Confirming the presence and local distribution of porcupine (Erithizon dorsatum) on the White Memorial Foundation property, Litchfield and Morris, Litchfield County, USA. -- Update I

Peculiar gnawing patterns observed on a salt-treated pine stake,
could be evidence of porcupine but we'll see!
photo by James Fischer

Setting the Scene:  Remote-Triggered Infrared Game Camera image of a salt-treated pine stake
 to serve as an attractant for animals that crave salt during the summer months,
 including porcupine, white-tailed deer, and squirrel species.
photo by James Fischer

A porcupine was observed near Teal Pond July 18, 2011 (Wildlife Monitor blog post).  This observation corresponds with other porcupine evidence observed earlier this year, which is our first observation of this species for the White Memorial Foundation property (Wildlife Monitor blog post).  We have been placing salt-treated pine stakes throughout the vicinity of these observations since late-March.  Marcus Johansson and Amanda Downey helped replace the stakes on July 28 & 29 with fresh stakes, which has occurred approximately monthly.  This insures that the amount of salt on the stakes is fairly consistent from month to month, since the salt can be leached out by precipitation and several different species that are also attracted to salt during the summer.  We observed some peculiar chewing on several of these stakes over the past several months (Wildlife Monitor blog post).  Notably, we observed this same peculiar gnawing pattern on the stake that was closest to the locale of the direct observation of the porcupine (see image).  This same stake has already been chewed on within the past week since it was replaced with a fresh salt-treated stake!  Therefore, we have selected this stake as a site for the use of a remote-triggered infrared game camera (see image).  We'll post any images that are recorded by this game camera, so check back often!

Click on the labels below to review all of our Wildlife Monitor published posts associated with this project. (i.e. porcupine, Five Ponds, etc.)

Porcupine Sighted Near Teal Pond

Kyle Courtney is on our maintenance crew and he observed a porcupine while he was bicycling on the trails around Teal Pond!  Kyle observed the porcupine on June 18, 2011 at approximately 4:15 p.m.  This is the first direct observation of a live porcupine recorded on the property!  This past winter we observed several signs near Teal Pond that indicated a porcupine lived on the property during the winter months.  Connecticut's porcupine population resides in the northwest and northeastern corners.  The White Memorial Foundation property is located on the edge of Connecticut's porcupine geographic range.  We have an ongoing experiment that has placed salt treated wooden stakes at regular intervals throughout the Five Pond region to observe porcupine chew marks on the sticks.  Porcupines have a strong salt drive from April to August and we wanted to use this behavior in our favor so initialized this project to indicate where the porcupine resided on the property this summer.  To date, the salt treated wooden stakes have not yielded clear evidence of a porcupine residing on the property this summer.  Therefore, Kyle's observation is an important one.

When we heard this news, we had to run to see if we could find the animal for ourselves.  Olivia Riccio, Becca Solnit, and I performed several straight line transects through the region looking up into every tree for our porcupine.  Although the weather was quite warm and humid, Becca and Olivia showed some true grit.  After two hours of tromping over logs, rocks, and through swamps, we didn't find our animal.  But we have not given up, yet!