Big Brown Bat

This critter met a terrible end.  With the start of the new year I swapped-out the furnace filter at its predetermined schedule and found this mummified surprise waiting for me.  

Meet Eptesicus fuscus - the Big Brown Bat.  Most of the time I find these occupying a songbird nest box or spot them flitting-about on a summer evening.  It's likely they hang-out (pun intended) from the rafters in the granary.  This critter likely found its way into the house via the fresh air intake for the furnace last fall following the October filter swap.  This species of bat likes to roost in houses over winter.

An insectivore this critter inhabits woodlands, farmlands and urban settings.  Maternity colonies can be found in hollow trees.  Their vocalizations include high-pitched clicks and the squeals of pups calling to mom.  They mate in August - September before hibernation and give birth to 1-2 (usually 2) pups from May to July.  Pups are capable of flight by 18 to 35 days.     

I feel badly for this one. Bats are good critters to have around, mice not so much.  Memo to self to install screens on the air-intakes this spring.

 

Fox Run

Meet Vulpes vulpes – the Red Fox.  It is distinguished from the Gray Fox by a white-tipped tail visible in the photos.  I haven’t seen one of these on a trail camera in years.  I had figured the coyotes pretty-much cleaned them out.  Then, all of a sudden, this spring and summer they've been showing-up on the trail cameras.

They’re omnivores that dine-upon everything from rabbits, small rodents, roadkill, fruits and nuts and insects.  They sometimes make their home in an enlarged woodchuck den, or hollow log, or underneath a log or rock in a stream bank or side of a hill.  A mated pair will defend their turf from other foxes but this canine frequently is prey to the resident coyotes and wolves.   

A female is called a vixen, a male is called a dog fox, newborns are called pups, kits or cubs.  And a group of foxes is called a skulk.  

Red fox going....

And red fox coming....

Along with take-away pheasant on the return trip!

A Fine Kettle OF Fish

The title of this post has origins in the Scottish tradition of cooking-up a kettle of fish parts to make guests feel welcome.  The modern etymology of the title is reference to an awkward situation.  And indeed, Alabamians and their lawmakers have found themselves in an awkward situation today.

Some basics about natural conception and reproduction.  

A male gamete (sperm) combines with a female gamete (ovum) resulting in a fertilized ovum called a zygote. The zygote holds 100% of the genetic material - mother and father each contribute one-half - this develops into an embryo.  When an embryo successfully completes its journey of days and attaches to the wall of the uterus it will develop into a fetus.  And a child is born in the end.  That doesn't sound very romantic but that's the science of it.  There's a lot of moving parts and plenty of opportunity for something to go wrong along the way.  In a perfect world all of this happens without scientific intervention.   

What about people who cannot naturally conceive and reproduce?

The term In Vitro - Latin for 'in glass' - describes medical procedures, tests and experiments that scientists perform outside of a living organism.  In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) is a treatment process whereby a woman unable to naturally conceive a child can become pregnant.  IVF has been a godsend for people who cannot naturally conceive children.  Sperm and ovum are combined in a laboratory setting resulting in a fertilized zygote which will become an embryo.

IVF Human Embryo

This embryo is frozen for future implantation.  Once implanted, if the embryo successfully attaches to the lining of the uterus it becomes a fetus and, voila!  Maybe a child is born.  The uterine part of the process is critical because without that step the embryo cannot survive.

Collecting eggs for in vitro fertilization is complicated and includes some risk.  As a consequence multiple eggs are collected with the knowledge that once fertilized some will be genetically flawed (and discarded) and some will never successfully attach to the uterus following implantation.  Many couples naturally grow their families over a number of years so having some extra frozen embryos on hand solves the defective embryo situation along with implantation failures and can lead to more children.

Unused frozen embryos have typically been discarded.  Just as an acorn is not an oak until planted and successfully germinated; without uterine implantation the genetic material of the embryo cannot result in a child. 

Back to Alabama.  The Alabama Supreme Court ruled yesterday that frozen embryos - the product of in vitro fertilization - are children.  You can read the ruling here.  This complicates things for all of the embryos in cold storage.  What if the power goes off and they spoil?  Or you drop and break the container?  Discard genetically defective ones?  Discard good ones? 

It's none of my business if someone chooses to have a family or not to have a family.  Some couples have large families and some couples never have families for all kinds of reasons within and beyond their control.  That's their business and none of my concern.  Although I should add that I have personal knowledge of many families, immediate and otherwise, who have had children as a consequence of IVF treatments performed by doctors who God has endowed with tremendous and valuable medical talents.  

