Turkey "trivia"

I don’t have much to write about this week, as I’m taking the week off from learning. That’s right- NO learning going on here which started at 4pm Tuesday and will run through Sunday night. Then it’s back at it. I have a camera trap set up on a branch again in the “flying squirrel” tree back at my house in Schoharie. For the holiday week though, I’m in Wayne County visiting my parents.

Photo credit: Art Kirsch (Senior DEC Wildlife Biologist, Region 8) Naples, NY

But, in light of the holiday (Happy Thanksgiving!), I thought I’d share 10 trivias I found around the internet. I’m going to cite a source for each “fact”, so please don’t hold ME to it if they’re incorrect   I do not claim that ANY of them are true, although some might be. I just thought they were fun to share.

1. Ben Franklin (yes, a Founding Father of the USA, no, not a President) didn’t want the Bald Eagle to be our country’s mascot!

“For my own part, I wish the bald eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our country; he is a bird of bad moral character; he does not get his living honestly…like those among men who live by sharping and robbing…he is generally poor, and often very lousy. Besides, he is a rank coward; the little king-bird, not bigger than a sparrow, attacks him boldly and drives him out of the district…For in truth, the turkey is in comparison a much more respectable bird, and withal a true original native of America. Eagles have been found in all countries, but the turkey was peculiar to ours…”- As written in a letter. (LiveScience)

2. Turkeys can blush!

When a turkey becomes frightened, agitated, excited or ill, the exposed skin on its head and neck can change from its usual pale pink or bluish gray color to red, white, or blue. And during mating season, the male turkey’s wattle turns scarlet to reflect his elevated sex hormone levels. The fleshy flap of skin that hangs over the gobbler’s beak is called a snood and also turns bright red when the bird is excited. (LiveScience)

3. Turkeys eat rocks!

A part of the bird’s stomach, called the gizzard, contains tiny stones that the bird has previously swallowed. Also known as gastroliths, these polished stones aid in the breakdown of food for digestion, since birds do not have teeth. (LiveScience)

4. Periscope eyeballs.

A turkeys eyes are located on opposite sides of its head. The position of the eyes allows the animal to see two objects at once, but limits its depth perception. Turkeys have a wide field of vision and by moving their neck, they can gain a 360-degree field of view. (About.com)

5. There is actually a “Turkey Lovers Month”…

According to the National Turkey Federation, 95 percent of Americans surveyed eat turkey during Thanksgiving. They also estimate that about 45 million turkeys are consumed during this time. This translates to about 675 million pounds of turkey. With that being said, one would think that November would be National Turkey Lovers’ Month. The month of June however is dedicated to turkey lovers. (About.com)

6. There once was a turkey SHORTAGE in America!

Wild turkey populations dwindled to fewer than 30,000 birds by the 1930s due to habitat destruction and unregulated shooting. Today, there are roughly 6.4 million wild turkeys. They can be found in every state except Alaska (although while I was in Alaska this summer, a man I met had a flock of wild turkeys on his farm that he brought up from the lower 48!). (10000 Birds)

7. Turkeys can ballroom dance.

The ballroom dance the “turkey trot” was named for the short, jerky steps that turkeys take. (10000 Birds)

8. Turkeys can MOVE!

Turkeys can run at speeds up to 25 mph, and they can fly up to 55 mph. (National Wild Turkey Foundation)

9. The bearded ladies.

Typically male Turkeys sport a “beard”, which is really just a modified feather that hangs from their chest. This is a secondary sexual charasteristic, much like antlers on a deer. This characteristic does not define the sex of animal, but in this case, the beards and antlers are USUALLY expressed on males. This being said, female Turkeys can show a beard, and does can show antlers…rarely, but they can (if they have higher levels of testosterone than ‘normal’)! (This is all me, I knew this!)

AND 10. When you wish upon a…turkey?!

The wishbone that so many of us break on Thanksgiving vying for luck is actually called “furcula” (little fork). Why do they have these bones? The furcula is thought at least in part to store energy during flight during a half wing stroke and then release it back. (Huffington Post)


Hey, have a great Thanksgiving… please be thankful and spread the love!

Two new critters!

I awoke this morning at 4am to get a drink of water, and have been awake since. Panicked thoughts are running through my mind about all of the LARGE life choices I've made in the past several months, and my recent birthday has me slightly closer to the big 3-0 which has definitely fueled a lot of my decisions (and angst).

So I decided to greet the day, and catch up on some school work and blogging.

Yesterday (4/9/2012) even though I had the day off from classes and work, I had to head to the field station to check my cameras and re-scent my sets. I'm in my 9th week of my 12 week study, and I finally, FINALLY got one of my Holy Grail critters...but I'll leave that 'til later in the post.

It was another gorgeous day here in the Finger Lakes- very breezy, but mild and sunny. This week I had a classmate and friend join me on my "chores", Judi- an import from our Mother Land. She's great- sarcastic, funny, so eager to learn our flora and fauna, and I just love her accent.

