Ohop Bio survey

Saturday I experienced a new volunteer opportunity.  I joined volunteers lead by the staff of Northwest Trek in a bio survey of the Ohop Valley property owned by the Nisqually Land Trust.

I have told you about this great property and the rehab efforts underway.  The creek through this valley was reintroduced to its historic meandering bed three years ago.  Volunteers from the Land Trust, the Nisqually tribe and Northwest Trek have worked to monitor the progress and revitalization of nature in this little bit of solitude.

A bio survey attempts to note all living creatures present in the study environment.  On the large scale, you see "bioblitzes" events where experts in every conceivable field gather and attempt to survey every living thing in the environment.  It turns into a bit of a competition and all serves to further the science of the environment.  Our low key bio survey tries to characterize what and who is using the environment on a more basic level

This day we noted birds and signs of animals.  We looked for fish and frogs in the meandering creek.  For me a big star was a Magpie ( Pica pica) .  I have never seen a Magpie on the west side of the Cascades.

Magpie was attracted, along with Jays Crows and Raven by an Elk carcass, just below this post.  Personally I suspect this was a hunters leavings after dressing out the kill.  There was no skull rack or skin to be see.  Fresh bones, well stripped of meat.  All around there was scat (feces) of coyote.

We found these lovely feathers which show that a Ruffed Grouse met its end here.

Shortly after starting our survey, the weather turned very unfriendly and rain then hail slammed down.  We had some handy abandoned barns in our section so we walked about inside looking for signs of owls rodents or other creatures that might have used a shelter.  All of the birds ducked for cover and it was a good vantage point to see them emerge from the woods when the hail ended.  It was here we spotted a lone Mourning Dove.

We cut down towards the creek and found this marvelous paper wasp nest.

Photos were taken to aid the possible identification of the species that made this nest..  It looks bold and tough , but one touch lets you know it is a delicate web of tissue paper consistency.

I learned that this is Balf-face Hornet nest , Dolichovespula maculata

Dolichovespula maculataDolichovespula maculata

I love how the reeds of grass and stems of the little tree are used as foundation of the hanging nest.

near here we found a second Elk carcass.  We also found evidence of Beaver and where deer or Elk had pulled tender bark off planted trees and shrubs.  In the tall grasses we found many snails and I took pictures of two that were unlike the others.

Next weekend I will return to this place and help the land trust pull the protective tubes from around the plantings done three years ago.  I was astonished at how large some of the trees have become in such a short time.  This day there were no Salmon in the creek, like there was last year.  ON my visit last year we had a record run of Salmon through Puget Sound and they eagerly came up the new creek which had not connected to the Nisqually River in at least 75 years.  I guess 4 to 6 years from now we may expect record return of fish that hatched last year.

With just a short mornings effort, I am excited to think I have added another opportunity to experience, learn and give back to the environment.  This work was different from bird surveys as it is an opportunity to expand and stretch skills.  Having people who are knowledgeable about diverse subjects really helps in learning together.  I shared birding skills, another shared their knowledge of scat. 

As I was down south I justified the effort to finish the drive to the beach and spend the night.  I have had my mind on a sweet kite I saw last visit and I figured, I deserved it.  The wind was not favorable to fly my little boat, but I am sure the next time it will be better.

I did get to experience a fierce storm coming ashore in the night.  It sounded like a car wash.

Like Here, Only Different ~ Tracks in Traps

Of all the varied experiences, I think learning about and working with track traps was the most interesting and exciting.

We started out on one of our first days for the trap track making exercise.  A track trap is 1 meter by 1 meter.  Typically on trails they are spaced every 250 to 500 meters apart.  The debris is cleared and the soil is chopped up with a machete.  First thing we learned at station was how to properly sharpen and carry the machete.  We all had a go at the proper 45 degree angle whacking needed for most efficient cutting.

