On the Lookout in the Forest

The Advanced Forest Ecology Research class set up five camera traps in the Hackley forest.
Thier intention with the cameras is to discover what wildlife may be present in our forests that we may not see often or even be aware of at all! The camera traps will stay active from December until March, giving us a wide range of time to see various species. It is important to have an overlap of more than a single season (Winter into Spring) because there are many species that are not active at all in some seasons, and others that are present in all four of the observed months.

They strategically spread out the traps over Hackley’s forested property, making sure to diversify what microhabitats they were located in, as well as to vary their distances from any major noise or activity from the Hackley community. To attract animals and set of the motion sensor on the cameras, they placed down a very stinky mixture of skunk scents that our wildlife are prone to take interest in and investigate! So far, one very exciting thing that they have seen was a Bobcat (caught on camera for the first time in the Hackley woods)! As well as the Bobcat, they have had a very pretty red bellied woodpecker, a scurry of squirrels, two racoons, an opossum, and a few coyotes.
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