As I was gathering materials and writing in my journal, she was having a look around where we were parked, and found a bat!

As you can see, we got pretty close to the bat- can you pick it out? Lower left corner of the bat house- yes, that little shadow.

He didn't seem to get the memo on how to properly use the provided bat house, although others must have been in there since the siding was covered in bat scat (guano).

I don't know what to name this little guy. And I mean species, not pet name. I have little experience with bats, just a brief unit on them in a 7 week (BUT PHENOMENAL) wildlife/mammals course. And to be honest, although I'm a mammal-lover, bats don't really pull the cute factor off so well. I have the Peterson's Mammals of North America guide, and so what I THINK this bat is, after a brief flip through the pages, is an LBB- Little Brown Bat. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

So this was an exciting find, new personal species sighting for me. Well, I've seen bats hundreds of times, but...never so close. How cool would it have been if THIS was my new camera-trap species? Last summer at our week long field camp course that's required of students in my program to take, we set a camera up with a dangling eraser hoping the bats would zero in on it and get their picture taken. If memory serves me right, I don't think it worked.

Ok, so onto the Cuddeback pictures! When I first looked at these pictures yesterday at the field station, I felt a little disappointed (even though I got 2 pics of an awesome species!). I feel like activity frequency and diversity is waning as time goes on. But, then I looked at these pictures again and shut my mouth. THEY ARE AWESOME! Of course, if I was to do this project over, there are 101 things I'd do differently, but I have just 3 weeks left of the study and 5 of the semester. So I'll just stick to the protocol and keep plugging away!

Camera A

A wet looking raccoon. I wonder if he was in the water, or just damp from the dew. Cuddeback recently posted on their Facebook page a picture that a customer sent in of 2 raccoons swimming through some swampy water. Well....one was swimming, the other was "piggy-backing".

Camera B

A WTD checking out the scent pad. It's funny how often deer come up for a sniff...as you'll see in the following...

WTD

A blur of a red fox

Another blur of red fox

A gorgeous hen Turkey about to lose a feather! AND in fact, I think Mady and I found this feather while on our "Swamp Stomp"!

Red fox

WTD

And a red fox up very late! I can't believe I got such a nice picture so late in the day for a typically nocturnal/crepuscular animal. And I think this guy or gal is bringing home a snack to the family, perhaps Microtus pennsylvanicus?

Camera C

WTD

Gray squirrel with a mouth full as well!

Camera D

WTD

WTD

Another neat picture of the same red fox from above- this is the one with a mouth full of rodent, just further along the trail. I wonder if this fox really does have a den full of kits somewhere very near by. I wish there was a way for me to differentiate between fox, because at this camera in particular, I've had heavy fox traffic all season.

Here's ANOTHER fox picture even later in the day with a stick in it's mouth?

An angry CAGO chasing off some American Crows! Awesome picture!

AND finally, the soup du jour, grand finale, Holy Grail critter of the post...

Ta-da! Can you see what it is? I was literally flipping when I figured it out...

RIVER OTTERS! In the picture above this one, there's clearly one of them...and in this one, I see 1 probably 2! I know the pictures aren't the best, but IMHO...these are some awesome pictures. I've been quietly questioning why I haven't seen these guys around at all on camera or in person. They were reintroduced to this swamp in particular about 10 years ago, and ARE still here (obviously), but evasive. I'm so glad to be able to check them off my bucket list!

Below are some cropped pictures to help you pick them out...

The otter's head is to the right (see the eye shine?), and then the curved, humped back and ending in the thick tail to the left.

And those are my pictures for week 9! Pretty successful haul I think. I am left with a few questions though:

-Why has it taken this long to get otters?

-Where are all the beaver that I KNOW live here?

-Why haven't I gotten a bear?! I've found 3 different sets of FRESH tracks within eyesight of a camera, AND scat for that matter.

-Where did all the opossums go this week?

What Shat That Scat?

Yesterday our Wildlife Society Club visited one (we have two!) of our field stations, the East Hill Campus in Naples, NY. The point of the trip was to allow students to learn how to use camera traps, specifically the Cuddeback Captures, both IR and incandescent. We dragged along our local camera-trap expert, Dr. JVN.

We had a gorgeous day, there was a slight threat of rain, but it held off! I love this place, I really do. It came into official possession of the college's in the summer of 2010, right as I was coming into the fold at FLCC. The man who donated the land, facilities and assets is with us still, and I've been able to forge a nice relationship with him. He is truly and "old school" conservationist who has lived through the hard times of war, economics, politics, and ecological "stuff". I guess I can say that I am living those hardships as well, but he's of the era that we're learning about now in the classroom.

This property is the perfect representation of land that can be managed and used for multi-purposes...blissfully. He's owned the land for 25 years and shortly after buying it, he constructed hiking and cross country skiing trails, a campground with an A-frame, lean-to, fire pits, and newly added: an outdoor classroom as of last summer! There is a pine plantation, grassy fields, ponds, and all of it is ours :) Oh, did I mention that it's OPEN to the public? Year round? For FREE? His trails can connect you with the Finger Lakes Trail system, and eventually to the Appalachian Trail. So, Mr. Fraley- thank you for the outdoor classroom, generosity, and the laughs (at my expense)!


