Thursday trapping at Cook's Lake

Good evening everyone! We had a very tiring but great day today. I caught only one vole. We haven't caught any other small mammals.
We are hoping to catch one of three types of mice, shrew, bog lemmings, or chipmunks. We have only caught the red-backed voles. The voles (as you have seen) are very cute. We still hope to see and catch other mammals. The snowshoe hares are doing well judging from the amount of poo we have found. We are not trapping them; they do not trap well. I do not know if that means that they will die easily or if they aren't easy to trap. We are not trapping other mammals right now. Some mammals we are studying by looking at their poo. Keep in mind that we are NOT hurting the animals. We are just weighing them (to see how healthy/skinny they are), we are cutting their hair (just a little bit) to recognize if we have caught them before, and we are checking to see their gender (boy or girl). There is evidence that beavers are active in the Cook's Lake area. Because they are nocturnal we won't have many opportunities to see them. I know we will give it a try later this week (either Saturday or Sunday).


TODAY'S UPDATE:
We checked our traps this morning. My traps were empty. The weather is warming up tremendously. It is still chilly and jackets are needed but it is definitely warming up. The frogs come out about noon, when the sun is fully shining. It is weird that there is still snow on the ground in some places. I made a video of me releasing my vole today. Now you will have a chance to see that I really did release it. Our main job today was to clear a path through the forest. We are doing this for several reasons. The main reason is to help the research scientists carry things on their ATV. Right now we have to walk everywhere. It is a good thing that I like to exercise because we have to walk a LOT carrying. Anyway, the path is mainly to allow us to walk through the woods neatly. A person from the Department of Natural Resources came out and suggested that some paths be cleared. Many years ago the original trees were cleared by the settlers. Those types of trees (hemlock and white pine) did not regrow. Different types of pine trees and spruce trees grew in their place and have remained there. We had axes, saws, and trimmers and we (the teachers) chopped down many trees and cleared a very nice path that is about a quarter of a mile long. After several hours of clearning the path, we checked our traps again and I discovered that I had caught a vole again. He was a 'recapture' meaning he had been caught by us already. In my previous posts, I have asked several questions. One was why the hare changed from white to brown. They do this for camoflauge purposes (to hide from predators).

I now want you to think about this... Today I told you that we've only caught voles. We are still hoping to catch lemmings, mice, or chipmunks. By not catching these animals, we are gathering data. Using your inference skills, I want you to tell me what you think this information tells us. What are we learning from not catching the other small mammals?