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Team Mammal
9:30 a.m.
I hop into a white Park Service vehicle with Scott Bates and Doug Curtis from the Center for Urban Ecology in DC and, accompanied by Conservancy photographer Mark Godfrey, we head for Great Falls Park in Virginia.
Scott, a tall, soft-spoken wildlife biologist, spends much of the year keeping tabs on the various parks’ prolific deer populations, whose effect on native vegetation in the gorge is a concern for both the NPS and Conservancy.
As leader of the BioBlitz’s small mammal team, Scott originally planned an attempt to find a rare Allegheny woodrat, which some scientists believe may have disappeared from the region. However, shorthanded due to the illness of another team member, Scott and Doug have targeted a more promising quarry.
“Southern flying squirrels have not been officially documented in the park on the Virginia side,” says Scott. “We know they’re here, so I’m trying to add an official species listing.”
9:40 am
We pull off the road to start checking the 10 catch-and-release traps Scott has situated around the park according to a grid. He’s using a “fairly new occupation estimate method,” which, even from small samples, enables biologists to estimate the probability of a particular species’ occurrence.
“This is Difficult Run,” says Doug, and we head down a trail alongside a rushing creek, a few unexpected rays of sunlight filtering through overcast skies. He points out some movement on the opposite bank, and we watch until two heads snake above the grass to reveal a pair of Canada geese. Meanwhile, Scott veers off-trail and quickly announces that the first trap is empty.
10:00 am
We all clamber up a steep hillside where yellow flagging marks the way to trap 2. A miniature metal duct with a spring-loaded flap on one end perches atop large galvanized nails driven into a dead snag.
Open, but Scott checks the bait. The slice of apple and dab of Trapper’s Choice Pecan Surprise, which looks and smells like pecan pie filling, both remain intact.
“Two down,” Doug says.
10:50 am
We’re standing in the woods above the main parking lot at Great Falls. About 10 feet beyond the scant remains of a hawk, Scott stoops to pick up a talon from the leaf litter.
“Good eyes, buddy,” says Doug.
“Probably a great horned or barred owl was responsible for his demise,” says Scott.
Farther up the hill, we approach trap 5, resting silently against a dead snag.
“Nothing shaking or hollering,” Scott says.
“And we’re halfway done,” Doug adds.
11:53 am
My early-morning optimism about getting a close-up look at a flying squirrel has faded, but I note that our routine remains unchanged. Scott parks, opens the back hatch and takes out their walking sticks. Doug carries the cage in which they hope to bring back a squirrel for a brief visit to the education tent at Glen Echo.
We head up the Matildaville Trail to trap 9, finding it on the ground.
Unfortunately it’s also quiet and empty, and a half-hour later, so is the 10th and final trap. With no
late-inning rally to provide a perfect ending for this morning’s story, we make the return trip to base camp for lunch.
Next: Team Lepidoptera
BioBlitz Resources
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Read about how the BioBlitz revealed more than 1,000 species in the joint Conservancy-National Park Service press release.
- Learn more about the numbers of species identified by checking our updated species list (.doc, 8.72KB).
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Get to know some of the 130 scientists who converged on the Potomac Gorge to take part in the BioBlitz.
BioBlitz in the News
The Washington Post
Critter Count Blends Family Fun With Science
Potomac Gazette
Researchers to race the clock to study Potomac Gorge
