Tracking Wascally Wildlife

I thought I’d do a post today revolving around my recent experiences volunteering with the Amoskeag Fishways to monitor wildlife at Hackett Hill in Manchester, NH. Part of the reasoning for this is while part of the land there is already under conservation status, the opposite side of the road is up for bid for development. The Fishways,an environmental education center created out of a partnership between PSNH, NH Audubon, NH Fish and Game, and US Fish and Wildlife, hopes to use data about what animals frequently use this area in the hope that they may be able to preserve at least a portion of the area representing the best habitat for these creatures.

First of all, the area is quite beautiful, a haven in the middle of a the city. This particular trip out, we saw most of the brook iced over while the water was flowing underneath. The icy patterns resulting from the flowing water were striking:

Iced over brook at Hackett Hill, Manchester, NH; Photo credit: Carrie Schuman

What the wildlife monitoring entails is looking at tracks in the snow and determining what kind of animal made it. There are some basic patterns of movement – bounders, hoppers, walkers, and waddlers. Once you figure out the basic pattern, you can determine what is around locally that falls under those types of patterns. For example hoppers in the Hackett Hill area can include red and grey squirrels, snowshoe hare, and shrews. This type of pattern characteristically includes the back feet prints appearing before the front feet prints, like the set of squirrel tracks below I found on ehow.com:

Further identifying the tracks once you’ve determined the movement pattern involves looking at characteristics of the track, such as size (width, length, and stride distance all can help with IDs),  shape, the number of toes the animal has, whether claw marks or webbing are evident, etc. The condition of the snow can really help or hinder this part of the process and this certainly takes practice; the naturalist with us has at times pointed out some of the aforementioned features of the track but the impression in the snow looked like a featureless blob to me. Fresh snow can leave some very clear tracks and a fine dusting of powder over ice is also good for capturing signs of wildlife walking through.

Here are some from our own trip this morning:

Fisher cat tracks at Hacket Hill, Manchester, NH; Photo credits: Carrie Schuman

Red fox tracks at Hacket Hill, Manchester, NH; Photo credits: Carrie Schuman

Skunk tracks at Hacket Hill, Manchester, NH; Photo credits: Carrie Schuman

There are some excellent guides that can help with this endeavor. One of the guides we’ve used on our treks is a guide called “Mammal Tracks” which has life-sized versions of tracks that really help in comparison. There is an updated version for sale on the publisher’s website as well as Amazon called  “Mammals Tracks and Scat: Life Sized Tracking Guide“. The guide is waterproof and meant to be practical in the field.  Another book that has made the trip out with us is: “Tracking and the Art of Seeing“. I’m going to order my own copy used off of half.com.

As an interesting follow-up, check out this guy’s blog account about hearing fisher cat cries in New Hampshire. The fisher cat is a tenacious, toothed weasel-like creature and has a strange somewhat scary call. The post also contrasts the sound of fisher cats with foxes, who also let out a surprisingly bracing yelp.

Ground Control to Major Tom – NASA Night Space Shuttle Flight

According to a Space.com feature, NASA had to reschedule their most recent space flight from Feb 4rth, to this Sunday Feb 7th. This may the last opportunity to witness a night flight for a long time to come both because of its rarity in the general protocol of spaceflight, but also because of NASA’s uncertain future with changes introduced to their budgeting by President Obama. The shuttle will blast off in the wee hours of the morning and will be visible along much of the Eastern Coast somewhere around 4:30 Eastern Standard Time.  According to the website:

“What to expect

The brilliant light emitted by the two solid rocket boosters will be visible for the first 2 minutes and 4 seconds of the launch out to a radius of some 520 statute miles from the Kennedy Space Center – an area more than three times the size of Texas.

Depending on where you are located relative to Cape Canaveral, Endeavour will become visible anywhere from a few seconds to just over 2 minutes after it leaves Pad 39-A. For an example of what all this looks like from Florida, see video of a night launch made by Rob Haas from Titusville, FL, on Dec. 9, 2006 (the STS-116 mission).

After the solid rocket boosters are jettisoned, Endeavour will be visible for most locations by virtue of the light emanating from its three main engines. It should appear as a very bright, pulsating, fast-moving star, shining with a yellowish-orange glow. Based on previous night missions, the brightness should be at least equal to magnitude -2; rivaling Sirius, the brightest star in brilliance. Observers who train binoculars on the shuttle should be able to see its tiny V-shaped contrail.

Where to look

* Southeast U.S. coastline: Anywhere north of Cape Canaveral, viewers should initially concentrate on the south-southwest horizon. If you are south of the Cape, look low toward the north-northeast. If you’re west of the Cape, look low toward the east-northeast.

* Mid-Atlantic region: Look toward the south about 3 to 6 minutes after launch.

* Northeast: Concentrate your gaze low toward the south-southeast about 6 to 8 minutes after launch.

For most viewers, the shuttle will appear to literally skim the horizon, so be sure there are no buildings or trees to obstruct your view.

Depending upon your distance from the coastline, the shuttle will be relatively low on the horizon (5 to 15 degrees; your fist on an outstretched arm covers about 10 degrees of sky). If you’re positioned near the edge of a viewing circle, the shuttle will barely come above the horizon and could be obscured by low clouds or haze.

If the weather is clear, the shuttle should be easy to see. It will appear to move very fast; much faster than an orbiting satellite due to its near orbital velocity at low altitudes (30-60 mi). It basically travels across 90 degrees of azimuth in less than a minute.”

What to expect

The brilliant light emitted by the two solid rocket boosters will be visible for the first 2 minutes and 4 seconds of the launch out to a radius of some 520 statute miles from the Kennedy Space Center – an area more than three times the size of Texas.

Depending on where you are located relative to Cape Canaveral, Endeavour will become visible anywhere from a few seconds to just over 2 minutes after it leaves Pad 39-A.  For an example of what all this looks like from Florida, see video of a night launch made by Rob Haas from Titusville, FL, on Dec. 9, 2006 (the STS-116 mission).

After the solid rocket boosters are jettisoned, Endeavour will be visible for most locations by virtue of the light emanating from its three main engines. It should appear as a very bright, pulsating, fast-moving star, shining with a yellowish-orange glow. Based on previous night missions, the brightness should be at least equal to magnitude -2; rivaling Sirius, the brightest star in brilliance. Observers who train binoculars on the shuttle should be able to see its tiny V-shaped contrail.

Observer James E. Byrd shot video of the shuttle from Virginia after a November 2000 night launch. The bright star Sirius briefly streaks through the scene giving a sense of scale and brightness to the shuttle’s glow.

Where to look

• Southeast U.S. coastline: Anywhere north of Cape Canaveral, viewers should initially concentrate on the south-southwest horizon. If you are south of the Cape, look low toward the north-northeast. If you’re west of the Cape, look low toward the east-northeast.
• Mid-Atlantic region: Look toward the south about 3 to 6 minutes after launch.
• Northeast: Concentrate your gaze low toward the south-southeast about 6 to 8 minutes after launch.

For most viewers, the shuttle will appear to literally skim the horizon, so be sure there are no buildings or trees to obstruct your view.

Depending upon your distance from the coastline, the shuttle will be relatively low on the horizon (5 to 15 degrees; your fist on an outstretched arm covers about 10 degrees of sky). If you’re positioned near the edge of a viewing circle, the shuttle will barely come above the horizon and could be obscured by low clouds or haze.

If the weather is clear, the shuttle should be easy to see. It will appear to move very fast; much faster than an orbiting satellite due to its near orbital velocity at low altitudes (30-60 mi). It basically travels across 90 degrees of azimuth in less than a minute.