Students from Athens State University Biology Program helping install a fence and camera trap to survey small wildlife such as the eastern harvest mouse in the bottom right picture above.
MONTGOMERY-The Alabama Nongame Wildlife Program is charged with managing, protecting, conserving, and enhancing nongame wildlife in Alabama. This includes birds, reptiles, amphibians, and small mammals. Hundreds of these species are considered to be at some level of conservation concern. Often the first step to enact conservation for these species is simply locate where they occur across the state. Annually, Nongame Wildlife Biologists conduct a variety of surveys to inventory and monitor for both imperiled and more common species.
Recently one of our nongame biologists experimented with a commonly used technique to inventory for small mammals, amphibians, and reptiles by adding a new twist on an old technique. Herp arrays employ a long fence, sometimes with multiple arms, to guide reptiles, amphibians, and small mammals into traps placed at each end. Traps must be checked each day to identify and release captured animals. This summer an innovative re-design was deployed that uses cameras with a short focal length to “capture” images of animals as they pass through a bucket at the end of each fence. The buckets are baited with sunflower seeds to attract rodents, and possibly other species. This has the benefit of avoiding stress to the animal, as it is not detained, and alleviates staff workload incurred since traps do not need to be checked daily. Initial testing of this method allowed for detection of multiple species, including several species of mice, snakes, and even a Carolina wren, and indicates that it could be an effective tool for surveying wildlife in a timely manner.
To learn more about the nongame program’s current projects check out the Outdoor Alabama website HERE.
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