raw chicken scraps and that was doused in Kishel's Weasel Food Scent Lure was tattered and empty.

There were no visible tracks (except red squirrel) because we got 3-4" of heavy, dense snow overnight.

The culprits could have been:

-Raccoon
-Opossum
-Gray fox
-Fisher

I of course was hoping for fisher, although pictures of a gray fox climbing a tree would have been pretty cool too!

 

 

Do you see the culprit up there?

 

That's the fisher-cat alright! Something was waving over the lens of this camera, although I don't know what. I didn't notice anything...and it's in the "perfect" spot, right over the spot where the fisher hung out.

 

 

The bag is not yet pulled up over the branch...seems the fisher was checking the situation out. And this fisher, or maybe I have more than one visiting, does NOT seem to be deterred by the flash whatsoever!

 

 

Here he is, going in for the "kill".

 

And now the bag is out of sight...and so is Fisher. And look who shows up: the Eastern cottontail. Perfect fisher food.

 

Peter Cottontail does not seem concerned that a blood thirsty, voracious carnivore is on the prowl...

 

Literally ONE minute later....Peter is gone (where??) and Fisher is back.

 

And this is my last picture of the fisher. No wonder these guys are considered "fur-bearing" animals. That coat looks so soft and warm. I would LOVE to handle one.

 

So, that's all for now! When I reset this set up, I will reposition my camera a bit so we're looking more directly at the tree. But, I think my effort was not wasted, even though I got 1,347 pictures of "nothing".

 

A new camera trap set!

Things have been slow for me lately. Stressful too. We’re at the 6 week mark of the semester. The newness of it is gone, and we’re having exams, projects are underway, and reading is piled up nightly. That’s why I’m blogging on a Friday night! Crazy college girl here!

It’s been so cold out lately too, that I had pulled my cameras in. It’s not good for the batteries when it’s below freezing. I think they really have to work to push out the flash and capture the images, so the batteries wear down more quickly.

This is the scent lure I used:

Kishel's Weasel Lure

Today though, the temps were above freezing, and seem to be predicted to stay in the mid-high 30′s for the next few days. It’s been awhile since my cameras have stunned me with anything fantastic, so I put a little work into setting up my Cuddeback, instead of just strapping it to a tree.

This set includes 3 pieces: the camera, the bait, and the lure.

The camera is a Cuddeback Attack flash camera. I’ve set it to take an image once disturbed by heat/motion every 5 seconds. I’m not always confident that this camera performs exactly how I want it to, but that’s another story.

The bait is a netted bag full of raw chicken scraps. Last week I bought boneless chicken breasts, and while I was packing them up to freeze, I trimmed off bits of fat and a few gristly bits. Nothing like that goes to waste in THIS house, so they went into the freezer until (today) I could figure out how to use them.

Bag of chicken scraps ready to be hung from a tree branch.

And to be clear about the difference of bait vs. a lure: a bait gives the animal a reward and will encourage it to return to the spot. For example, a pile of cracked corn for deer or turkeys. Scent lure is just an enticing smell of food OR of the species you’re trying to lure in. Often anal or scent glands are harvested from traditionally trapped animals, ground up, and then used for the next round. Beaver castor can sell for more than the actual pelt, FYI.

The lure in this case is the weasel food lure that is seen above. This Kishel’s scent boasts “Not only does our Weasel Lure capture the weasel’s most intense instinct, it actually creates the illusion of a fresh kill!” I can’t really describe what it smells like, other than gross. Weasels will actively hunt for fresh meat, but will scavenge carrion too.

My target critters that I hope to see are generally: carnivores. I wouldn’t mind getting pictures of red and gray foxes, coyote, any weasels, bobcat, or even black bear.     A fisher caught on camera trap in my backyard Schoharie, NY What I’m really specifically targeting though are fishers and bobcats.   There are specific ways to set a trap (whether it be a foot-hold or camera), to lure in specific animals.   Fishers are voracious eaters. They have a very high metabolism, so they must consume frequently, or at least large, high protein meals. So in the winter, when a meal is worth more to a wild animal, a food lure will hopefully work well to bring them in. Although, apparently I’ve had NO issues getting the fisher to visit my backyard!   Bobcats, or cats in general seem to respond to movement lures. I’ve read blogs and trapping forums that suggest hanging a big turkey feather or even a CD from a tree branch to lure the ‘cat in. If you’re a cat owner, you’ve probably played with them by dangling something in front of them, and they respond well. I don’t know why it is, but cats like things like that. So this bag of chicken bits is hung about 4-5 feet off the ground from a branch extending out about 3 feet from the trunk. So hopefully nothing will have the intuition to climb up the tree, reach over, and snag the bad. As a black bear would do if you hung your camp bag up. Notice the yellowish bait bag hanging from the tree. I found this nice little nook to tuck my camera away, I think it camouflages really well!   So I dribbled a little bit of the weasel lure on the bag, dipped a stick into the bottle and stuck that in the snow, and I was on my way. I’m going to try and avoid the area as much as possible, since each time I go up the hill, I’m depositing my scent, and likely my dog’s too. This MAY deter wildlife.   Cross your fingers for me!

Going out on a limb

I have a tendancy to oversensationalize when I'm identifying critters. If I find a mink track, I want it to be a river otter so bad. If I get a blurry, grainy IR fox image...I really want it to be a gray not a red.

In this case, my gut reaction to this camera-trapped image below was that I caught the Common Raven (Corvus corax) perching on a log. Which would be a new species for me.

Then I talked myself out of it, and said "No, couldn't possibly be...it's just a [American] Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)".

I even blogged about it over at my Albany Times Union 'Discovering wildlife' blog...and called it a Crow.

But now looking at it, I'm not so sure.

Here's why I think it's a Raven:

-Size. That looks like a big bird. Granted it's fairly close to the camera, but upon reviewing pictures taken at this site of DEFINITE Crows, I feel like this is a bigger bird than those.

-Bill. Raven's are known for having a much heavier bill than the Crows. Also, there are some feathers on the dorsal (top) bill that extend down the culmen. Am I using that word correctly? The Crows don't seem to have this, as I look at drawings in my Sibley's and Nat Geo books.


I unfortunately don't have any GOOD Crow pictures taken from this same angle. Or at least that I saved. Crows are a dime a dozen, so I tend to delete those pictures, unless something is really cool. I do have this picture though that's at almost the same angle, but on a different brand of camera.

 

This seems to be a Crow. Although it's further away from the camera, it seems to definitely be of a slighter build. Also, it's bill seems a bit more slender and not as thick.

One feature of the Raven that is pointed out in both Sibley's and Nat Geo, is that the Raven has some shaggy /throat breast feathers. Unfortunately in neither of these pictures can you see those feathers. So, I can't use that as identification.

Alright, Bloggers. I fully expect to be supported or called out on my sensationalism. If I'm wrong, and this is just a plain old Crow....I'm ok with that. But if that's a Raven, then I have another bird to add to my camera-trapped list!

Help!