Erin Hauge
Blog by Erin Hauge
The last camera check of 2017 on the Cosumnes River Preserve was foggy and cold but the sun burned the fog off quickly, maybe a bright sign for a mountain lion year ahead!
It’s hard to believe that the next time we’ll be out will be January 2018! This lion camera project began in the Spring of 2014 and since then a strong volunteer base has continued to deploy, monitor and check the cameras – always with a mind to how, when and where wildlife may be traveling and, of course, where a mountain lion might tread. We've learned a lot, from each other and from our field experience and it's always fun and interesting, lion or no lion.
Thank you to the Cosumnes River Preserve and the Bureau of Land Management for their continued support and encouragement. And thank you to our awesome lion camera crew - steadfast, knowledgeable and enthusiastic, all!
And looking ahead to 2018, we're planning to find that lion!
Crew members Rick and Broxton confer on lion camera matters. Erin Hauge
Field Trip to the Pacific Northwest
Snow on Christmas morning. Erin Hauge
It snowed on Christmas Eve, and Christmas day in this Pacific Northwest spot was wrapped in a blanket of soft, quiet white. There are red foxes, coyotes and deer in the area and so that meant a great opportunity to see some good snow tracks!
Red fox on the trail camera before the snow! Photo Courtesy of Winchell
As you might guess, snow tracking is very different from tracking in the dry, sandy or muddy terrain we have on the Preserve. While there are good opportunities to see great track registers in mud and wet sand, snow gives a kind of illumination to the animal’s paws or hooves, and if you can actually trail an animal through the snow for a bit, you get a sense of the animal’s gait and how they’re moving.
This looks like it could be the loping gait of a fox. The animal was moving along the edge of a ditch with the highway just to the right, out of the picture. The fox eventually veered to the right and the tracks disappeared, looking as though this individual probably crossed the highway there.. Erin Hauge
We saw coyote tracks with dragging toenails in powdery snow and the loping gait of a fox traveling along a snowy bank before crossing the road and heading into the forest on the other side. And the slow and deliberate movement of more than one deer as they browsed along a vegetation line at the edge of some trees.
Deer tracks on the left and coyote tracks on the right. Note the toenail drag between the coyote tracks. Erin Hauge
Fox tracks in the snow. Note the prominent top two toenails, and the telltale chevron shape at the bottom of the tracks. Erin Hauge
We also saw some fox scat which is much smaller than coyote in length and diameter. There was some hair and also some very small bones, indicating this fox had recently dined on mouse or vole. Maybe even a small forest bird such as a wren or a sparrow. There was texture that could have been fur or feathers and also some grass and seed remnants.
Fox scat, note the small bones in the segment on the right. Likely from a small rodent or bird. Erin Hauge
We also watched a Pileated woodpecker work her way up a fir tree, sloughing off the bark to look for carpenter ants and other insects on the cambium layer underneath.
Pileated woodpecker hunting for insects under the bark of a fir tree. Erin Hauge
The average temperature during the day has been in the mid-30s. Wildlife must work even harder just to stay fed and warm when living in an area that has low winter temperatures and lots of rain and snow.
While the Cosumnes River Preserve can drop below 30 degrees overnight, it can warm to the 50s and 60s during the winter days. Microclimates there can directly affect wildlife behavior and movement as areas that tend to be even a few degrees warmer would be preferable for sheltering and hunting than the coldest microclimates on the Preserve.
In the Field
Our crew was out the day after Christmas, checking cameras! We work to schedule around holidays so that the cameras get checked no matter what. A day or two can make a huge difference when we get a mountain lion as they can travel many miles in one day. Losing even 12 to 24 hours for baiting a trap can mean the difference between a collared lion and another ghost cat that got past our strategically placed cameras!
Our crew pulled one of the cameras off of a levee deployment as there has just been too much human activity at that location and we've been getting thousands of images every week of heavy equipment and people with only a small number of the pictures being wildlife. We'll remount that camera in a location that's off the main levee road but that will still be likely to capture wildlife movement.
