Wintertime fieldwork

It's #fieldworkFriday! Although it's hard to believe on a morning like this with the temperature hovering around -13F, our fieldwork continues through the winter. Citizen science trackers from the Cedar Creek Wildlife Survey have been out on the landscape, adding their documentation of wildlife track and sign to what we capture on the cameras. You can read about their recent adventures and see pictures of some of the many things they have found this winter found on collaborator Jon Poppele's blog here. 

This week, we have turned our attention to our mid-winter camera checks. There are quite a few cameras that are nearly impossible to access when the ground isn't frozen. ~30% of Cedar Creek's 5500 acres are wetlands, marshes and floodplains, so even if a camera is on dry land, the access may be through a swamp or creeklet. We try to get out to these cameras at least once during the winter, as well as paying a visit or two to the easier-to-access cameras. It is important that we keep on top of camera checks so that the cams don't run out of battery or fill up their SD cards and stop taking pictures. We also want to make sure we have images for our volunteers to look at, which isn't easy given the current pace of classifications!

Earlier this week, project technician Carmen Ebel headed out to check cameras with fellow intern Daav Sannerud. Thank goodness for snowshoes - it's beautiful out there, but the walking isn't easy! Particularly when you have to get off the beaten track to access some of the further-flung cameras. 

    

Luckily the hoarfrost had melted by the time they headed out, and they had some bright sunshine and blue skies! That always helps make a day feel warmer and more productive, even with temperatures lingering in the teens or single digits above zero. 

You never know what you will find on a calm and clear winter day. The snow is a great place to look for the tracks of our local foxes and deer, resident and overwintering birds like the red-headed woodpecker, bald eagle or barred owl might make an appearance, and there are always interesting mushrooms to find!

One of the challenges of checking cameras this time of year is that it just takes so long. The added effort of trudging through the snow, even on snowshoes, means that the number of cameras that can be accessed in a single day is pretty low. Gone is the time of checking 30-40 cameras in the course of a workday! With solitude and scenery like this to enjoy though, we aren't complaining too much. :)

Thanks for sharing these lovely pictures with us, Carmen! And thanks for checking the cameras - with the volunteers plowing through season 5, we'll need the next batch of pictures uploaded soon! :)