T.A. Squirrel Project Update

After an extensive permitting process and some small mammal handling training last fall, the Thornton Academy Squirrel Project was born. This is an ongoing research project focusing on the eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) population at and round T.A. Working with my Maine Fish and Wildlife Students and two dedicated lab aides, we caught and collared ten squirrels in the forest near the eastern trail. These squirrels were fitted with green poly-coated wire collars, each with its own color coded crimp. Our main goal was to estimate the population of gray squirrels on campus.

An example of the collars our study squirrels are wearing. 

This form of population estimate is known as "Mark and Recpature". Typically we would have continued trapping and recording the ratio of collared to non-collard squirrels in our traps as the year went on. In leu of the gray squirrel's learning abilities and tendency to become tougher and tougher to trap the more they are handled, the study was designed using a trail camera and feeder station during the recapture phase. Rachel Richard and Victoria Renell, both seniors pursing higher education in the natural sciences next year, were lab aides tasked with checking traps and then maintaining the feeder and trail camera setup. Each day, they would swap SD cards in the camera and sift through hundreds of photos recording the number of squirrels visiting and how many of them were sporting a stylish green collar. In all, they sorted through over 13,000 photos during the monthlong recapture period!

 This was the largest squirrel in the study with a pink/green crimp on her collar.

This squirrel cooperated and held the feeder open long enough for our T.A. sticker to come in clearly.

At the end of year one, our math indicated a population of nineteen gray squirrels roaming the T.A. forest around the Eastern Trail. However, as is often the case in science, our initial findings seemed to yield more questions than they did answers. How far squirrels will travel to visit a feeder and the mysterious disappearance of seven out of the ten collared squirrels left us puzzled and looking for ways to figure these questions out. Hopefully we will get closer to answering these questions in year two, stay tuned.

Last week, I filled the feeder with corn and set the camera back up in hopes of checking-in on some of our study squirrels. It didn't take long for them to show up. A female initially captured October 5th last year was documented on the feeder multiple times over the course of a few days. This has been our most reliable collared squirrel with a seemingly small home range. We had some of the usual non-squirrel visitors as well including a raccoon that spent hours enjoying the corn from the feeder over the course of the week.

Our first study squirrel looking healthy nearly six months after her initial capture.

No collar on this one, just a great shot that I had to share.

Our night time squirrel cam visitor.