It's Trapping Time!!

Today we set out traps for small rodents, voles, mice and possibly chipmunks. They are called Longfellow traps and have straw in them to help maintain the animal's body temperature and seeds to attract them. Trapped animals will be weighed, sexed and put through a timidity tray (mouse maze) that we constructed today. We set out 100 traps that will be checked twice daily. The sun made a nice appearance this afternoon and it was a great day to be outdoors. Other than being close to the ocean, this is a lot like Northern Minnesota. Similar tree species, wildlife, terrain and, so far, weather. Nova Scotia fact of the day: Nova Scotia is Canada's second smallest province, has about 7500 km of oceanshore and 3000 lakes.

No whales, yet, but I'll keep looking. There are no wolves in Nova Scotia, but a good sized coyote population. The cottage I'm staying in is just a couple blocks from the ocean, is uninsulated and pretty cold (there are heaters in the bedrooms). We smell the scat to identify the animal as some scat looks the same. For example, river otter scat smells sweet, while mink scat, which looks similar, has a strong, musky smell. The scat smells the way it does from the food the animal eats as well as the location of scent glands in some species that use scat for marking their territory. We haven't had an opportunity to talk to any Canadians yet, but hopefully will this Saturday in Halifax.