I also know that in a post-Roe world which restricts abortions in many states; if Republicans want to deprive couples from using the science of IVF to conceive and welcome children into a loving family then Alabama today finds itself in a awkward position.  A place where you are forced to give birth if you naturally conceive along with being a place where you cannot obtain IVF treatment if you really, really want to have a family. 

Having classified frozen embryos as children has complicated things.  Fearful of being civilly or criminally liable and arrested and thrown in jail or otherwise get cross-ways with the Alabama Supreme Court nobody knows what to do with all the frozen embryos.  The Law of Unintended Consequences has brought IVF treatment to a screeching halt.    

Reproductive stuff is complicated and the more Republicans continue to insert themselves into the reproductive lives and decisions of ordinary people the more they will continue to have a much larger problem with getting suburban women to vote for them on election day.  It's a fine kettle of fish they have concocted for themselves.

And don't forget.  Alabama is a Capital Punishment state.  They will put you to death for murder.  They're going to have a whole heap of trouble on their hands once they begin executing moms and dads and medical professionals over any mishandling of frozen embryos.

Sweet Home Alabama!

Comparison

Not my work - found on the interweb.

Yes, this is photo shopped.

Taken with the same camera, from the same location at similar times, two separate images were merged into one.

It is a very good tool for identifying the key characteristics differentiating a gray wolf from a coyote. 

 

Wile E. Coyote

The scientific name for the coyote is Canis latrans – literally barking dog.        

A diurnal or crepuscular creature (namely active during daylight hours or at dawn and dusk) coyotes that reside in closer proximity to people tend to be more nocturnal.  Unless they become habituated to our presence wild coyotes will make every attempt to steer clear of people.   If you were to inquire of a wildlife biologist they would tell you that there are nineteen subspecies of coyote that are exceedingly well-adapted to living in urban, rural and wild America.  

Male coyotes tip the scales at about 44 pounds while females weigh-in slightly less.  For scale my Labs weigh-in at 75 and 80 pounds respectively.  Coyotes dine on large prey and also eat snakes, insects, rodents, fruit and other mast.  As an opportunistic hunter coyotes have been known to prey-upon small pets and livestock.  In an urban setting they will eat garbage and pet food left on a deck or patio.  The coyote is a gregarious animal - socially-inclined - like the wolf.  This is likely a consequence of the need for a family unit or pack of animals combining to bring down large game. 
 
Recent genetic studies suggest that coyotes are not native to the eastern United States - The implication is they largely evolved on the Great Plains.  As the eastern old growth forests were cleared for settlement and agriculture coyotes adapted to the new environs.   It is thought that coyotes dispersed to our neck of the woods early in the twentieth century.  These canids are presumed to have come from the northern Great Plains and are unique in their genetic origins.  Additional coyotes dispersed from here to New England via the northern Great Lakes region and southern Canada meeting in the 1940s in New York and Pennsylvania. These coyotes have inter-bred with gray wolf and Eastern wolf populations adding to their own unique genetic diversity and further contributing to their hybrid vigor and ability to adapt to an ever changing environment.  Coyotes here are known as the Northeastern coyote.   

Tag Team - Two

Yesterday I posted a couple of photos of a duo of coyotes on the hunt.

Today there is this short, silent video vignette. Same date, different location and slightly different time.

You have to be quick to notice the hind quarter of the lead coyote in the very opening frame - this was the animal that triggered the motion-activated camera.  It is the second animal that is worthy of observation.

 

She pauses to pee and then scratch to finish marking her territory before moving on.  This territorial marking is no different than that of our Labrador retriever.  Likely the same for your dog too.  The difference is that around here is is a constant battle to mark territory.  The coyotes pee and scratch, the Blonde Lab sniffs it out and then proceeds to mark it and scratch it herself.  The coyotes pee and repeat. The cycle does not end.

It's an on-going contest to determine who's Boss Dog of theses here parts......

Rare Vistor Pays a Call

I stumbled-upon a technological hiccup with a recent upload of photos from our Snapshot Wisconsin (DNR) trail camera.  It would appear that back in February a routine upload to the cloud network failed to send all of the photos.  Last weekend that SD card found it's way back into the upload rotation and sure as shooting a big slug of photos from January and February showed-up.  Good thing because this infrared gem was in the collection......

click on image to enlarge

I captured my very first picture of one of these in February of 2019.  Again in March and October of last year.  And the end of January this year.  Woot Woot!   

This is Martes pennanti - the Fisher.  One of the larger members of the weasel family - only the river otter is bigger.    

