Hi All!
Tony unloaded the camera images yesterday and we got some great shots! Looks like we have some good carnivore action here at Ft. McCoy (Bear, Wolf, Fisher, Coyote). Most of these pics were taken at the Gusto (oil-based) scent stations. Enjoy!

AEDC update

Hello y'all!

Bill and I have been working hard and in spite of the 105 degree heat index we have managed to get all but two of the pitfall arrays completed!  Our most recent trapping session had much smaller capture number across the board and even fewer ticks.  Dragging all three arrays, we only got around 10 ticks total. 

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Smartest snake EVER!

Babies!

We have no shortage of turkeys at AEDC

The scent lure is very popular and we are drawing everything from skunks, raccoons, possums, and deer to the cameras.  Hopefully the heat will let up a little and we can have an even better session next time!

A less than average day on our most productive array!

Bill cracked the seal!

November-Sierra-Foxtrot group,
This is the Ft. McCoy site reporting. We have had an exciting start to this trap phase. While attempting to gain access to one of our sites, we noticed some bear tracks in the mud (we didn't open this array due to flooding).
As if that wasn't enough excitement, today, we got our first official lizard (5 lined skink) and it had 12 ticks attached!!!! Hope everyone is having a great trap phase, send me your addresses so I can get materials for the veg samplers out to you.
Over and out,
isis

Beatle Invasion?

Random stuff from Ft. McCoy- While dragging/flagging yesterday, we noticed this beetle in a spider web. The spider had called it day, but the beetle was still trying to escape to no avail.

Ft. McCoy Phase 3

Hi Gang!
It has been a bit drier this trap phase, but we are still pulling ticks off of everything. These photos are of a Short-tailed shrew with ticks on his legs. Also, because we are interested in knowing if our shrews are recaptures, we have instituted the "butt cut". To administer a butt cut, simply place your shrew head first into a screw top tube with back end sticking out. Take a scissors, and gently snip/shave off the hair above the tail (rump area). We do not know how fast the hair grows back, but we hope that this will help us to identify recaptures at least through the next trap phase. Another new addition to our site this time are the refugia that Russ suggested in the pitfalls. We used vitamin bottles/peanut butter containers/nut containers, and were not able to initially place refugia in all of them. The animals seem to prefer being in them, if they are present.
Hope all is well with everyone!

Website updates

The project webpage continues to evolve. Recent additions include:

• the (renamed) Minions page is now public http://wildlifehealth.tennessee.edu/lyme_gradient/team2.htm
• there is now a Fieldsites page, with a map and links to habitat photos etc: http://wildlifehealth.tennessee.edu/lyme_gradient/sites.htm
• there is a new Training page, which links to photos and videos relating to techniques we are learning in the field: http://wildlifehealth.tennessee.edu/lyme_gradient/training.htm

As a general guideline, everyone should feel free to use this Blog for day-to-day chat, progress reports, and fun/interesting photos. We can all post directly to this Blog (email me for the username and password if you don't have them).

Meanwhile, the website is for material that we want on more-permanent, more-public display. Material for the website needs to be emailed to me for posting, as the website is on a secure UTK server.

SRS Early July Update

Hello all! We just got back from our trapping session down south and we have some things to report. First, our third array is done!!! FINALLY!!!  We had a great 7 man crew to help finish it up on one of the hottest days we've had down there. The third site, Long Tin, is very different from our other two sites and has been thinned out by the forest service within the past year, I'm guessing. I'm not sure which was worse, the sun or the fields of poison ivy we were in... I think Krissy and Russ would say the poison ivy :( We are very happy to have it completed! One of our payoffs was catching a ground skink with a tick on it's arm!! That is our second ground skink with a tick out of the dozens we have caught without ticks and it was predicted ticks wouldn't be on those little guys. Very cool!

Also, we caught our second mouse (a recap) with a tick between it's toes. I know that sounds pretty unbelievable but we have only caught one other mouse with a tick. Normally, we only get 3-6 different mice a trapping session. This time we had 3 recaps that were caught every night and that was it. It was a very poor trapping session with mammals. No mediums, no rats, just 2 shrews and three mice. We are consistently getting shrews with ticks between their toes and on their hind feet.

Here are some pics from the trapping session before this one. We never got our trap dividers (the order was lost) so we constructed THE PLUNGER instead. You can't really tell (it's upside down in the cage) but it's beautifully decorated.

Raccoon processing at AEDC (TN):

'During' and 'after' photos ...

Some more friends from SRS!

 

I'm really excited about the bobcat!

 

Just some pictures I thought were cool from our last trip!