Team Squirrel (us) spent the day on the tundra near Atigan Pass in the Brooks Range with our namesake-the arctic ground squirrels. We set out 40 wire cage live traps baited with carrot sticks. Yum. The squirrels can't seem to resist these treats as we caught some of them a couple of times in the same day. They just kept coming back for more! After several hours of baiting the traps and letting them sit for an hour or so, we caught about six squirrels.
Releasing an arctic ground squirrel from the trap
Once captured, we tagged their ear with a color coded tag, then took measurements of weight and size to monitor their health condition. Today's squirrels were then all released. Later, we hope to catch several male squirrels for our experiment to better understand how the 24 hours of daylight here effect their daily cycles of activity and rest.
Measuring the weight of a squirrel to monitor their physical condition
While waiting for the squirrels to take the bait, we had a chance to explore the surrounding Atigan river and Galbraith lake. Along the way we saw lots of bird life and some large wolf tracks in the sand.
The Lake is still pretty frozen for the polar plunge challenge!
I stumbled upon this pair of rock ptarmigan while exploring the Atigan river area. The females are difficult to spot with their tundra camo, but the male's snow camo and bright red gives them away once the snow is gone.
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