Wild Mammal Life at Martin Van Buren National Historic Site
A look at the property's mammal life using camera traps.
The Farmscape Ecology Pogram used motion sensitive cameras, commonly called "camera traps" or "game cameras", to document animal activity at various places within the Martin Van Buren National Historic Site.
The cameras offer a window into the secretive life of mammals, and occasionally birds, that use the property.
Below is the story of what was captured by these cameras during winter and spring months.
Animals use natural bridges.
Natural bridges across wetlands are excellent places to put camera traps because many mammals don't want to get wet and muddy any more than you or I do. During our winter camera trap survey, we documented four species of mammals using one such bridge, a log across a small but deep stream (shown in the photograph below). The stream that the natural bridge crossed froze and thawed a few times during the survey, but even when frozen animals used the log. It appears they didn't want to risk crossing the thin ice.
Other animals that used the bridge include Raccoon, Red Fox and Gray Squirrel.
Deer are everywhere.
Of course that's not true. But when you are inspecting photos from camera traps placed in Columbia County forests and fields, it seems like it could be true.
White-tailed Deer were the most abundant mammals documented by our camera traps at the Martin Van Buren National Historic Site. That's not a surprise because we have a very high deer density in Columbia County, perhaps more than 20 individuals per square mile in places. Even though their high numbers are linked to Lyme disease cases in our region, to forest regeneration issues, and to the rarity of some low plants, it's hard not to love the graceful White-tail.
