Squirrel Trapping Update

As of this writing, we have trapped a total of twelve squirrels since October 11th. Of those twelve individuals, three were young of the year and thus too small to be fitted with collars, another was a recapture from this year. This means that in the past two weeks, we have collared eight squirrels. Most notably, the first squirrel captured was sporting a green collar from last year's research! This squirrel was fitted with another green collar, this time including a fancy RFID microchip. The remaining squirrels have all been fitted with an orange collar. Keeping the green collars on our "year one" squirrels will help us to keep track of year class in our future observations and begin to build some idea of possible life span.

A squirrel waits in a live trap on campus.

Subscribers may remember last week's post regarding our struggle to capture squirrels on this bumper acorn year. All of this changed when we added walnuts to the equation. After searching around online, I found a story where a Minnesota biologist with the same trouble capturing squirrels began having success after switching to walnuts for bait. The next day I sweetened my offering by sticking with the usual chunky peanut butter but adding a few walnut halves. Immediately, we began catching squirrels. It seems that while acorns are plentiful, a fresh walnut is too much to resist. Lab aide, Sam is preparing to equip a squirrel feeder with a RFID sensor in the next week or so. We are hoping to begin monitoring multiple feeder sites within the next few weeks. Stay tuned!

This photo was taken moments after release of a campus squirrel. Look closely for the orange collar.