Journal

Today was a big day chasing squirrels at our Atigan river site. So far catching the squirrels we need has proven difficult. with 100 traps out, we captured 3 male squirrels which are needed for Cory William's primary experiment this summer. It was a warm and beautiful day nonetheless. Temps were in the 50s with little wind.

Atigan River
The Atigan River flowing north out of the Brooks range

carrying traps
Loading up the squirrel traps to take out to our study site

tundra swans
A pair of tundra swans flew over our heads and landed nearby.

wolf tracks
After dinner tonight a wolf sauntered by in front of our dinning hall. Earlier in the day I spotted a red fox. These are wolf and fox prints along the river. Both are predators of the ground squirrels.

Aufeis
A group of us went on a late night hike (11pm) and had to cross some deep, wet snow. though soaked, fun was had by all.

Details
Author
Andre Wille
Date
Location
Atigan River
Expedition
Arctic Ground Squirrel Studies 2014
Weather Summary
Sunny and warm!
Temperature
55
Wind Speed
5

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Comments

Tue, 06/03/2014 - 13:57

Anonymous

What are you eating up there? i bet arctic wolves are pretty tasty! :)

Tue, 06/03/2014 - 13:58

Anonymous

"The lake is still pretty frozen for the polar plunge challenge!" - The whole class wants you to do it!

Tue, 06/03/2014 - 14:05

Anonymous

After seeing wolves tracks, do you expect to see any time soon? And how do you know they are not fox tracks?

Tue, 06/03/2014 - 14:08

Anonymous

What is your hypothesis relative to weight gain/loss during summer months?

Tue, 06/03/2014 - 14:09

Anonymous

How does weight and size play into the health condition of the squirrel?

Tue, 06/03/2014 - 14:09

Anonymous

How many squirrel do you catch a day

Tue, 06/03/2014 - 14:11

Anonymous

Were you happy with the amount of squirrels you caught? Did it supply adequate information for your studies?

Tue, 06/03/2014 - 14:11

Anonymous

What do you expect your results to be?

Tue, 06/03/2014 - 14:12

Andre Wille

I'm not sure about the arctic wolves. Grey wolves are in the area. I willcheck if any arctic wolves have been seen here.

Tue, 06/03/2014 - 14:15

Andre Wille

The food has been awesome. I wonder what they have cooking for tonight?We were out all day trapping squirrels an I'm pretty hungry!

Tue, 06/03/2014 - 14:21

Andre Wille

I've been looking for a wolf. I think I saw one in the distance butcouldn't get my binoculars on him quick enough to be sure. I saw a red
fox today, they are way smaller in size and print. The wolf prints were
like a big husky print.

Tue, 06/03/2014 - 14:22

Andre Wille

The squirrels (and most animals up here) gain most of their weight inthe summer, to build stores for the winter. Amazingly the squirrels don't
lose that much mass while hibernating.

Tue, 06/03/2014 - 14:25

Andre Wille

Tonight after dinner a wolf sauntered by visible from our dinning hall. It was a ways off, but exciting nonetheless.

Tue, 06/03/2014 - 14:26

Andre Wille

A lot of the squirrels are captured multiple times over multiple years, so collecting data on weight and size just provides some info on how healthy they are. In rough years with lots of late snow, they might struggle to put on enough weight to successfully reproduce and/or survive hibernation for the following year.

Tue, 06/03/2014 - 14:27

Andre Wille

The trapping has kept us busy the past two days. So far we have not been as successful as we had hoped. The primary experiment the Cory Williams is conducting requires a sample size of 10-14 males. We are not using females for this because we don't want to interrupt their pregnancies. The males will be much less impacted by the capture and implantation of physiological data loggers. yesterday we caught about 5 females and no males. Today we captured 3 males and 4-5 females, which is a start. To catch these we put out 100 live traps baited with carrot sticks and checked them three times during the day. More on the experiment later.

Tue, 06/03/2014 - 14:46

Anonymous

how you were able to trap the ground squirrels?

Tue, 06/03/2014 - 14:48

Andre Wille

The squirrel traps are a wire mesh box with a trap door. When they comeinto the box to get the carrot, they step on a plate that shuts the trap
door behind them.

Tue, 06/03/2014 - 16:49

Anonymous

Have you observed any foxes around the area where you've been capturing the squirrels?

Tue, 06/03/2014 - 16:50

Anonymous

why are male squirrels so hard to catch compared to females?

Tue, 06/03/2014 - 13:48

Bruce Taterka

Andre -
Great pictures and reports on Team Squirrel action! Please keep them coming and enjoy your time at Toolik.

Tue, 06/03/2014 - 13:50

Anonymous

Andre, do you think you are far enough north to see some arctic wolves?