Canadian Wildlife Journeys

To post interesting stories and photos related to conservation of wildlife in British Columbia, Canada.

[baskingbadger]

Winter range

Biologists in British Columbia are working to reverse the trend of conifer trees encroaching on historic grasslands. Crews will slash dense conifer thickets and either pile and burn them or prescribe a fire for the area. This work helps support wintering ungulates, such as Bighorn sheep where winter range becomes ingrown. This ingrowth gives the edge to predators, such as mountain lions as they can stalk their prey easier in the dense cover.

Bighorn sheep ram found in area where dense conifer regeneration has invaded open grassland winter range. This ram likely fell victim to a mountain lion.

Mountain lion (cougar, puma) tracks in snow.

Conifer ingrowth in bighorn sheep winter range (above).

Wide open spaces are needed to allow wintering bighorn sheep to survive harsh winters and avoid predators.

[baskingbadger]

“The last word in ignorance is the man who says of an animal or plant, "What good is it?" If the land mechanism as a whole is good, then every part is good, whether we understand it or not. If the biota, in the course of aeons, has built something we like but do not understand, then who but a fool would discard seemingly useless parts? To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering.” ― Aldo Leopold, Round River: From the Journals of Aldo Leopold

[baskingbadger]

Back in November and into December, both species of deer that occur in the interior of British Columbia go into breeding season, or the rut. Here are a few photos of both whitetail and mule deer during that period.

[baskingbadger]

Ontario boreal wolverine project investigated the ecology of wolverines in the boreal forests of northwestern Ontario. For more info on wolverines in the boreal forest (and other places wolverines roam) see: http://wolverinefoundation.org/resources/completed-reports/

[baskingbadger]

Badgers in British Columbia are considered 'endangered' both provincially and federally in Canada. One of the main factors for their decline west of the Rockies is roadkill. A project in the Cariboo region of BC studied the relationship between roads and badgers and found that badgers will readily use underpasses to cross under major highways.  Researchers found that up to 23 other species of wildlife were also using these underpass crossing structures.

By maintaining existing dry culverts and installing badger-specific underpasses along Highway 97 it is anticipated that road mortality may be reduced in high collision zones thus allowing badgers to continue to thrive in south-central BC, Canada. 

[baskingbadger]

Bear rub trees are used to mark a bear's territory. Here, a large male grizzly rubs his back on a small spruce tree along an old roadbed in the Rocky Mountains.

[baskingbadger]

Mineral licks for mountain goats

Many ungulate species require trace minerals in soil for maintaining their metabolic needs. Often referred to as salt licks or natural licks mountain goats will travel long distances down to low elevations through suboptimal habitats avoiding predators to reach these important sites.  These photos are from a low elevation mineral lick along a canyon in the Purcell Mountains.

The predator, a mountain lion or puma

[baskingbadger]

Timbered mountain passes

They are important for large carnivores as they act as corridors for movements between valleys. These are some images from a remote motion camera placed along a game trail in the Rocky Mountains of southeastern British Columbia. Two different grizzlies and a Canada lynx over the course of one week of monitoring.