Cutting up the soil is a different matter.   A cross between chopping meat and making bread.  Once a trap is dug , the maintenance work is easier.  Breaking virgin soil took a lot of angled whacks.  The rough clods are gathered up and further whacked and chopped into a finer grit, then gathered further and whacked some more.

Then the whole pile is distributed and smoothed

Then you get to stand back and admire your handiwork.  Perhaps dreaming of what might leave its mark.

Traps were checked as part of daily walks.  It is more of a challenge than you might think. 

Leaves fall constantly and they leave imprints in the soil.  Moisture falls from the trees every morning and the rain drops leave splatters of imprints.  Sometimes when a leaf is positioned above,just so, its drip tip runoff produces imprints which resemble the footprints of the smaller animals.

But key to foot print identification is that there are more than one print.  The one meter square captures stride length and multiple footfalls of the animals that live here.  Sometimes it is possible to see the tail mark left from an armadillo and we even found a snake mark.

At the mammal colpa, the sticky mucky ground is smoothed over as best as possible to help identify the animals and birds visiting the clay. 

Arriving at a trap the debris is cleared very carefully, noting what marks the leaves leave.  Marks are examined very carefully.

Lighting is everything and a flashlight was a vital tool.  By lighting from different angles you can see subtle impressions and shapes that  might otherwise be missed in flat, full light.  Photography can be a challenge and shading with your body and side lighting sometimes helped make the recording picture.  Sara was brilliant at analysing signs and shared her vast knowledge with us.  Under her guidance I felt confident evaluating the traps myself.

My first assignment was into an area, a special bit of hell called "The Matrix"

The matrix was a 300 meter by 300 meter grid of 49 traps spaced 50 meters apart and numbered like a conventional X/Y grid.  0/0 the start - 0/150 three tracks up that line... and so on all the way over to 300/300.  At the center of the matrix is the Mammal Colpa.  We had come over the day before and whacked the foot ways to beat back some of the brush.  We also reset the traps making the soil smooth.  The area had not been visited for some time and it was serious rough going.  Often the only way you could see was small red or yellow ribbons hanging in trees.  You also used a compass bearing, the grid being set up on due north/south lines with connectors alone the "0" and "300" line east and west.  once on a line there was no east west connection, you had to go all the way to the end.  Lastly you could see machete marks from previous cutting.  I think during these times of navigation and observing the vegetation wrapping completely around us, seeing the machete marks is when I had that first "I am really here and REALLY in it" moment.

The challenge of walking back and forth in the matrix, navigating without an expert present AND actually making identification of the footprints we found was a solid effort of which I am pretty pleased.

There was a Control Matrix that was a bit apart from the study matrix.  This grid had no colpa, but did have the same winding stream cutting through its center.  Crossing that stream on each line got to be a bit trying.  Often the bank was steep and broken.  Seldom were their logs and thankfully in the dry season the water only came half way up the boots.  The downside was that the control matrix was rougher , less trod.  Navigation was challenging and a couple large downed trees made getting across the top of the grid impossible.

During one trap evaluation duty I was navigator.  It was the end of a very long day and I was darn pooped.  It was time to navigate out of the matrix and I took the bearing and we headed out.  The trap 50 meters from our start had prints in it.  I looked at them and at the trap id strip and asked, "didn't we check this one?"  Yes we had checked it.  Now there were fresh Jaguar prints in it.

She was just there.  She probably had us under surveillance the whole time.


Wheeee it was a little thrill.  The lucky part was, I guess, that i had navigated us the wrong way and made a 180 degree error.  If I had done it right the first time we would not have had that little thrill.

Easier duty was the Mammal Track detail.  Traps every 250 to 500 meters along the transect trails meant brisker walking.  You could take time to watch the environment and even stop to enjoy birds or animals you might see.  The traps yield just as much fun stuff as the matrix.  Indeed, one transect was a Jaguar Highway.  Paw makes in both directions.  One one walk we encountered a trap with easily 20 prints in it.  We called it the Jaguar Dance floor.  It looked like the cat had stopped and perhaps turned this way and that.  I am sorry my pictures did not turn out.

