Notes from the Field
Subject: Forest Carnivore Study Update - 3/21/03
From: Roger Christopherson - Wildlife Biologist
Hi
all, Another 2 weeks of forest carnivore inventory work has passed since
the last update and operations continue to run smoothly. We are now
at the half-way point with the second round of cameras being installed
at various sites. Every day is an adventure and we've witnessed some
very interesting situations along the way. For example, the other day
part of the crew filmed in real time a pine marten diligently gnawing
away at one of the bait stations. A few days later, other team members
observed and photographed in real time a short-tailed weasel foraging
on some carrion near another bait station. The data is really beginning
to roll in now, adding to the intensity and challenge of keeping on
top of things.
Here's
a brief summary and photos of what we've detected so far. To date I've
examined 395 photographic slides from 13 individual camera stations.
From that 187 were spotted skunk, 114 pine marten, 5 short-tailed weasel,
6 deer, 22 cougar, 2 mice, 1 Stellar's jay, 4 northern flying squirrel,
22 unidentifiable (primarily due to a foggy lense) and 32 no animal
observed in the frame. Bear in mind these are not necessarily individual
animals and says little about absolute abundance. However, we can say
something about relative abundance, whereas site A is x times more productive
relative to site B. We can also say something about distribution, whereas
pine martens appear widely distributed within the park complex and thus
far have been documented at 7 of 13 sample sites. Until next time...enjoy!
Cheers,
Roger and crew
