The beginning of this week involved putting out open traps at 4 dove bait sites that showed strong evidence of activity, either through camera captures (2) or significant bait consumption (2). The traps were set out upright with the top hatch wired open and were then weighed down with a medium rock and baited. I will begin setting the traps to capture and band doves after July 1st, when the TPWD banding permit goes into effect. So far, only mourning doves have been observed on and around the sites, but I hope to see white-winged doves visiting soon.
Later in the week, I accompanied my supervisor, Dr. Tomeček, to the Llano River Field Station in Junction, TX, where he taught a seminar on trapping mesomammals to Texas Tech undergraduates attending field school there. He focused on the effective, appropriate, and ethical use of leg-hold traps, traditional snares, and collarum snares (the latter for canids only). Camilla Tusché, a short-stay graduate student of Dr. Tomeček’s, also traveled with us and presented her research regarding camera trapping ungulates in the Bavarian Prealps of Germany. I found both Dr. Tomeček’s lessons and Camilla’s presentation to be extremely informative and I look forward to applying and practicing camera trapping and various physical trapping methods at the farm in order to continue surveying efforts there.
Ash-throated flycatcher release
While at the field station, I had the opportunity to participate in mist netting birds and learned how to properly hold a captured bird (ash-throated flycatcher in the video) in order to take measurements and band it.* This initial experience will serve me well when I begin trapping and banding doves next week under Dr. Tomeček’s guidance, and I thank Dr.
Warren Conway, Dr. Blake Grisham, and Dr. James Morel, as well as the undergraduate students of the TTU Field School for their warm welcome and inclusion of Dr. Tomeček, Camilla, and me in their activities.
*All animals were handled in accordance with animal care and use procedures in applicable state and federal permits.
Dani Miller
Wildlife Biologist
Stiles Farm Foundation
P.S.
Photo credit for Dr. Tomeček teaching collarum snare-setting: Dr. Blake Grisham
Video credit for ash-throated flycatcher release: Camilla Tusché