But here are a few that did.

3 nice Jaguar prints

That is my hand

The prints in a trap are not always so clear cut.  These prints gave Alan a pause.  It was a matter of deciding what they were not and then noticing a detail.

Moderate foot sized with long deep finger like toes.  Not a cat, not a canid.  Not a primate, certainly not hoof stock.

The Alan noted that the footfall was together.  Two prints side by side, two sets of them.  A member of the Weasel family does this.  And this sized weasel could mean only one thing.  Giant River Otter.  An odd location but not so very far from a stream that an animal might not have come up from the river.  We walked along and it was not very long before we found a huge pile of ants.  You bet, those ants love scat and when shooed away we found poop.

That Ladies and Gents, is Otter Poop ( not to be confused with that Summer treat "Otter Pop" ) .  The white flecks, indeed most of it, fish scales!

The last full day of our time at camp, I trekked out with Sara and three other team members.  We evaluated the track traps along the Brazil Nut Farm trail and once we got to the end we were to continue on further into rough territory to recover cameras from  some distant placements made the days previous.  Nick and I navigated with GPS and compass.  He had been to this location on the original placement.

Even though he had been to this location, he did not readily recognize one of the rough areas.  We floundered around with the GPS, venturing our on likely paths and returning back.  I think we tried all the false leads and rejected trail efforts of those before us.  This area is harvested for Brazil Nuts and there is a farm on the next property over.  Finally we got on the right track and recovered the camera.  In front of the camera there was a track trap and it showed a bold Jaguar print.  The camera would later show us a blurry image of a male Jaguar.

Sitting there in the jungle far from everyone else we had our snacks.  Rosie, our camp cook, had a little concession of packaged snacks for sale.  I am glad I thought to pack some for this trip.  We were out 8 hours.  The little sugar frosted flakes were just the thing.  Sitting there, a Blue Morpho Butterfly flew into the clearing.  We had talked about hand landing Morphos the day before.  Could I?  Would it?

I tapped some of the sugar crumbs into my hand and put it out.  The butterfly, a four inch wide bit of blue magic circled me three times, each pass coming closer.

And it did land on my hand and politely dabbed at my sweaty palm, totally ignoring the sugar.

This day was the epitome of the whole experience.  Hard work, a bit of adventure, contributing to research and encountering the rare grace of the creatures of this amazing place.

I so long to return.

Like Here, Only Different ~ Slow Walking

A larger part of our day to day work activity involved walking.  Very. Slow. Walking.  I think, aside from the need for a lot of insecticide spray/repellent, I found walking slowly VERY challenging.

Transect walks and behavior observations were done daily on any of the four  transect trails; Mammal Colpa , A, C and Brazil Nut.  Each was a different length but most range from 3 to 4 Km one way.  I loved having a good, solid walk every day in such an interesting environment.  The Brazil Nut trail was the longest at about 10-12 Km round trip.

During Transect walks, a team of two or three observers, led by one of the scientists, walked the length of the trail.  The goal was to find key animal and bird species in the environment and when they were encountered collect data on their numbers, behavior and location.  Questions about the impact of humans in the populations and behaviors of the animals require more data as eco-tourism increases.  The needs of key or threatened species like the cats must be established.  Range, territory and prey species need to be understood.  How the mineral colpas serve the needs of the animals may lead to considering their locations and abundance in protecting habitat.

Typically the scientist would lead, focusing on the immediate area on, above and next to the path.  The second would watch the area slightly deeper into the habitat and above.  The person in the rear observed even deeper into the habitat and to the rear to make sure there was no animal following or fleeing behind.

We walked at 1 Km /hour which is a very slow pace for me.  It was also important to maintain as quiet a step as possible.  Sometimes this was a challenge given the amount of leaves on the ground and the presence of twigs and stems.  Silence was also important as often the only hint of an animals presence or fleeing was the rustle of the vegetation.  This ditch crossing and trail are somewhat typical of many of the paths.  Rustly leaves.  Trying hard to be quiet is a challenge.  Like trying to sneak into the cookie jar, the harder you try, the more you fumble.

