Trivia Question of the Week

We learned last week that Pacific salmon can grow to very large sizes when they spawn, but how do they know where to spawn?

If Pacific salmon spend most of their lives in the open ocean, how do they find their natal streams (the streams in which they were born) when they return to freshwater to spawn?

Hint #1: Planetarium studies have indicated that some species of bird rely on celestial navigation, orienting themselves based on the location of specific starts in the night sky. But since salmon can't see the stars, this isn't a tactic they can utilize.

Hint #2: Birds and salmon do have a navigation technique in common, though. It's the same way many animal species, from bats to sea turtles, find their way.

Hint #3: Scientists believe that salmon use not one, but two navigational aids to return from the ocean to their natal streams.

Hint #4: The technique for traversing ocean currents to find their way to freshwater is thought to be different from the method salmon rely on in the streams themselves.

Hint #5: You may think Fido is good at sniffing things out, but he can't compare to a Pacific salmon.

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Photo credit: Natalie Fobes

The two primary navigational aids salmon rely on are magnetism and scent. When salmon are in the open ocean, scientists believe they travel primarily by orienting themselves with the earth's magnetic field, much like many migrating species, like sea turtles, birds, and bats. Once they reach freshwater, however, scent plays the dominant role in guiding salmon travel. Young salmon migrating out to sea, known as smolts (pictured above), imprint different scents from their environment as they travel downstream. This allows them to create a memory bank of scents, which they later can use as a scent-map of sorts to guide their return to their birthplace as adults.

Trivia Question of the Week

This week's trivia question is a little fishy:

How big are Pacific salmon when they spawn?

Hint #1: Trick question, right? There are five species of Pacific salmon that spawn on the west coast of Canada and the US: King, Sockeye, Chum, Pink, and Coho. Different salmon species are different sizes. Kings, for example, typically range from 10-50 lbs (4.5 - 23 kg), whereas Pinks average only 5 lbs (2.3 kg).

Hint #2: Not only are different species different sizes, but older fish are typically (but not always) larger than younger fish.

Hint #3: To make things even trickier, not all salmon are the same age when they spawn. Sockeye can be anywhere from two to six years old when they return from the ocean to freshwater streams for spawning.

Hint #4: With all these variables, perhaps a better question would be, "How large do the largest, oldest Pacific salmon become before spawning?"

Hint #5: King salmon are called "kings" for a reason.

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The largest King salmon on record was a caught by a commercial fishing operation near British Columbia in the late 1970's. This monster weighed in around 126 lbs (57 kg)! Several King carcasses weighing 100 lbs or more have been found on spawning grounds. The fish pictured above was located by biologists of the California Department of Fish and Game during a salmon survey on Battle Creek. Measuring in a 4.5 ft (1.4 m) long and around 85 lbs (38.5 kg), this King was one for the record books in California.

Trivia Question of the Week

After a one-week hiatus for the holidays (Happy New Year's, everyone!) we're back. This week's trivia question: How many feathers does a bald eagle have?

Hint #1: The average person has about twice as many hairs on their head alone as an eagle has feathers on its entire body.

Hint #2: Just because it's called a "bald" eagle doesn't mean it's actually bald. Bald eagles have feathers on their heads, too.

Hint #3: Eagles have relatively few wing and tail feathers. The long feathers on the wings used for flight? Only 23 on each wing. The tail feathers? 12.

Hint #4: Most of the feathers on an eagle's body are contour feathers, small feathers that give eagles their shape, and down.

Hint #5: The colder the region, the more down feathers an eagle is likely to have. So an bald eagle in Florida probably has fewer total feathers than an Alaskan eagle.

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If you guessed that bald eagles have an average of 7,000 feathers, right on! This number varies seasonally, as well. During the molting season and in the height of summer, when the weather is warmer, eagles have fewer total feathers because of the loss of down.

Trivia Question of the Week

It's time for the TQOTW!

How long do brown bears hibernate?

Hint #1: When brown bears hibernate, they're not really sleeping the entire time. They rouse themselves periodically to keep their temperatures elevated. This is particularly true with females, who give birth to and feed young while in the den.

Hint #2: Although we expect bears to hibernate throughout the winter, this isn't always true. Some bears will be active mid-winter, although most will avoid the cold temperatures and heavy snow by denning up and sleeping it out.

