Is it possible to spotlight for pine martens?
I’m most familiar with spotlighting in tropical countries, but recently I’ve also had the chance to try it in Canada and found Northern and Southern flying squirrels. I go around trails with a headlamp and light. Just wondering if this approach would be feasible for pine martens, fishers, or frankly any other North American taxa?
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Tau Conrad
My comment has nothing to do with spotlighting. Just a data point I saw a pine marten when I was hiking the Trout Lake Trail at Lamer Valley in Yellowstone at sunset time. I heard people saw them around Jenny Lake in Grand Teton but I didn’t see any there. I’ve also seen a fisher on the road in our New England town which is only 30min from the city. So I think you have good chance seeing them during day time if you go to the right places.
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JanEbr
In principle yes. I have experience mostly from temperate Europe, but the animals are similar. However it’s usually far more efficient to spotlight from a car. The animals seem to consider cars on the road more like a noisy river, but a walking human is … a walking human. Also thermaling is better than spotlight in most cases.