#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!)

Week #12: The Final Pics

I should have posted this last week, but I am SO behind in my blogging. I am going crazy right now with wrapping up my time at this college, the semester, life in this town...and starting to think about moving to Alaska. In 20 days. 20 DAYS!

Last week on Monday, April 30th I wrapped up my data collecting for my independent study that's been running for the past 12 weeks at the Muller Field Station. To refresh, this study was funded by a National Science Foundation Grant, the Community College Undergraduate Research Initiative. I was able to purchase 5 Cuddeback camera traps, various scent lures, and other sundry supplies like batteries, gloves, and scent pads. I've been checking the cameras weekly on every Monday since February 6th, 2012. The following are the pictures collected between 4/23 and 4/30.

Camera A

Raccoon

Canada Goose

Camera B

NO pictures for Camera B because I forgot to turn it on after the last time I was there checking the cameras. And wait til later in the post, when I share something cool. Really kicking myself...

Camera C - please note that the time stamps are wrong on these pictures. I'm not sure what happened, but I realize they are incorrect!

White-tailed deer

Red fox

Red fox

Red fox...there must be a den nearby!

Coyote

A male WTD with nubs!

And that's all she wrote! Officially through with collecting data. DONE! It was a wild 12 weeks, so much fun checking the cameras every week waiting to see what I got. I'm honestly surprised that I didn't get: beaver, striped skunk, black bear, or more river otter, mink, and muskrat.

This morning I got a call from Nadia, the K12 Outreach Coordinator at the field station. I've left the cameras up for her to continue to use with school groups that come and visit. She calls me in a frenzy this morning to tell me that we finally got this:

BAM. 3 days after I was "done" collecting data! AND this was on Camera B, the one I neglected to set correctly for the final week! I'm kicking myself. I can't believe this darn bear waited perhaps all 12 weeks before showing his/her face. I have been seeing bear sign for WEEKS at the field station, within eyesight of one of my camera sets! So frustrating, but VERY cool that it finally happened!



Now it's data time. I've been looking over and over at the data I collected which I've stuck into a spreadsheet in Excel. I'm also writing my final paper and drawing conclusions and "stuff". It's tedious, frustrating, but I'm very excited to see the final results.

Week #11 of Independent Study Results

Since the beginning of February I've had 4 Cuddeback Attack IR cameras mounted and "soaking", as some will say, capturing any and all living creatures wandering in front of the sets. Next week on Monday, I will be pulling the cameras, and collecting the final pictures. It's bittersweet. I love using the cameras for personal enjoyment, and to see who's prowling around when I'm not there. But this study has taken alot of work and "thinking" time. I still have half of the work left to do, all of the compilation, analysis, paperwriting, and presenting of the findings to do during the busiest time of the semester.

I hope I'm afforded the opportunity to present before my time at this college is up! Though, I think I may have opportunity to continue this type of work at SUNY Cobleskill, where I'm heading next.

Anyway, last Sunday (April 22, 2012) we had a freak spring storm. A Nor'easter blew up from somewhere, and dumped 1-10" of wet snow on the Finger Lakes region. Where I live, North/central Finger Lakes, we got probably 3-4". I woke up to a winter wonderland and a beautiful emergency text notifcation from the college: SNOW DAY! I don't care how old you are, a snow day is a gift. A friend of mine a bit more South than me, and in higher elevation got 8" of wet HEAVY snow. Even though school was cancelled, my cameras were waiting for me still at the field station, which was south and higher in elevation...

Muller Field Station after spring snowstorm 4/23/2012

...I expected the worst, but I drive an AWD SUV, so I drove down. Suprisingly, I think most of it melted off by the time I got there late in the afternoon, even though it was still snowing a bit. Our weather was SO screwy this spring. Last Friday, 2-3 days before this storm, it was in the 80's and sunny and breezy...our poor fruit farmers!

Camera A

As I approached the first camera, I held my breath. I haven't been to check the cameras in 2 weeks. Last week I was at the 2012 Northeastern Natural History Conference so I asked a classmate of mine if  he wouldn't mind checking them for me, as he has in the past. So, thanks to Joe! I was holding my breath, as I always do upon approach, because of A) hoping my camera is still there, B) it's still hanging as I left it, and C) still running.  Check, check, check. As you can see, behind the camera there is quite a bit of standing water behind the tree it's mounted on. Also, the scent pad was swollen with water and was quite disgusting. I wonder if/how this impacted any movements of the critters who live nearby? I have many pictures and video of medium sized mammals like raccoon and opossum coming from behind the camera, or going behind the camera, but I'm not sure if they will in 5" of water. The following are the better pictures collected.



Camera A yielded 16 pictures from the past 2 weeks.