Characterized by a soft and supple pelt this highly-prized furbearer was oft referred-to as the American Sable.  Once widely distributed across Wisconsin - the great cutover of our northern forests and unregulated trapping eventually led to the extirpation of this species.  Only very small remnant populations retreating to the northern-most reaches of Wisconsin and Minnesota. Nevertheless, the species persists as a consequence of reintroduction efforts and reforestation of marginal farmland.  Four photos over three consecutive years is not happenstance and it would appear that southern Door County is now part of an expanding range. 

These are habitually solitary animals and while a pregnant female will den-up for a period of time - males are always on the prowl with a typical boy requiring as much as 150 square miles of territory.  March and April is mating season for the fisher and is characterized by a reproductive curiosity featuring a delayed implantation period of 10 to 11 months.  Possibly stimulated by longer daylight - the blastocyst (the earliest stage of the embryo) is then implanted in the uterus.  Gestation is 6 weeks followed by the birth of three to four kits.  Since mom is capable of mating immediately afterwards females spend virtually all of their adult lives either pregnant or lactating.  By the end of summer the young will leave the den and disperse to establish their own territories.  Males contribute nothing to the raising of the young.

Another fun fact is that this critter is an accomplished swimmer and quite comfortable in the water.  You're probably thinking - how many fish can a fisher fish?  The answer is none.  The fisher does not fish.  Their smaller mink cousins are better fishermen than the fisher.  An opportunistic feeder this animal will dine on mice, voles, dead fish, squirrels, rabbits, raccoons and an occasional house cat.  Seasonally they'll help themselves to reptiles, amphibians, nuts, berries, eggs and fruit.  Equipped with cat-like retractable claws this is one of the few predators that will take-down a porcupine with little to no ill-effect. 

I'm positively tickled to capture another photo with an ever-patient, motion-activated woodland sentinel.

Raising a toast to big weasels and second-rate fishermen....

Howling At The Moon

The first full moon of 2021 rises tonight. 

According to Native American tradition January's full moon is also known as a Wolf Moon.  Legend suggests that wolves howled more at this time of year due to winter hunger.  

Wolves have made their presence known around here on very rare occasion and what I know for sure is that with all the dang deer on the landscape if any have found their way across the ice to the peninsula they will not be hungry.  I fully expect that any howling I hear this evening will be from the resident coyotes.  Like their larger wolf brethren any vocalizations will be social in nature - locating pack members, reinforcing their familial bonds, defining territory and such.  

 

NASA image

Prior to European settlement the Lakota people know this as the Hard Moon, the Cree called this the Cold Moon and the Assiniboine fittingly refer to this as the Center Moon - the demarcation of mid-winter.

Watch for the moon to rise from the east at sunset tonight and tomorrow.  It will reach its highest point around midnight.  If you are an early riser you can locate the moon above the western horizon before sunrise. 

Fingers-crossed for cold, clear, winter night skies.

Edit to add:

 

 

Midnight Stinker

Meet Mephitis mephitis - the Striped Skunk. 

 

Generally nocturnal, this is a solitary and secretive animal that has a distinctive pungent scent.  Found throughout Wisconsin you'll smell it before your spot it.  

A member of the weasel family it is an omnivore that rambles-about in a shambling gait in search of food. This animal does not hibernate but it will hole-up in it’s den for weeks at a time during extended cold snaps. 

This is not an aggressive critter as a consequence of a unique defense mechanism.  If threatened it will stamp its feet, arch its back with tail raised, teeth chattering and launch a spray of oily stink from glands located near its anus. This critter can nail a bullseye at up to fifteen feet. Most predators give this animal a wide berth – the exception being the great horned and barred owl.  

Breeding season begins in February – March with 6-7 offspring born naked and blind in May – June.

Rare Daylight Appearance

Meet Procyon lotor – the Northern Raccoon. 

The word raccoon comes from the Native American word arakum meaning - he who scratches with his hand. 

While a raccoon‘s paw has five fingers they do not have an opposable thumb.  As a consequence, raccoons lack the dexterity of primates.  Nevertheless, they will use their hands to pick-up and carry objects, hunt and fish. They are intrepid climbers and can swim as well.  

A nocturnal animal they can grow up to twenty pounds and a couple of feet in length. While the animal in the photo looks cuddly and huggable you should never make a grab for a raccoon as they’re not going to reciprocate your advances and will likely bite and scratch.  They are also known to be rabid or infected with roundworm, leptospirosis and salmonella. 
 
Raccoons do not hibernate during the cold winter months – however they do sleep a great deal and put on an extra layer of fat for the duration. Should this be a female of the species - mama will whelp a litter of three to six offspring per year – usually in May.  Born with their eyes closed a newborn is called a kit.  A group of raccoons is called a nursery or a gaze and they’ll leave the den at seven to eight weeks of age.

