Wildlife

Our site doesn't meet the requirements for both the Barred Owl or the Fisher.  For the Barred Owl there must be standing dead trees with a minimum DBH of 25 cm. We had two standing dead trees of about 16 cm DBH and the rest of the standing dead trees had DBH's less than or equal to 10 cm.  Therefore the Barred Owl has no place to nest on our site.  Also the cover type of our site is not adequate for the Fisher.  Fishers like to have  50-90% evergreen species, since we only have a pocket of white cedars, and hemlocks with less than 10 trees of that type in those pockets the habitat is not optimal.  However to the Northwest of our plot is a completely red cedar stand, this could be perfect habitat for the Fisher.

That being said there are still numerous other wildlife species present within our stand.  While taking our measurements we've heard a Pileated Woodpecker, Blue Jays, and White-Breasted Nuthatch. Along with these birds we've seen numerous Chipmunks and Red Backed Salamanders.  Including these sights and sounds we spotted deer scat signifying their presence as well.

Pileated Woodpecker
The presence of Pileated woodpecker has been audibly confirmed on our site. There is also evidence on some of the standing dead trees of a woodpecker presence. Furthermore, the pileated is common in mature deciduous and mixed forests with a close water source preferable. Our site fits these guidelines, with a primarily mature deciduous makeup and an adjacent swamp and lake . While our site may not have the required large standing dead trees required for pileated nests, it is likely that there are some suitable nesting trees close by off-site.


Red-Backed Salamander
Red-backed salamanders are definitely present at our site. These salamanders require a deciduous forest with plentiful leaf litter and rocks and logs to hide under. Red-backed salamanders also require a moist environment which could easily be provided by the nearby swamp.


Emerald Ash Borer
This isn't going to be found on the site simply because we do not have any living ash trees.  There is one standing dead ash in our plot but even this wouldn't be a good place for the bug to live.  It needs to have a living tree so that it can feed on the inner cambium where all the tree's nutrients are stored. Since the tree has been dead for a while this cambium layer would be inactive.


European Earthworm
There didn't appear to be a presence of earthworms on the site.  When we dug our soil pit we didn't find any earthworms.  Also there is a high organic soil layer throughout the site.  Had there been earthworms they would have eaten most of this layer and the organic layer would be almost nonexistent. 


White tailed deer
This species was present on our site. Though we weren't lucky enough to actually see one there was evidence of scat. There was a small patch of hemlocks and cedars within the stand which suggests that there could be a small space for deer wintering area.  They like to take shelter under these tree species because there is less snow build up under these conifer trees.  Also this site has mast producing tree species like red oak and hickory.  The deer will browse the buds of these saplings and also eat the acorns and hickory nuts. Since this site has some wintering habitat and ample food supply there is a good chance to see this species.

Brown Snake
Brown snakes require a habitat with plenty of leaf litter and logs for shelter. They also require plentiful soft-bodied invertebrates. This makes our site suitable for brown snakes, especially considering the high number of salamanders spotted on our site.


Scarlet Tanager
Scarlet tanager is not likely to be found on or near our site. Tanagers require a habitat with extensive open areas with shrubs and thickets for nesting. Our site is dominated by closed canopy mature deciduous forest making it poor habitat for scarlet tanager.


Chestnut-Sided Warbler
Chestnut-sided warbler prefers edge habitat or regenerating pastures or fields. Our site is likely to be too mature of a stand to provide chestnut-sided warbler habitat.


Porcupine
Porcupine is a likely inhabitant of our site. They prefer mixed or coniferous forest with adequate denning sites which include rock ledges, trees and other protected places. This makes our site prime porcupine habitat due to the mixed deciduous stand makeup and the abundance of rock ledges.

Turkey
Like the white tailed deer turkeys love to eat acorns and hickory nuts.  We didn't see any turkeys or scat but since there is good food supply it's possible that the turkeys may travel through this area before they move on to other places to find shelter.  Even though there are some cliffs in the area this will not affect they're travel.  I live on the side of a very steep hill with much bigger cliffs and the turkeys have no problem scrabbling up the sides of the one's behind my house.