Gray squirrel

White-tailed deer

Raccoon

Raccoon

Camera B

Camera B looked ok, no standing water here...just some slushy snow. This camera had a whopping 39 images waiting for me! I rarely get 20 images on a camera a week, which is what would have been on there for just one week, and especially on this camera. It's not "hot", if you know what I mean.... I've been hoping and dreaming for a black bear, which I have repeatedly and recently found sign of here at the field station. It is bear country, they are out of the dens, and I'm using stinky-smelly scent, so the conditions should be right, right? I'd even take another river otter or 2! I just got my first 3 weeks ago, which was awesome. To check them out, visit this entry: Two New Critters!

I have to be honest, I didn't get either of those animals...BUT I did get a new species! Not a mammal, so it doesn't directly pertain to my study, but wicked cool to watch through the lens of a camera.

BAM!

A Great Blue Heron, isn't it gorgeous? One of my favorite birds. I'd love to handle one someday, I'm sure it would be a trip, but I'd love to do it!

And Joe, thanks Joe for the help!

GBH vocalizing? Or swallowing something?

In this video, this GBH is clearly fishing! I'm thinking bullhead?

One white-tail? Just watch the following video. This is why I LOVE the video feature of the Attack's!

Love the yearlings!

Camera C

Lot's of snow here! Not sure why, and there's some standing water as well behind the camera. This camera isn't really that "hot" usually, and this time over 2 weeks yielded only 12 pictures...typical.

I was again hopeful that I got the elusive local Ursid or Lontra canadensis...but nope.

Raccoon

Opossum

A soggy raccoon...was it in the water? Or was it raining...I wonder.

Soggy raccoon

Camera D

The final camera, 'D', is usually my hot spot. but this time: 9 images. 9! I couldn't believe it. Usually I get a ton of red foxes trotting back and forth, and these past two weeks, not that many. The grass in front of the camera I noticed is getting higher, maybe that's blocking a bit of the action on the trail. The mown trail is what I'm standing on, and about 7 feet wide.

I'm really interested in getting all of this data on the spreadsheet and starting to play with it, and watching for trends. Where have my fox friends gone?

White-tail deer

The only red fox I got!

My friend and future roomie Mady, who came to hang out for the day since we didn't have class! Her job was to carry my journal for me :)

That's it for the camera pics. Kind of lame for 2 weeks worth of images. I wonder where everyone is? Like I said earlier, it has been warmer than usual, up until the Nor'easter over the weekend. This week it has been cold and rainy, so we'll see next week when I pull the cameras.

I'm backed up about 3 or 4 entries, and I wanted to cram one in before this weekend. I'm heading off to the high peaks region of the Adirondack Mountains for a canoeing and camping trip. This is my fulfillment for a P.E. credit that I need for my degree, and of course I jumped at the chance. The trip is being led by 2 of my favorite professors, and I'm going with a bunch of fun friends who are also conservation majors. We'll be canoeing down the Raquette River, of which I've led trips of kids down this very stretch of river myself, for about 10 miles, and then tenting out. I just made a venison and bear meat stew for Saturday night, and I can't wait to eat it! I've never had bear...and I feel it's fitting to eat it while canoeing and camping in the backcountry.

Lastly, I just went and visited my new college that I'm transferring to this fall: the State University of New York at Cobleskill yesterday to get some administrative stuff figured out. I'm so excited about my fall schedule: 19 credits, but very much looking forward to it.

-Statistics I (3)

-Geographic Information Systems (3)

-Wetlands Assesment Dilineation (3)

-Woody Plant Materials (3)

-Wildlife Policy & Regulation Compliance (1)

-Spreadsheet & Database Applications (3)

-Environmental Law & Regulation (3)

! ! !

Northeast Natural History Conference 2012

Tomorrow I'm attending the Northeast Natural History Conference at the OnCenter in Syracuse, NY! Not only am I attending, but I'm presenting the study I've been involved with entitled "Black Bear Trails and Sign" that was started by a class I was in last year.

We have this 2 semester class, Black Bear Management I, II, that is taught by John and Sasha. The course focuses on the natural history, ecology, and management of black bears in general, and more specifically in our region of NY. John and Sasha also bring a research component into our classroom/in the field for us to work on. In my class, we studied this interested series of markings that black bears create. So, over the past year I've been talking to various people around the country (including KB! at Rompin' Rollin' Rockies), reading a ton, we visited some people in MA last summer who are studying the same thing, and now I've been presenting what I've learned. So far I've presented at:

-Rochester Academy of Science
-Finger Lakes Research Conference
-State University of New York Undergraduate Research Symposium

The other presentations were really exciting, slightly nerve-wracking, and alot of fun...but I'm most excited about tomorrow's event.

For more info: NENHC 2012

I feel like my study will best fit in with this crowd, and I'm really looking forward to meeting others studying natual history in the NE! Below is the poster that I created for this conference.

Also this week, Tuesday night actually, I'll be doing a local public presentation at the Muller Field Station. That one will be alot of fun too, because the audience will be people living in fairly new bear country...and let's be honest: bears are really cool animals. I'm hoping for a full house!

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?