When an animal was encountered they were watched and their behavior or reactions were categorized.  We also recorded their distance from the trail and height above the trail using range finders.  Where there were multiple animal, there was an attempt to count the number of juveniles and babies.  Usually the animals flee and are not seen by all the team members.  The best chance of seeing animals was during the primate encounters.  Typically the monkey troops were spread over a wider area and they passed overhead in noisy , tree crashing flights. 

Saddleback Tamarins were particularly fun to encounter.  These small monkeys have sort of a feisty attitude, in my opinion.  At times one would approach as if it was far to fierce to be reckoned with and we better leave, by golly!  Mostly a lead animal would watch steadily as the rest of the troop would move away.  Their departure was typically a somewhat purposeful but not frantic navigation.  It seems they were the ones most likely to come near, or be in the lower middle story.  I only got one fair photo of monkeys during the trip.  Usually they were simply too high and better observed in binoculars.

Small mammals of the jungle are challenging as they have the dense understory to shelter them from our eyes.  Paca

and Agouti were most common

with Brocket Deer also possible.

One species we always knew when they were about.  Even if they were not there, we knew they had been.  White-lipped Peccary live in herds of 50+ animals.  They are noisy with squeals, rumbles, clicks and rooting sounds much like common swine.  Their most notable characteristic is their smell.  Holy Cats you know when they have been in your environment!  The smell seems too linger in the nostrils like all musky scents.  They are also potentially dangerous if they charge as they are not afraid of charging right past or through your group.  When they run they really cover ground.  I did get to have one observation of a group of about 75 animals ranging for tiny babies to large adults.  I felt I could still smell them a few hours later.  These animals are the Jaguars main prey species.

White-wing Trumpeters earn the name of Heart Attack birds as they would sit right at trails edge until you came close they they would blast away in flight.  I had more than one "heart attack" during my walks.  Spix Guan I nicknamed the Jackass Birds as their braying alarm call reminded me of a Mule.  I think, aside from the tamarin troops these were the most common target species encountered.  I usually got a good look as they would fly up and perch on a branch before moving off.

It was a great treat to get a couple encounters with Tamandua.  These pretty anteaters spend most of their time int he trees seeking ants and termites.  Termite nests are easily spotted in the trees but the Tamaduas, with their slow moving way, were quiet and less obvious.

Creatures that eat ants and termites have a good living in this environment.  Ants of all types are everywhere and termite nests seem just as plentiful.

Our walks usually started around 545am and we walked (slowly) out about 3.5 to 4 Km before turning around and coming back to camp.  At the study pace this was usually 6 hours.  During the second week we covered some of the transect trails in reverse, walking all the way to the far end then starting back (slowly) at 6am.  This meant getting up at 330 to hit the trail by 4am.

This day we had a shortfall of provisions due to a logistics issues and packed some cookies and crackers to nibble on before starting our walk at 6am.  I have to say there was something sort of special sitting on a log deep in the jungle as it woke up, eating Oreos.

The great bonus of doing this transect is that we were 1 Km from home base when we finished.  A short quick walk and there we were.  It was 11 am and why not, we peeked into the kitchen.  We struck it rich with our special treat.


It was so good and so welcome I took a picture of it.

Chef Rosie's Buñuelos and Coffee.  The Coffee was that which was picked on the neighbors farm property and roasted right there.  The buñuelos are made with pumpkin puree, flour, eggs and milk then deep fried.  Strawberry jam and Dulce de Leche are the topping.

Sweet tasty bites of heaven. 

As before, the animal photos, except the tamarin, brought to you by Google Images.  (sigh)

Like Here, Only Different ~ For Cornelius

WARNING ALL SORTS OF BUGS!!!