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Channel: Small Mammals – The Adirondack Almanack
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Redefining Vermin: A Short History of Wildlife Eradication

Beware! Pictured here are your adversaries—the official enemies of the state. Don’t be distracted by the pretty colors, lovely feathers, or furry critters. These are vermin, and citizens are urged to...

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Ed Kanze: At Dusk A Strange Beast in The Driveway

While I wish I could boast instant recognition when the animal popped up in front of me, the fact was for a few seconds I was stumped.The light was poor and it was nearly 5:30 on a dim winter...

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Beavers And Trees: A Woodland Arms Race

Around a beaver pond, we sometimes catch a whiff of beaver odor. People have described it to me as smoky, woody, or like tobacco. It may waft over from the lodge, or it might emanate from scent mounds...

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Owl Pellets: Down the Hatch and Back Again

“She’s so cute!” a little girl coos to the snowy white owl. The owl blinks languidly, ignoring her admirer. No doubt she is used to human attention, as she is one of the more popular raptors housed at...

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Mink, Muskrat, Beaver Or Otter: Who Goes There?

Now you see it, now you don’t: something brown in or near the water, hopping, swimming, or doing something else that catches your eye. The suspect list includes mink, muskrat, beaver, and otter. Listen...

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Adirondack Wildlife: Maturing Bats

August is when a majority of wildlife families dissolve, as the young gradually start to wander from their parent’s care and begin finding food for themselves and developing the strategies for...

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Jumping Mice: Long Tailed Leapers

The woodland jumping mouse, as its name indicates, lives in forested areas. It is hard to observe, but common in the Northeast. If you have a chance to see one up close, perhaps courtesy of a cat,...

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Adirondack Wildlife: A Red Squirrel Uprising?

The populations of all forms of wildlife continuously rise and fall as a number of highly changeable environmental factors influences the success, or failure of each species. While variations in the...

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The Odor Side of Otters

We slid our canoe over the beaver dam and paddled into the upper, smaller pond. A breeze rippled the water and rustled the reeds lining the shore. Suddenly I spied four long, sleek brown figures...

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Researchers Finding Lyme Disease in Adirondacks

Researchers from Paul Smith’s College are finding Lyme Disease in ticks and small mammals in the Adirondack Park.Paul Smith’s College professor Lee Ann Sporn is heading her college’s involvement in a...

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Adirondack Wildlife: Wayfaring Porcupines

Big game hunters and auto body repair shops know well that early to mid November is the time in the Adirondacks when deer are on the move; however the white-tail is not the only creature that breeds...

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How Beavers Survive Adirondack Winters

One fall a young beaver, probably a two-year-old kicked out by its parents, built a small lodge in the old mill pond below our house. On cold January days when temperatures were below zero, I looked at...

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Wildlife Animosity: Crows and Owls

Animosity is an emotion not solely restricted to humans, as several forms of wildlife occasionally display an outward aversion to specific creatures, even through such an antagonistic attitude seems to...

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The Subnivean Zone: Life Under The Snow

Every animal must develop its own way of dealing with winter. Migrate, hibernate, or insulate; these are common strategies. For a few small mammals, survival depends on the snow itself, and the deeper...

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DEC Seeks Input on Threatened Species

The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is revising its list of Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN), which includes species that are at risk in New York.  The list is now in it’s...

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The Meadow Vole in Winter

New Years is a time when many people contemplate shedding those extra pounds gained between Thanksgiving and Christmas. For numerous forms of wildlife, late autumn through winter can be a protracted...

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Mystery Middens: Red Squirrels In Winter

In the woods behind our house, there’s a pile of cones and gnawed apart bracts – easily two feet deep and twice as wide – built against the trunk of a tall hemlock. We’ve watched over consecutive...

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Fish and Wildlife Service May Weaken Bat Protections

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has proposed weakening protections for the northern long-eared bat by reducing its stats from “endangered” to “threatened”. Advocates for endangered species say...

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Adirondack Snowshoe Hares in Winter

For the past 14 years, my Winter Ecology students and I have spent a lot of time outdoors, studying the preferred habitat features and winter foods of snowshoe hares. We’re likely to find hare tracks...

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What Wildlife Gets Inside Your Home?

We two-leggeds build inviting habitats and fill them with ample food supplies. We heat these spaces in winter, cool them in summer, and keep them dry year-round. And when our wild neighbors have the...

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