Spring has arrived here at squirrel camp and it's pretty exciting! Chipmunks are up and running around all over the place, the ground squirrels are also out and there’s one that’s living under the data hut. The snowshoe hares have started to change colour and are mottled looking right now, with brown fur coming in on their backs and the white winter fur still on their legs and feet. Bear tracks have been spotted on Agnes but no one has seen any bears yet. More birds have arrived in the area including yellow-rumped warblers, varied thrushes, white-crowned sparrows, and buffleheads have been seen on Sulphur pond. Lots of raptors have been spotted lately including bald eagles, red tailed hawks, harriers, and goshawks. A large porcupine has been roaming around the huts in camp. Almost all the snow has melted and even the mud has mostly dried up. A few mosquitoes have been seen flying around, but they’re not a problem yet. Juvenile red squirrels have started to emerge from their nests on all of the food addition grids, and they seem to be running around and rattling all over the place. The May midden census is in full swing, and the crew has been assessing the activity and conditions of the middens on each grid as well as trying to determine which squirrel owns each midden. The crew went on another short hike along the Alsek valley last week. It was a beautiful warm sunny day and the highlight was seeing a moose swim across the river.
JKS


Blog photo 1: A vigilant least chipmunk


Blog photo 2: The squirrel camp crew hiking along the Alsek valley


Blog photo 3: A snowshoe hare with its summer and winter coat


Blog photo 4: A juvenile red squirrel eating a spruce cone

We did another peanut butter addition to the experimental grids starting on April 17. It was the second PB add for the core field crew, and it went much smoother than the first one we did when we arrived at camp in March. There was much less peanut butter spillage this time and the cookshack stayed remarkably clean, and no one had got really covered in peanut butter either. We heated the cookshack up to a sweltering 35C to pour out the PB. It was almost like having a sauna right in squirrel camp! Putting out the peanut butter in the buckets on the grids also went really well and it was all done in two days.


Stirring the PB – Dieter, Bastien, Krystal and Beth stirring the peanut butter in the steamy cookshack.


Pouring the PB - Beth, Dieter, and Krystal pouring the liquidy peanut butter into yogurt containers.