Mongoose blogs

5 March 2015

buzzh — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 00:53:26 +0000

Waking to the mournful calls of Zenaida Doves and the buzzzy trill of the Bananquits flitting amongst the leaves as the day dawned was a sharp contrast to the sounds of the circulating pump on my boiler sending hot water to the radiators in my old house in Massachusetts. After breakfast I paddled a kayak nearly a km in the West End Salt Pond in search of deep water to place the Hobo temperature/light sensor pendant loggers. The deepest I found was approximately 0.5 meter where I placed several loggers.

Steve and I set just 15 traps this afternoon on the Refuge. After laying in more substantial provisions we tested my new Seek thermal imaging attachment to my iPhone.

Jonathan Studying?	Jonathan Waving
Moon over St. Croix
Thermal Image Moon over St. Croix

4 March 2015

buzzh — Thu, 05 Mar 2015 02:02:26 +0000

I awoke this morning at 2:30 to several inches of snow that I had to shovel before we left for the airport -- a fitting sendoff to a tropical adventure. Fortunately, the freezing rain ended before midnight and the roads to Bradley International Airport were clear or slushy, but not icy. We arrived at Bradley just after 4 am for a 6:40 am flight, so there were no delays going through security and we were at the gate a full two hours prior to departure. I would rather sit in a warm, dry airport for two hours waiting for a flight than sitting in a ditch on the side of the road watching the plane leave.

Because the temperatures were above freezing, there were no delays and we landed on St, Croix shortly before 4:00 pm eastern Atlantic time. After stopping at the grocery store for the "bare necessities," we headed to Cottages By The Sea and jumped into the Caribbean! The air temperature was 82^oF and the water temp was 78^oF. A welcome contrast to the coldest and snowiest winter on record in New England!

South Middle School Blog

Anonymous — Mon, 02 Mar 2015 11:48:10 +0000

Welcome to the South Middle School, Westfield, MA Blog!

16 April 2014

buzzh — Thu, 17 Apr 2014 01:44:51 +0000

We awoke this morning to snow covered lawns, slippery roads, and a temperature of 30 F. Yesterday Mike Evans told me the temperature on St. Croix this past winter never dropped below 68 F. After a long, cold, and snowy winter it definitely feels good to be returning to St. Croix to trap mongoose dem. At check-in we were told to go through a special security check where we didn't empty our pockets, remove our shoes and jackets, nor send laptops through the scanner by themselves. Less than 15 minutes elapsed from counter check-in to standing in line at Dunkin Donuts for Jonathan's breakfast wrap. The time we spent in line at DD was longer than the security check-in - something that has not occurred since 9/11 when fear was substituted for reason in domestic and foreign policy.

In my role as Chapter President of the union (MSCA) representing the Faculty and Librarians at Westfield State University (WSU) I meet with WSU President Dr. Liz Preston. In our bi-weekly meeting yesterday we discussed the fact that we are likely in non-compliance with numerous state and federal laws and regulations. However, in many of those cases there seems to be no one in the state or federal government who can actually identify the specific rules we might violate until after we violate them. This system sounds too much like the games I play with my eleven-year old son Jonathan. If I start winning he tells me I am cheating. It is all in good fun and assists us both in establishing those very critical boundaries that he must develop and I must refine. The thought of state and federal regulatory agencies playing the same games with potential legal consequences is disconcerting at best and paralyzing at worst. Yet another reason to escape to a tiny, backwater, Caribbean island whenever I get the chance.

We arrived at Cottages By The Sea at around 3:30 pm, unpacked, got organized, engaged in spiritual healing in the waters of the Caribbean, and went to dinner at the Lost Dog in Frederiksted. We returned to Cottages in time to see the Mexican free-tailed bats eating dinner on the fly along the beach. I was also excited when one of my former students from McPherson College, Ty Burden, crossed the threshold of our cottage. Ty has been coming to Cottages ever since I introduced him to St. Croix 22 years ago. Our paths have finally crossed.

