The crew arrived in Kluane on February 14 and Jeff has been training them on how to trap and collar squirrels. By February 25, they will all be operating solo. They have trapped on Agnes and Kloo grids and are moving to Sulphur grid shortly. There is no sign of mating activity yet, but there is lots of bud clipping (this may indicate an upcoming cone mast in the late summer). The weather has been quite warm: nights are down around -14C and daytime temperatures reach 0C. This is 6-7 degrees warmer than normal. The snow conditions are not too onerous and breaking trail has been much easier than during our heavy snow year in 2004.


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This year's winter/spring crew will be heading North from Edmonton next Saturday (Feb 12th) in our new (well, new last year) 4X4 truck. The following people will be on the winter/spring crew...

- Jeff - 3rd field season, accompanied by his faithful pooch Evening
- Patrick - 1st time squirreller, extensive background in fish ecology
- Maureen - 1st time squirreller, lots of field experience in passerine and waterfowl ecology
- Christina - 1st time squirreller, field experience with Eastern Loggerhead Shrikes (a species at risk) and extensive experience in handling various species through wildlife rehabilitation

The crew will be reporting to the Red Squirrel Blog once they arrive in Squirrel Camp.
Safe travels.

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Well this is the first Squirrel Blog that is mostly just a test to see how this all will work out. Jeff and the crew will be heading North next week and trapping will start soon after that. Jeff will provide updates from Kluane when he gets there.
-AMc

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