Now, back to our fun yesterday afternoon!

We had 9 cameras to set out, 7 students, and John...so I got to pick two spots :) I've been so focused on being precise and neat and tidy with setting my cameras lately, since I've been conducting a mini independent study with them, so it was really fun to pick camera sites that "looked good" and set the scent willy-nilly flinging it everywhere or shoving in a hole in the ground.

Judi and Adam set a camera in the background, and are now digging a little "cat hole" to stick the scent in. I took the New York State Trapper Education course this weekend, and am now certified to live trap, if I get my license. I took the course to learn about how trappers draw the animals in to their sets, because I'm pretty much doing the same with my cameras. So it was suggested to dig a hole and put the scent or bait in there to make the animal work a bit more for it. In their case, they want the animal to dance around and step in the trap. In my case, I want their cute little picture :) !!!

Next Dana and John chose this spot because it's a cross of trails. There's a trail coming in from the woods opening out to the mowed lawn we were standing on, so we thought it was a nice travel corridor to set a camera on.

John and Dana checking out the site :)

And here is where I got this entry's hilarious title. I found so many good scats that day! This happens to have been left by a Wild Turkey. I narrowed it down to Ruffed Grouse or Turkey...and was learned on the differences between them. Basically- this is a bit too big for RG.

Next on the list...who shat that? This is from one of our beloved foxes. Immediately I say red fox because that's who I have the most experience with. Until several weeks ago, I'd never seen one, and THAT was in North Carolina (the gray literally walked up to me as I was setting the camera). But, I asked, and John confirmed that YES there's probably an overlap in: size of scat, composition, habitat and so it could belong to a gray, but more likely a red.

On our way up the hill, we found a den or burrow that looked fresh-ish. There wasn't any fresh soil disturbed, but it wasn't completely closed in and plugged up with dead leaves and debris either. John's on this woodchuck kick right now (Woodchuck Love) so he was eager to set a camera on the entrance.

Adam, Judi, John and Dana...anyone home?

Kara setting an IR camera on a chunk of wood close to the entrance. I can't remember if we scented this site or not, but I think not. We wanted to see 'au naturel' activity here..if any.

Further up the hill we found this cool pine tree that was clinging to the top soil with all the strength it had. Again, all of us looking for a "cool" spot, were drawn to this little hidey-hole that some animal may live in, or at least come in to check out. So, Tyler set a camera.

Tree hugger gone too far? I think he's trying to grab the strap from around the tree, while holding the camera in place...

Now THIS scat...this is special scat. We, on good faith, know this belonged to a Mustelid, or loosely: a weasel. The tell-tale shape, twistiness, and composition of hair and little bones screamed weasel to us. When I say weasel, I kind of refer generally to all of those that are from the weasel family in NY. In this area and habitat, we could have: fisher (rare), mink, long-tail, short-tail, and the least (rare). We also have river otter and marten in NY, but not in this region or habitat. So, John thought that this was perhaps a little too small for mink, so maybe I filled in, a long-tailed weasel. Again, with the foxes, there's so much overlap. It's hard to tell.

Same scat again. To describe the habitat, we were in a pine plantation, and this scat (and the one below) was specifically on the berm of a small fire pond. Well, this year I guess we should call it a vernal pool- it was SO low and it's only the beginning of April!

A different scat, but perhaps a little more fresh. It was small, twisty...weasel-y.

Second scat again.

Dana and Adam are setting a camera to get the weasel. The pond berm is to my right in the picture, and in the picture below...

I'm standing on the berm, the pond to my left. Usually that pond is up to the lip of the berm. Not so much this spring...poor salamanders and frogs!

I convinced everyone to stop for a minute so I could set up and get a picture. That's the past yearbook editor and future mom in me. I like to include everyone! Especially now that I'm blogging!

On our way back down the hill, a final shat of the day. This is a beautiful coyote scat! Sorry for the lack of scale, but the pine cones are 4"-6" long.

It was just full of hair, and John explained to us that usually when you find a scat full of hair, it can mean that the animal was just picking a carcass clean. First choice at a fresh kill would be the meaty parts, but later in the season, or a late comer to the party is left with the hairy, boney parts. And that's what I found while pulling this apart- lots of hair and bone fragments.

I LOVE learning about scat, it's almost as cool as the remote cameras to me. Like the cameras, I don't have to 'be there' to learn all this information about the animal. I can come across it later and either look at the pictures, or examine the scat to get an understanding of foods, behaviors, habitats, etc etc etc. And scat is often NOT smelly (although I've heard raccoon scat should be handled with care), and not really gross. Just a lot of cellulose or keratin that the animal can't digest.

Anyway, we'll be letting our cameras soak for two weeks, and then hopefully I'll have all kinds of majestic creatures to share!