Notes from the Field
Subject: Forest Carnivore Study Update - 4/17/03
From: Roger Christopherson - Wildlife Biologist
Hi
all,
The following is a brief update of the forest carnivore project with
a couple of new photos attached. Your task is to correctly identify
the two photos to species and justify your answer.
To date we have examined 804 photographic slides from 23 separate camera
stations. Of those, 340 were pine marten, 229 spotted skunk, 26 gray
jay,
22 cougar, 6 deer, 5 short-tailed weasel, 5 mouse, 5 Douglas squirrel,
4
northern flying squirrel, 3 Townsend's chipmunk, 2 canids, 1 other felid,
1 Stellar's jay, 29 unknown (due to foggy lens), and 126 frames with
no
animal observed.
Again,
pine marten appears to be widely distributed and have been documented
at 14 of the 23 sites. Spotted skunks appear to be abundant in specific
areas, but patchily distributed and documented at only 4 of 23 sites.
Target species such as wolverine, fisher and lynx have not yet been
documented by the remotely triggered cameras. We are getting close to
the finish line with just a couple of weeks remaining for this year's
field
work. Until next time....be happy!
Roger and crew