This trail camera photo was actually taken today at 9:18 AM.  A rare daytime appearance for this animal.

Paleofeces



The Lloyds Bank Coprolite. Photo by Linda Spashett CC by 2.5

This is a coprolite.  A feces fossil.  Petrified poop.  And the third and final scatological entry to be published for a spell.

 

These trace fossils - coprolites - can provide archaeologists valuable information and clues about the diet of the living creature that produced it. 

 

The paleofeces sample pictured above is a fossilized human turd known as the Lloyds Bank Coprolite. It is likely the largest and most valuable on record.  It dates back to approximately the 9th century and the person responsible is believed to be a Viking.  It currently rests at the Jórvík Viking Centre in the city of York, England. 

 

Analysis has revealed that the individual to whom this belongs consumed large amounts of meat.  The stool sample also contained eggs from parasitic roundworms including:  Trichuris trichiura (whipworm) and Ascaris lumbricoides (maw worm).  Yeech! 

 

You can learn more about this coprolite - including how it earned its name - and additional background on the study of fossilized poop here.

Living With Coyotes

In the creation story of Idaho’s Nez Perce people it was Coyote who saved the creatures of Earth.

The monster Kamiah had stalked into the region and was gobbling up the animals one by one.  The crafty Coyote evaded Kamiah but didn't want to lose his friends, so he let himself be swallowed.  From inside the beast, Coyote severed Kamiah's heart and freed his fellow animals.  Then he chopped up Kamiah and threw the pieces to the winds, where they gave birth to the peoples of the planet.       

The scientific name for the coyote is Canis latrans – literally barking dog.        

A diurnal or crepuscular creature (namely active during daylight hours or at dawn and dusk) coyotes that reside in closer proximity to people tend to be more nocturnal.  Unless they become habituated to our presence wild coyotes will make every attempt to steer clear of people.   If you were to inquire of a wildlife biologist they would tell you that there are nineteen subspecies of coyote that are exceedingly well-adapted to living in urban, rural and wild America.  

Male coyotes tip the scales at about 44 pounds while females weigh-in slightly less.  For scale my Labs weigh-in at 75 and 80 pounds respectively.  Coyotes dine on large prey and also eat snakes, insects, rodents, fruit and other mast.  As an opportunistic hunter coyotes have been known to prey-upon small pets and livestock.  In an urban setting they will eat garbage and pet food left on a deck or patio.  The coyote is a gregarious animal - socially-inclined - like the wolf.  This is likely a consequence of the need for a family unit or pack of animals combining to bring down large game. 
 

Recent genetic studies suggest that coyotes are not native to the eastern United States - The implication is they largely evolved on the Great Plains.  As the eastern old growth forests were cleared for settlement and agriculture coyotes adapted to the new environs.   It is thought that coyotes dispersed to our neck of the woods early in the twentieth century.  These canids are presumed to have come from the northern Great Plains and are unique in their genetic origins.  Additional coyotes dispersed from here to New England via the northern Great Lakes region and southern Canada meeting in the 1940s in New York and Pennsylvania. These coyotes have inter-bred with gray wolf and Eastern wolf populations adding to their own unique genetic diversity and further contributing to their hybrid vigor and ability to adapt to an ever changing environment.  Coyotes here are known as the Northeastern coyote.          

 

Jill and I hear coyote vocalizations rather frequently.  A live sighting is rare as in rural America coyotes share the same natural aversion to people that other wildlife do.  They are scared-to-death of people.  However, from time to time I do capture a handful of digital photos on a trail camera.  I’m working at getting better at it.        

 

I recently completed beta-testing the newest Moultrie camera on video mode in a location with proven wildlife traffic.  These videos are short 15 second vignettes and can be in either daylight (full color) or infrared (black and white) after dark.  There isn’t a sound feature but the recordings work just fine.       

 

This handsome subject showed-up the morning of April 27^th at 8:40 AM.     Enjoy and stay-tuned…..
 

Look Who Showed-up on the Trail Camera

Not having previously spotted one of these my initial reaction was - whoa!  This has got to be the mother of all weasels. Thumbing thru a field guide of Wisconsin mammals I had a tentative ID in relatively short order yet was unsure.  These weasels are not at all common around these parts.  I figured I better seek a second professional opinion to be sure of the identification of this rare critter.  Both a UW and DNR biologist concurred on the identification.  This was an exciting first for me and I got to check another species off of my life list. 

click on image for a closer look

 

Meet Martes pennanti - the Fisher.  One of the larger members of the weasel family - this mammal was once widely distributed across Wisconsin.  Characterized by a soft and supple pelt this highly-valued furbearer was oft referred-to as the American Sable.  Unregulated trapping and deforestation eventually led to the extirpation of this species with remnant populations retreating to the northern-most reaches of our state and Minnesota.  Nevertheless, the species persists as a consequence of reintroduction efforts and making a come-back would appear to also make Door County part of its range. 

