Small Mammal Inventory -- Apple Hill Lower Field

Nicole Morin helps to install a pit-fall trap array targeting
Southern Bog Lemming and other small mammals that inhabit wet meadows.
Photo by James Fischer

We installed a small pit-fall trap array in the Apple Hill Lower Field to target the small mammals inhabiting shrubby/herbaceous inland wetland found along the south end of the field.  The soils in the upland field were frozen while the soils closer to the wetland were not.  We encountered a few problems with this array and so our efforts did not yield any captures.  But it was a great first attempt for the season.  Trapping will continue throughout the year in a variety of habitats.

Aldo Leopold Inspired Conservation and Museum



Aldo Leopold inspired us to host a pop-up museum and conversation about conservation at our recent Adult Sleep-In Event.  We created a Shack, like Aldo Leopold's Shack, complete with taxidermy and other household items that you would find in Aldo's shack.  Check out the website that we created to highlight all of the activities.  http://wmccleopoldshack.blogspot.com/


Small Mammal Inventory State Permit Approved

Eastern Chipmunk (Tamias striatus)
Photo by Robert Scholl

I am pleased to announce the state of CT, DEEP, Bureau of Natural Resources has approved our permit for inventorying small mammals at White Memorial for the 2012 season.  The goal of this project is to inventory the small mammal species and to explore their habitat associations.  Click here to read previous posts.  If you are interested in volunteering with this project, please contact James Fischer, WMCC Research Director.  

Mystery Pellet at Bird Feeder

Tom Gaynor, a White Memorial friend,
found this mysterious item at his bird feeder the other day.
Can you guess what it is and who left it?

Several bird species have a unique way of digesting their food.  When a bird swallows large objects or lots of food at one sitting the food needs to be processed in the crop, which is an organ that grinds the food into smaller parts.  Then the food enters the stomach, where digestive juices containing acids and enzymes break the food into smaller more useful pieces.  The portion of the food that is not as digestible and remains large gets pushed back up into an organ before the stomach that is also considered part of digestive system called the proventriculus.  The proventriculus compacts the indigestible pieces into a compact ball referred to as a pellet.  The pellet is regurgitated out the mouth and onto the ground.  Pellets are cool things because when we dissect the pellet we can learn what the animal has eaten.  For instance, owls and other birds of prey eat small mammals and birds.  By dissecting the pellet and identifying the skull, fur, and feathers in the pellet we can learn what species the bird ate but it also indicates what species can be found in the area where the bird hunts. Pretty cool!

Take a closer look at the pellet photographed above.  This pellet has small stones and vegetative material in it.  So, what bird would eat small stones and vegetation.  A pretty hungry one, you might think!  Some birds have adapted tough beaks to break open the seeds but other birds have not.  The stones aid in the crushing of food in the crop and some vegetation like tough seeds need a little bit more grinding to extract the food inside that tough seed coat.  Or sometimes these stones could also help break down even tougher food items like bones.  So, what are your clues so far - the bird is eating mostly vegetation and seeds, but does not have a tough enough bill to break open seeds like sunflower seeds so it needs to also eat small stones.

Let's look at the size of the pellet next.  This pellet measures about 3 centimeters long and about 1.5 cm wide.  So that would have be to a relatively larger bird to make a pellet that size.  So, not a house finch, sparrow, or goldfinch.  Probably not a Northern Cardinal either.  Any guesses yet, we've learned a lot so far...


This pellet is the calling card of an American Crow!  Crows have highly variable diet and can eat both vegetable and meat, which makes them an omnivore.  The stones help them break down the seeds and bones that they eat.  Take a closer look around your bird feeder next time to see what evidence you find to tell you what is visiting it.  Learning what you can there will help you figure things out when you observe something on your next venture into the woods.

Spotted Salamander moving on Groundhog Day?!

This Spotted Salamander was observed on February 2, 2012 near
No Mans Land Swamp on Stoddard Rd. (a.k.a. Morris Hill Rd.), Morris, CT
by David and Gabby Peters.  An early date for observing these guys, indeed!

Geez it's warm outside!  Our winter has been a mild one so far with little snow and mild winter temperatures.  It looks more like the land of eternal spring rather than the winter of discontent!  Our first harbinger of spring was a Spotted Salamander observed by one of White Memorial's neighbors on February 2, 2012.  Rather early for these guys, but so far it is the only report. We are not observing anything that suggests migratory movements back to their breeding habitats, yet.  This guy suggests that we probably need to finish our Winter Track Monitoring and getting ready for the Vernal Pool Monitoring program.  Stay tuned for further details about the next training date!