16 March 2013

buzzh — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 19:39:57 +0000

This morning Diane and I went to the Farmer's Market at 5:30 am. I am now convinced that the rumors are true - the best fruits and vegetables are gone by 7:00 am. We picked up ripe bananas, ackee, tomatoes, kale, and several others I had never seen. Needless to say we had a delicious feast for our last breakfast on the island, thanks to Diane.

On our way to the airport, we drove up to Ham's Bluff and then back via Creque Dam Road and Mahogany Road. The road is torn up where they have laid a fiber backbone, as part of the stimulus package, that apparently connects to the junction of the fiber cables from South, Central, and North Americas and Africa. The lack of rainfall during the past several months is apparent as everything appears as brown as it does in July and August.

It has been another successful expedition, but now it is time to say good bye until we return in July.

15 March 2013

buzzh — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 19:33:31 +0000

All seven mongoose captured today had been previously marked. Our video camera revealed that a cat was the likely suspect who has been messing with our traps.

The crew set out a trail camera at Great Salt Pond trail and captured an image of the white phase of a Great Blue Heron and a sunset.

White phase of a Great Blue Heron at Great Salt Pond, Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge, St. Croix, VI.

Sunset over Great Salt Pond, Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge, St. Croix, VI.

After lunch we dropped a sad Dianne at the airport. I know how she feels - it is always hard to leave St. Croix, but as Carmen our dear friend at Cottages by the Sea always states: you can't come back if you don't leave.

One of the more delightful residents on this island is the handsome little anole lizard. The video below is a male showing off his dewlap and his upper body strength.

We kept the land crab overnight in a trap bag to collect fecal samples to test for microplastics and then released him back where we originally captured him. Crabs are consumate scavengers and if any creature can find microplastics, it is Mr. Crabs.

Today is a sad day for several reasons. First, we had to pack up all our equipment and prepare for tomorrow's departure. Second, Tom Benedict, the last of the three brothers who built Cottages by the Sea passed away this afternoon. He was born in Frederiksted 82 years ago and died in the place of his birth. His wife Carol died last year. Tom was a gentle soul who was loved by many.

14 March 2013

buzzh — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 10:58:39 +0000

We captured six animals today: 3 male mongoose, one Norway rat, a land crab, and an unidentified beast (see image below). Two of the male mongoose were recaptures from July 2012 and one was a recapture from March 2012.

Unknown creature trapped on Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge.

We visited Point Udall after lunch before visiting Christiansted. We hiked to the water where Brad was surprised by a rather large wave that sent one of his sandals out to sea. Although the next land mass going east from St. Croix is Africa (if you squint really hard and use your imagination, you can see it), the currents may deliver his sandal back to his home on Natucket in time for summer!

Diane, Brenda, Jonathan, and Dianne looking for Africa from Point Udall, St. Croix.

Brad getting a closer look at the Caribbean at Point Udall, St. Croix.

Man, where did that wave come from?.

Where is my right sandal?

13 March 2013

buzzh — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 09:56:14 +0000

We checked our traps at approximately 10:00 am again this morning and we captured eight animals - four recaptures and four new animals. One of the recaptures was a female we originally captured as a juvenile last July. We recapture juveniles as adults very infrequently, so it is an exciting event when it happens. It is much more common to recapture juveniles within a week or two of being first captured. This leads me to one of two alternative hypotheses: (1) juvenile survival rates are low, or (2) juveniles disperse off the refuge. Currently I have no way of discriminating between these two alternatives but I can conclude that the majority of recruitment of mongoose into the refuge population comes from outside the refuge. Therefore, it seems that an effective control mechanism for mongoose on the refuge would be to install a physical barrier. At a time when finances are extremely tight, I don't see this happening. Instead, there is a nuisance wildlife control officer from the US. Department of Agriculture using kill-traps to eliminate mongoose adjacent to the turtle nesting beaches. Mongoose have been documented as sea turtle nest predators. However, the extent of their impact on sea turtle populations is unknown.