A mountain lion has been seen within the last few years on this levee road and we regularly capture deer, coyotes and bobcats on it so it's clearly a valuable corridor for wild movement.
We're seeing bobcats on almost all the cameras at this time of year which is a good sign! We're currently working to keep track of where we're seeing them so we can start to follow movements and behavior of this species throughout the year.
We'll remain vigilant and positive as we move in to the New Year. For lions - better understanding and management strategies that can help lions, livestock and humans live on the landscape.
Crew members Drew and Richard just finishing up a camera installation. Erin Hauge
Mountain Lion 411
In Washington state - Over the last year or so, Vashon Island residents and the public were following the travels of a young male mountain lion who had bravely made the swim from the mainland to the island as he was dispersing from his birth family. He was seen throughout the island and was preying mainly on deer. He eventually killed some livestock. Efforts were made by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) to increase public awareness and understanding of living with lions. He was shot and killed this year as a final management solution after WDFW tried to work with island residents to change their livestock protection practices to include strategies for large predators like mountain lions. Many residents did what they could to keep their livestock safe from the lion and killing him was not the preferred solution, but in the end, he paid for his pioneering swim across the Sound with his life.
The Vashon Nature Center is now sharing a great document that was produced in collaboration with scientists, wildlife experts, farmers and ranchers. It offers great information on the most current strategies and actions we can take to protect livestock and pets from mountain lions and other large predators. You can view it here: http://vashonnaturecenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Active_Livestock_Management_Guide_2017.pdf
Meet the Crew
Our amazing crew is out in the field looking for mountain lions and other wildlife rain or shine!
Meet Christina Brunsvold, CRP Volunteer Naturalist, Citizen Scientist, Amateur Drone Operator
Crew member Christina Brunsvold
We asked Christina, What do you like best about being on the mountain lion camera crew?
"I like being able to contribute to the project and working with the friendly members on the MLS. Seeing different areas of the preserve that are not open to the public is an added bonus too! I hope to see a mountain lion and study the movement of the different animals on the preserve and how we can help them thrive in their environment. Every week we see different patterns and wildlife on the cameras!"
Mystery Photo
Take a look at these photos - mountain lion?
Long tail... Photo Courtesy of Winchell
Mountain lion-like walk... Photo Courtesy of Winchell
At first glance, this animal appears to conform to mountain lion proportions. Large-looking body, small head in comparison to thick body, long tail, appears to be a tawny color in this night shot.
Here’s the trick – compare the animal to the scale of objects in the surroundings. The animal is walking on a road that’s about 12 feet wide. And just behind the cat is a log that’s about 12 inches in diameter on the other side of the road.
Taking in to consideration these factors of scale, we can say this is a large domestic cat.
When seen in proportion with the whole image, this is clearly a large domestic cat walking on a road. Photo Courtesy of Winchell
Large domestic cat walking down the road! Photo Courtesy of Winchell
Camera Critter Captures
Bobcat. Photo Courtesy of Bureau of Land Management
Coyote! Photo Courtesy of Bureau of Land Management
Buck coming in to view. Photo Courtesy of Bureau of Land Management
Two skunks, maybe a mom and kit. Photo Courtesy of Bureau of Land Management
Erin Hauge has been a volunteer naturalist at the Cosumnes River Preserve since 2014. She enjoys staffing the Visitor Center and interacting with the many visitors who stop at the Preserve to learn about the area and take in its quiet waterways, scenic landscapes and accessible hiking trails. She joined the Mountain Lion Camera Project in 2014, then under the direction of the Bureau of Land Management and the Department of Fish and Wildlife. In 2015, the project went to all volunteer capacity. Erin became the team leader, and currently directs a committed and exceptional crew on the continuing mission to capture a mountain lion on a Preserve trail camera with valuable oversight and support from the Bureau of Land Management. Erin is a Certified California Naturalist and is currently earning certification as a Field Ecologist.