01-09-15 Field Note

01-09-15 Field Note

January 9, 2015

Jeff Clarke's first field note of the year describes habitat piles, caddis flies, and muskrats.

Habitat piles, inversion, muskrats, red squirrel, caddis fly

Over the last few years, a 40 yard pile of wood and debris accumulated in Partridge Alley. This winter I will relocate all the fence posts to make new habitat piles. I will burn piles of hounds tongue, wood stakes and other rubbish in a bin.

The new habitat piles will provide shelter for small mammals and birds.

Deer tracks walk toward an aspen grove. A buck and rail exclosure diverts their path and protects a few aspen stems

A red squirrel sits silent and motionless as I pass beneath its perch.

Muskrats remain active through the winter months. To get air, they breathe trapped air pockets and gnaw holes through the ice. Pictured below, geese tracks, frozen in slush, avoid a gnawed hole.