Pregnant females will den-up for a period of time while males are always on the prowl with a typical boy requiring up to 150 square miles of territory.  Equipped with retractable claws (just like a cat) this is one of the few predators that will prey-upon a porcupine with little or no ill-effect.  It will also dine on small mammals such as mice, voles, squirrels, rabbits as well as nuts, berries, eggs and fruit.

This is the mating season of the fisher and females give birth to three to four kits in the spring.  By the end of summer the young will leave the den and mom's care and disperse to establish their own territories.

Incidentally, the fisher is a strong swimmer but it does not fish.  Mink are better fishermen than the fisher.  That-aside, I'd still like to raise a toast to weasels.   They are survivors after-all....

Masked Bandit

Raccoons do not hibernate during the winter months - although they do sleep a lot and put on an extra layer of fat for the duration. 

What is interesting is the same (or another) raccoon shows-up periodically at this location.  And because this is a nocturnal critter the photo opportunity is always after dark.

After the snows got really, really deep the masked bandit hasn't shown.  However, when the snows abate look who comes around.

I haven't any idea how far they range on their nightly ramblings but I wonder if this one has a den close by.

Masked Bandit

click on image to enlarge

Meet Procyon lotor – the Northern Raccoon. This may singularly be the largest raccoon I've had the pleasure to photograph with a trail camera.  The word raccoon comes from the Native American word arakum meaning - he who scratches with his hand. 

While a raccoon‘s paw has five fingers they do not have an opposable thumb.  As a consequence, raccoons lack the dexterity of primates.  Nevertheless, they will use their hands to pick-up and carry objects, hunt and fish. They are intrepid climbers and can swim as well.  

A nocturnal animal they can grow up to twenty pounds and a couple of feet in length. While the animal in the photo looks cuddly and huggable you should never make a grab for a raccoon as they’re not going to reciprocate your advances and will likely bite and scratch.  They are also known to be rabid or infected with roundworm, leptospirosis and salmonella. 

Yuck! 

Raccoons do not hibernate during the cold winter months – however they do sleep a great deal and put on an extra layer of fat for the duration. It has occurred to me that this might just be mama raccoon.  Mama will whelp a litter of three to six offspring per year – usually in May.  Born with their eyes closed a newborn is called a kit.  A group of raccoons is called a nursery or a gaze and they’ll leave the den at seven to eight weeks of age.
    

My Kingdom for a Predator

There seems to be an overabundance of rabbit poop on the landscape.  It’s possible it has always been there and the snow covering the ground provides the contrast for increased visibility.  Nevertheless, the Labs seem to be drawn to the flower beds around the perimeter of the house to dine upon all of the accumulated rabbit pellets. 

I know for sure that the rabbits prefer to den in the relative safety underneath the lean-to porch of the granary.  And the dogs are drawn to snuffing and searching there too.  Arising in the morning there are bunny tracks on the snow-covered porch surrounding the house.  My impression is that there are too many rabbits on the landscape.    

Meet Sylvilagus floridanus – the Eastern Cottontail.  This is a true New World cottontail rabbit - a member of the family Leporidae.  It is the most common rabbit species in North America distributed across a range from southern Canada to South America and from the east coast of the United States to New Mexico and Arizona.   This critter eats a wide range of plants including twigs and bark in the winter months.

Mostly nocturnal, crepuscular (evening and twilight) it becomes quite active in late winter when the males fight to establish breeding dominance. The eastern cottontail can jump a distance of up to fifteen feet and when pursued by a predator will leap from side to side to break its scent trail.  Top speed for this rabbit is fifteen miles per hour. 

Mating begins this month and the female will give birth about a month from now to four or five young – naked and with their eyes closed.   Mama will build a nest in a depression in the ground and line it with soft materials and fur from her chest.  The young are nursed at dawn and at dusk, weaned after about three weeks and leave the nest at the seven week point.  Most females can mate again just hours after giving birth. Females can have three or four litters a year. Eastern cottontails are ready to mate when they are only three months old and capable of producing as many as thirty-five offspring in a year.  This is one of the most prolific mammals on the landscape. 

My kingdom for a predator…..