Field Notes
Love Bats? This Fall, Help Us Monitor Their Activity
September 21, 2021At some point over the summer, did you wake up to discover that your hummingbird feeder had been drained and emptied seemingly overnight? If so, how exciting! You may have been visited by migratory bats. Photo credit: Four bats feeding from a hummingbird feeder after dusk. Taken by Emily Burns. For many years, community scientists…
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Acabamos de Tener Nuestro Primer Avistamiento de Serpientes en el Estudio de Vida Silvestre Fronteriza
September 16, 2021El 11 de julio, casi 16 meses después del inicio de nuestro Estudio de Vida Silvestre Fronteriza, nuestras cámaras trampa detectaron la primera serpiente del estudio: ¡una Culebra chirrionera de Sonora (Masticophis bilineatus)! Pie de foto: Una serpiente Chirrionera de Sonora deslizándose por un tronco caído (ve el lado izquierdo del tronco). La Culebra chirrionera de Sonora es una especie común que se ve en la región de las Islas del…
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Summer Intern Stories: Camera Traps, Experiences, and Sightings / Cámara Trampa, Experiencia y Avistamientos
September 9, 2021Escrito por Maybeth Yulissa Pinto Santana, participante del Programa Binacional de Pasantías de Sky Island Alliance 2021. / Written by Maybeth Yulissa Pinto Santana, a 2021 Sky Island Alliance Binational Internship Program participant. En toda la carrera mi encuentro más cercano a una cámara trampa fue una vez en un taller que tuvimos, donde nos…
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Watch Six Weeks of Wildlife at the Border during Monsoon
August 26, 2021I remember how loud the crunchy sound of extremely dry grass underfoot was in the San Rafael Valley near the U.S.-Mexico border earlier this year. For months, we had watched the decline in vegetation across the region during the exceptional drought of the last few years. With fewer and fewer wildlife detections on our Border…
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Summer Intern Stories: The Writing in the Sand—Wildlife Tracking in Aravaipa Canyon
August 16, 2021Written by Aleidys Lopez Romero, a 2021 Sky Island Alliance Binational Internship Program participant. While exploring the extravagant views offered within Aravaipa Canyon [this summer], Sky Island Alliance staff along with the Round River Conservation Studies group decided to go on a short wildlife tracking expedition. After a little bushwhacking, a rattlesnake sighting, and greeting several…
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Monsoons, Meso-carnivores, and Bears, Oh My! Two Months of Camera Data from the Coronado National Memorial
August 11, 2021A little over two months ago, Sky Island Alliance staff and intrepid volunteers extended our Border Wildlife Study east into the Coronado National Memorial in the Huachuca Mountains with Block 17. When we placed these cameras, the region was dry as a bone. With all the drought-deciduous oaks leaves dropping their leaves and the grass…
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Photo Gallery: Wildlife and Weather in the Sky Island Region
July 13, 2021Humans aren’t the only ones who enjoy a mountain sunset or a cool, misty afternoon. Through our array of Border Wildlife Study cameras, we’ve been lucky enough to detect various wildlife species hunting, playing, foraging, and migrating beneath a backdrop of incredible weather conditions. We’ve even captured breathtaking moments where nature itself used wind, rain,…
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Notes from the Field: Our First Look at the Wildlife in Coronado National Memorial
July 7, 2021Last month, we placed five new wildlife cameras in Coronado National Memorial. These camera additions extend our Border Wildlife Study eastward into the zone where the border wall was extended by the Trump administration in 2020. The cameras are placed within oak woodland habitat on the southern steep slopes of the Huachuca Mountains—about 1.5 miles…
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Sky Island Spotlight: Meet the Local Tucson Project that Studies Urban Bobcat Behavior
June 22, 2021Photo Credit: Michael Baldwin Please enjoy this blog submitted by Kerry Baldwin from Bobcats in Tucson. Some of the original blog copy was altered by Sky Island Alliance for simplified reading. A basic truth in wildlife management is this: wildlife is a product of its habitat. Habitat is the dynamic interaction of an animal’s food, water, shelter,…
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Notes from the Field: The Great Porcupine Search
June 10, 2021Photo Caption: A North American porcupine detected on one of our Border Wildlife Study cameras. Thank you to our wonderful volunteer, Alicia Stout, for this engaging blog post she wrote on her recent wildlife adventures with SIA staff in the field! If you have similar stories of volunteering with us, please send a write-up to…
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