Do you try and live a sustainable lifestyle? Do you like to welcome wildlife to your yard? Some of the things that make your lifestyle more sustainable may be benefitting your wildlife neighbors, making your yard more welcoming!
The phrase stuck in a rut describes a “blah” feeling we endure when our life is monotonous, unchanging and lacking in excitement. Summer is over, the days are getting shorter, and you may be feeling like you’re stuck in a rut. Did you know that deer all across our state have fallen in a rut too? Their experience is very different, defined by fights and excitement, rather than boredom.
The Students Discover project partners researchers from the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and Kenan fellow teachers across the state in an unique collaboration to scale citizen science projects to teachers across the state, nation, and even world. eMammal is used as a hands-on, critical-thinking approach in the classroom to satisfy state and national educational standards while allowing students to participate in important biodiversity research.
In sorting through our new camera trap data from Bluff Mountain, we found a Northern Raccoon chasing up a tree to go after its prey. With a familiar black mask and ringed tail, Raccoons are clever omnivores that are spending their days foraging for food before they hole up in a den for long periods of time during winter.
A recent study from eMammal found that citizen science volunteers are really good at identifying North American mammals from camera trap photos, with over 90% of the identifications correct. However, there are three species where people routinely get stumped, the canids, or members of the dog family. These include the red fox, grey fox, and coyote. It’s easy to see where people get confused as these species can look very similar at a glance.
Our staff and volunteers have been hard at work setting up cameras, collecting data, and refreshing batteries to bring you a glimpse of our North Carolina wildlife.
Last summer I was going fishing as part of an inland fisheries class with North Carolina State University’s (NCSU) Wildlife Summer Camp. While I was walking around the pond to secure a section of the bank to fish, I stumbled upon a baby white-tailed deer, which was curled into a ball near the pond bank. It didn’t move or make a sound. In fact, I reached down and scooped it into my arms before my teacher, a deer researcher at NCSU, and classmates caught up to me. Because we were part of a class, we had appropriate permits to handle wildlife (don’t try this at home).
This project is run by the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and is focused on collecting camera-trap data from anyone who owns their own camera trap and wishes to survey their yard, town or adjacent natural area. It is open to participation from any volunteers owning a Bushnell or Reconyx brand camera. Go to http://goo.gl/forms/AnWE6syJtr to sign up!