Once we establish our trap sites there is a trap at each station at all times. If a trap has a mongoose in it, we replace the trap with a different trap and transport the mongoose back to our field lab for processing. Several hours later we return the mongoose to the capture location. Today we captured a second male mongoose at a trap site that had captured a male several hours earlier. I can think of two possible explanations for this phenomenon. First, I don't believe mongoose are territorial on St. Croix despite the fact that males are 50% larger than females. I derive this hypothesis from 30+ years of trapping and repeatedly capturing different males at the same trap location on successive days. It appears that male mongoose wander about and don't defend a specific territory. They do, however, seem to have certain areas that they confine their movements to. They likely have home ranges that overlap and fluctuate. I need tracking devices attached to them to test this hypothesis. An alternative hypothesis is that male mongoose act like dogs and scent-mark on top of another male mongoose scent mark, in this case the trap location. It is not likely to be the trap that is marked because traps change as animals are captured. Again, tracking data will allow me to differentiate between these two alternatives. Unfortunately, radio-telemetry is not effective in the dense vegetation that they inhabit and at the present time the commercially available GPS-enabled telemetry devices are outside by budget.

After dark we went searching for scorpions on the Refuge and found only one in the leaf litter. We ran into Mike Evans, Refuge Manager on the beach as we went to view the stars. There is little light pollution on the tip of Sandy Point and one can see trillions of stars. It is truly a breathtaking few of the sky. Mike was waiting for the turtle crew, who walk the beach each night during for months looking for nesting sea turtles. The locations of all nests are recorded and the number of eggs laid per nest. The hatchlings will emerge during the summer. This year there have only been three leatherback sea turtle nests - but the nesting season has just started.

Leatherback sea turtle hatchlings emerging from their nest on Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge.

Image (captured with my iPhone) of a scorpion illuminated by a black-light on Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge.

An image of the same scorpion under normal light and captured with Nikon D60. Approximate size is 2.5 cm.

12 March 2013

buzzh — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 09:54:16 +0000

We checked our traps at approximately 10:00 am again this morning and we only captured four mongoose - three males and one female. One male and one female were originally captured and marked in July 2012. Many of the traps had the chicken feet (bait) removed; some of those traps were sprung, but others were not. It is not easy to determine how the bait goes missing, but it happens frequently. Securing the bait with with string and wire doesn't seem to deter the the thieves and takes a lot of time. We have observational and trail-camera video data that indicate some mongoose reach into the traps from the side and steal the bait while others step over the trip-mechanism to steal the bait. I have no idea if there are one or a few very skilled and sneaky mongoose who are stealing the bait, or if they all do it once in a while. These kind of data are especially difficult to obtain, and to me not worth the effort. Instead, I just keep score - mongoose 1003 and Buzz 1002.

After releasing the mongoose we went to an abandoned rum distillery just north of Frederiksted that is a roosting site for thousands of Antillean fruit-eating bats (Brachyphylla cavernarum). As we stood in the darkened building listening to their vocalizations and their wing beats, some in our group were less than happy at the shower of bat poop and pee that was raining down from above. I guess they need a little more time in the field to truly appreciate the experience!

Antillean fruit-eating bats in an abandoned rum distillery on the outskirts of Frederiksted, St. Croix.

11 March 2013

buzzh — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 01:12:27 +0000

It felt good to be back in the routine of processing more than one or two mongoose - today we caught eight animals. Four of those animals were recaptures - one from two days ago and three from previous expeditions. Two recaptured males were first captured and marked on 22 July 2012 and a female had a dead microchip that I replaced. I have no idea when she was first captured, but she is at least 4-5 years of age (according to the wear on her teeth). In the image below you can see that her canines are worn down to the roots. Exposed roots would make my mouth ache and make me very cranky. However, exposed roots don't seem to impact their behavior in traps - none of them like to be in traps although many come back for a free lunch.

Female mongoose with extremely worn canine teeth

Male mongoose with a missing upper right canine

I am always impressed with the number of mongoose that I capture with teeth worn down to almost nothing and the roots exposed. It seems that they should have terrible toothaches. Even more fascinating to me is how carnivores survive with out their canine teeth. Apparently their diets on St. Croix don't require the traditional functionality of canine teeth.