The Weekly Recap
Hello and welcome back to the weekly recap!
The week started off with this trip report from Sax Sim Bog, Minnesota from a new mammalwatcher, after convincing their dad and brother to convert a birding trip into mammalwatching which I must say I approve of (anything your dad and brother don’t want to do is always a good thing 😉 ). American Marten, Short-tailed Weasel, and Great Grey Owl were the main species seen. There are great photos (I especially love the last one of a polite but surprised Red Squirrel) and it’s a very detailed report!
Next is this one from Chiloe Island, Chile: despite the missed Kodkod, it was still successful with good species like Southern Monito del Monte or Chilean Myotis.
The next three reports are of trips I was actually a part of: Hawaii, Australia and Hokkaido, so naturally I will take it upon myself to tell you about what really happened.
The napping Hawaiian Monk Seal was adorable (and definitely a kindred spirit to us all). Swimming with Rough-toothed Dolphins in Hawaii was incredible, as was watching the deep cobalt waves engulf the rising sun, and seeing a dolphin jump right in front of a rainbow (so cliché we didn’t know what to do with ourselves).
I must admit I slept through the Australian mammalwatching (in my defence, the tent was very cosy), but the look on all of our faces when we realised we’d spent an hour driving on a road (continuous pothole) up a mountain only to hear “we’re meeting at the town, right?” once we got to the top was priceless. Thankfully we had all the essentials (beer and wasabi peas), so it turned into quite a nice sunset – especially as my brother and I now have plenty of new teasing material.
Finally, Hokkaido was lovely – but I must tell you, my dad and I were a LOT more excited when we finally found a little Japanese bakery (cream buns and all!) than we were when we saw the various mammals around the hotel. I hope this can be forgiven.
The final report is about several trips to Italy! Marsican Bear, Apennine Wolf and Apennine Chamois are the main species seen – its author Paul Collins will be returning this autumn if anyone is interested in joining to look for these.
Chris Stuart sadly passed away a few days ago. He was an avid mammalwatcher and great community member – he created many incredibly helpful field guides and apps for mammalwatching. There is a lovely podcast episode interviewing him and his wife that you can listen to here if you want to know more about him.
Don’t forget that this Saturday at 22:00 CET is the next Mammalwatching Community Meeting, during which the biggest NUTTER in many a category will be selected. Prizes will involve being sent away to the seaside or a Swiss clinic for some fresh air and lobotomisation- I mean holidaymaking.
The newest episode of the Mammalwatching Podcast is here! Conservationist and primatologist Patricia Wright talks about how she accidentally discovered the Golden Bamboo Lemur in Madagascar – I personally loved the episode, so definitely check it out.
If you would like to join a mammal trip but also enjoy taking long naps, blasting heavy metal in the car and having all of your cheesy biscuits eaten during a pee’s worth of unattendance, my dad is planning a small (4-5) group trip to Sichuan next Christmas. Key targets will include Eastern Red Panda, Chinese Mountain Cat, Chindwin Flying Squirrel and Sichuan’s best donuts (to be confirmed, but knowing my father…). Contact him if you dare – I wouldn’t recommend.
Two mystery mammals need IDing: a deer from NW Argentina, and some pikas seen in Bhutan. There is also some confusion on the distribution of different Zebra subspecies so feel free to help!
Someone is wondering whether Gorongosa NP in Mozambique is a good place to see Wild Dogs, so please comment if you know. A bat researcher in Chile is also wanted to help with a trip this April!
This post about Porcupine tracking in Eastern US is interesting, and some further tips would be appreciated. I personally think animal tracking is a great skill to learn, especially so I can zoom ahead, find mammals before my dad and then make sure they run away before he sees them. Just kidding, I think the years of taunting this could grant me would be violently cut short by filicide.
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Thanks for reading:)
Katy
Cover photo: Ellen Linton
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