Field Notes
FotoFauna First Year Results—The Species in Your Neighborhood
November 24, 2021When I first moved to Tucson and found a badger footprint outside one summer morning, I was shocked — I had no idea my neighborhood had badgers! Now with the first-year results of Sky Island FotoFauna wildlife monitoring data available, you too can discover which species live in your local area. Explore our new FotoFauna Dashboard to tour the Sky Island region…
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Sky Island FotoFauna: Introducing Our New Lending Library Kit Program
November 23, 2021Earlier this year, we sat down as a team to brainstorm how to make Sky Island FotoFauna more accessible to rural communities and schools. Our solution was to launch a “lending library” program for FotoFauna cameras — and we’re excited to share that we’ve kicked off our first lending library location in Arizona* this month! [What is Sky Island FotoFauna? Click here!] How does the lending library work? Starting November…
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FotoFauna First Year Results—Species by the Numbers
November 15, 2021If you regularly check a wildlife camera at home, you probably have an excellent sense of which wildlife species are photographed most often at your camera site. For my home cameras, cottontails and mourning doves are the two species that show up most reliably day after day. This means there are likely many individual cottontails and mourning doves active…
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Field Notes: Porcupines in the Sky Islands? A More Likely Sighting than You Think
November 10, 2021Photo captions: A North American porcupine hanging out on a log on a Border Wildlife Study camera. In September 2021, one of our Border Wildlife Study cameras detected this adorable porcupine as it crossed a log. Based on the timestamps, it hung out there for two hours! The North American porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum) is a temperate species found in…
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Webinar Recap: Tips for Living Well with Urban Wildlife
November 4, 2021This morning, Zoë Rossman, urban ecologist and University of New Mexico Ph.D student, opened our eyes to the amazing adaptations of wildlife thriving in our cities and spoke to how we can all live in harmony with urban animals. You can watch her full presentation here: Zoë explained that the species that live near us…
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Summer Intern Stories: Mi Experiencia En Cámaras Trampas / My Experience with a Wildlife Camera
November 1, 2021Escrito por Gabriela Alejandra Smith Ramírez, participante del Programa Binacional de Pasantías de Sky Island Alliance. / Written by Gabriela Alejandra Smith Ramírez, a 2021 Sky Island Alliance Binational Internship Program participant. En mi carrera como estudiante de biología no había tenido la oportunidad de tener experiencia con cámaras trampa, ni nada que se le pareciera, sucede…
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Summer Intern Stories: Mi Cámara Silvestre / My Wildlife Camera
Escrito por Fátima Sotelo Molinar, participante del Programa Binacional de Pasantías de Sky Island Alliance. Desde el primer mes trabajando con la cámara de FotoFauna he quedado admirada y muy entusiasmada en seguir viendo las capturas que he obtenido con mi cámara. Desde la primera vez que revise la memoria he tenido avistamientos que no me esperaba. Muchas especies que uno no imagina llegar a tener tan cerca. He tenido muchas fotografías algunas sin interés porque la cámara con cualquier movimiento captura una imagen. Pero en otras…
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Tips for Protecting Wild Cats #2: Brake for Bobcats!
October 22, 2021We believe in a world where iconic wild cats thrive, a world where park staff and local communities are united and provide safe passage for wildlife across public lands and private ranches in Northern Mexico and Southern Arizona. Since we hope to achieve this vision through our 1,000 Cats Project, we are launching this series of…
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Friday Flora Feature: Arizona Fishhook Pincushion (Mammillaria grahamii)
October 14, 2021When hiking through southeastern Arizona in the desert or woodlands, it’s a real treat to see the Arizona Fishhook Pincushion cactus (Mammillaria grahamii) growing cryptically under palo verde trees, creosote shrubs, or even under other cacti. Over the course of the year, M. grahamii fluctuates between a state of full camouflage nestled among Sonoran Desert rocks or a state of being on full display with a shock of bright pink flowers or even brighter…
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Summer Intern Stories: How Fauna and Flora can be Used Sustainably on Sonoran Cattle Ranches
October 7, 2021Written by Mónica Montaño, a 2021 Sky Island Alliance Binational Internship Program participant. A rancher’s main concern is the production of either goat or bovine cattle, either for the sale of offspring, for meat production, or for the production of dairy foods. However, many ranchers also have the habit of practicing hunting, unfortunately sometimes in…
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