Skunk diggings and droppings

Striped skunk
(Seneca Falls, NY 8/12)

"Did you tell your Father about the skunk?" Laura said over dinner the other night.
"Skunk? What skunk?" I said with a forkful of food poised at the ready. You see, this is the time of the semester that I challenge my introductory mammal students to a friendly game of "who can see the most mammal species and their sign". The checklist is displayed in the classroom and of course, the honor system is the rule of the land. I had yet to see a skunk, but apparently one was in the lawn the previous night when Danika got home and she stayed in her car for a few minutes to let it gain some distance before coming into the house. (At right is a photo I took earlier this summer)

Lawn damage from skunk
(Seneca Falls, NY 11/12)

I poked around the yard with a flashlight a little with no luck. But the next morning, I did some scouting and found that this guy has been busy in my yard for some time now. What you see in the photos are diggings made by a skunk to search for grubs and other invertebrates. Raccoons do this as well and I am not sure how to tell the difference. I am certain I read an account recently*, so i will have to search for it (and with the magic of electronic editing, amend this entry to make it look like I knew what I was talking about the whole time!). The photo to the left is a particularly deep hole. Note the penny for scale.
*AHA! I found reference I was thinking of. Elbroch's Mammal Track & Sign says (p. 698-99) that skunk digs are conical with the dirt thrown back only a short distance while raccoons have the debris pile farther from the hole.

Now, it is important for me to tell you that I am not a fanatic when it comes to lawn care. In fact, I am not much for yard work of any kind. I look at the digging as an interesting piece of natural history and perhaps a bit of soil aeration. There are several patches in both the front and back yards. Below is a photo that gives you an idea of the extent.




Skunk diggings for grubs
(Seneca Falls NY, 11/12)

 One more photo as I don't think these are showing up well (compensate for quality with quantity is the theory here...):

Skunk digging in lawn
(Seneca Falls NY, 11/12)

The skunk or skunks have left some scat behind as well:

The piles are similar to each other and I must admit that I would be hard pressed to call them skunk without the circumstantial evidence of the holes and the sightings. I checked the camera in the back yard and found this:

Striped skunk
(Seneca Falls, NY 11/12)

But a camera trap capture doesn't count. The sighting must be of a live animal. So last night I took the headlamp out again. This time I didn't make it 15 feet from the door before I could smell him. I heard some movement only 10 feet away and off he scurried! It appeared to be the same white-backed individual captured above. I watched as he waddled under my daughter's car. I have to remember to warn her.....

Think MINK... again!

Camera Trap set
(Seneca Falls, NY 9/12)

The mink bonanza continues. I first wrote about my recent luck with mink here. Today I checked the set and swapped cameras. I put out a Cuddeback Capture and moved the Attack. I would like a few crisp color photos. I also repositioned the camera so it was pointing at a small opening that had lots of mink tracks and scat....

 I got some more mink pics but there were other visitors including:

Raccoon
(Seneca Falls, NY 9/12)

and

Greater Yellowlegs
(Seneca Falls, NY 8/12)

But we really want to talk about mink. Let's look at a few (or the same one twice?):

Mink
(Seneca Falls, NY 8/12)

Mink
(Seneca Falls, NY 9/12)

And a short video. This guy looks like he is burning calories and not gonna let anything go unnoticed.

Mink track
(Seneca Falls, NY 9/12)

With all this mink activity, there was bound to be some mink sign as well. There was some nice mud for tracks. Mink have five toes on the front and hind feet, however toe number one is "weak" and is not always obvious. Look carefully at both the tracks to see all five toes in each.









Mink scat and trail
(Seneca Falls, NY 9/12)

Here is a mink scat. What is particularly nice about this was the mink trail that was visible due to the mud transfer from the mink to the vegetation. Here is a wide angle shot. Use the boots as scale. Notice the mud all around the scat, as well as a trail of it going down and to the left. There is also a substantial trail heading toward the top of the photo.

Finally, a nice close up of the same scat. I did not collect this one to tease apart. Most members of the weasel family have this kind of ropy tapered-at-both-ends look. Oh, and if you missed the mud in the last photo you should be able to see it here with no problem.

Mink Den?

Mink nest
(Muller Field Station, Richmond, NY 09/2011)

Last weekend was the first session of my Wetland Mammals class. We stayed at the college's Muller Field Station. A few students were exploring and lifted a board only to have a mink dart out from under it and into the water. I took this photo and assume that the nest-like structure was made by the mink. I have read that mink are somewhat nomadic except during the breeding season and may move from one spot to the next each day. I am in the habit of only using the term den to refer to the place where young are raised, not simply the place you spend the night (or day). Perhaps I am being too fussy....

Mink scat
(Muller Field Station, Richmond, NY 09/2011)

In addition to the dried grass nest, there were several scats under the board as well. Now, I know I just wrote that mink MAY NOT use the same resting place for more than one night, but by default, that means that they MAY as well. This looked like a particularly good spot! It was within 5 feet of the channel, it had that nice drain pipe access and with the fields to the upland, it seemed to have it all. One of the scats was very runny. It was hard to photograph, but you can see it if you look closely tot he right of the obvious scat in the photo.



The students set eight camera traps and I set two of my own. We are due to check them in another week and I will post the results.

Login to Critter Scat

Today I will take a break from black bears to talk about scat. I took advantage of the warm weather (Spring Break = no classes) today to take a hike at Howland Island Wildlife Management Area in Savanna, NY. It was a good day for critter sign! I got some nice track and scat photos.

Today we are going to look at an array of animal scat found on logs:

Male Ruffed Grouse scat (Campbell, NY 3/11)

Ruffed Grouse: In the spring of the year, male grouse use logs as drumming platforms. They drum by beating the air with their wings. This is the "song" of the ruffed grouse and is used to attract females. We found this scat on the way to our second black bear den this past Tuesday.

The white in the scat is uric acid. Birds do not urinate, but instead get rid of their nitrogenous waste in their scat.

Raccoon scat (Howland Island WMA, 3/11)

Raccoon: Raccoons use logs to travel and often leave scat behind to mark their passing. The first photo is relatively fresh. Raccoons are opportunistic feeders, so their scat can contain plant and animal components. And when a fruit or mast crop becomes ripe, a scat may be almost completely made up of the one food source. That is the case with our next photo...

Here is an extremely old scat. I assume this is raccoon based on the volume and the location. In fact, the scat is so old, all that is left is a pile of indigestible skins from some small fruit.

Old raccoon scat, indigestible fruit skins
(Howland Island WMA, 3/11)

 I learned to look for these "ancient" scats after finding a pile of seeds this summer in Massachusetts. I just couldn't figure out what animal would have left so many cherry seeds piled in the open on the forest floor. Val walked up, looked down and solved the mystery by saying: "Huh, old bear scat." and walked away.




Muskrat: The last scat for today is muskrat. Beaver normally defecate in the water but 'rats usually scat on some object. Today, I found muskrat scat (muskscat?) on rocks, logs and and piece of ground that rose above the water.

Muskrat scat (Howland Island NWR, 3/11)