Hint #3: Brown bears will add six to eight inches of fat before hibernation, which acts to store energy and for insulation. That has to last them quite a long time...

Hint #4: Although bears may wake during hibernation, they usually do not feed at all during this time period. A special hormone in their blood stream, leptin, works to suppress the bear's appetite.

Hint #5: A good general rule of thumb is that bears will hibernate from mid- to late-autumn through spring.

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If you guessed November through April, you're right on! Female brown bears around Haines, monitored by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game with radio collars, have been observed hibernating, on average, between November 6th and April 29th of each year. Some bears will enter their dens later and/or emerge earlier, and hibernation times vary widely based on geographic region. Black bears usually hibernate October through March. In some temperate ecosystems that don't see much snow, some black bears won't hibernate at all.

Trivia Question of the Week

This week's trivia question is appropriately related to eagle migration: How far do bald eagles migrate?

Hint #1: It's not nearly as far as an arctic tern. 

Hint #2: We've determined these distances through the use of leg bands and telemetry.

Read more »

Trivia Question of the Week, and what's up next

This week's trivia question is paired with statistics for this season's fieldwork. What is the animal we saw most frequently on our trail cameras this summer?

Hint #1: This contest was pretty close, with a couple hundred pictures or so separating the first and second most frequently sighted animals.

Hint #2: In broad terms, the second most frequently sighted type of animal actually beats out the first, but in terms of species, there is one clear winner.

Hint #3: Their name starts with "B"

Hint #4: They're furry

Hint #5: If you anger them, they'll eat your face off. :)

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If you guessed Brown Bear, you're correct! You've obviously been following along with us this season. Or you know that bears will eat your face off. Either way, congratulations!

"Bears" as a broad category, was actually beat out by "birds"-- we saw more birds overall on our trail cameras than bears. Whereas the "bird" category is composed of eagles, raven, magpies, crows, mergansers, blue-winged teals, varied thrushes, and others, however, the "bears" category is all brown bears. We didn't see a single black bear on our trail cameras this season.

For our trail camera work this summer and fall, we captured:

• 24,767 photographs, total
• 6,605 images of bears
• 7,841 photos of birds
• 71 photos of canids (wolves, coyotes, and domestic dogs)
• 332 mustelid photos (mink and marten)
• 59 photos of rodents (mice and red squirrels)
• 94 photos of humans (not including ourselves)
• 0 photos of lynx, wolverine, black bear, or lagamorphs (hares or rabbits), although these species all live in the area

 

Now that I'm headed back to Santa Cruz and our field season is over for the year, you may be wondering what's in store for the blog. Will I keep updating? What can you expect to see?

Well, by my calculations I've shared around 60 of our trail camera photos here on the blog. That means there are an additional 24,707 photos I could post! :)  I'll continue to post trail camera photos from time to time, in addition to videos I'm currently working on putting together that detail sequences of trail camera photographs, like bears or eagles feeding on the salmon carcasses.

And don't forget about our eagles! We'll continue to follow the movements of the five eagles we tagged with GPS/satellite transmitters, and we'll post these locations for you as we go along.

There are several other stories from the field that I haven't yet had time to put together into blog entries that I'm hoping to work in within the next couple of months. We're also working on putting together a fully-fledged website for Ecology Alaska. So among trail camera photos, eagle movement data, stories from our fieldwork in Haines, and perhaps a few entries detailing the life of a wildlife biologist outside of the field season, there should be plenty going on here on the blog. I imagine that the rate of posting will decrease come the beginning of the year, but I will attempt to continue posting at least one entry and one trivia question each week.

Stay tuned, and as always, feel free to let us know what you think, by leaving us a message in the comments or sending us an email at ecologyalaska [at] gmail (dot) com.

Trivia Question of the Week

Last week, when we posted about the capture and processing of bald eagles, we mentioned that, up until five years of age, eagle molting patterns can be used to determine how old a bird is. Past five years of age, when eagles reach adulthood and take on the characteristic appearance of their species, with a white head and tail, it's impossible to tell how old they are. So, how long do bald eagles live?

Hint #1: The fact that eagles don't mature until five years of age suggests that they're fairly long-lived-- animals that live shorter lives mature earlier.

Read more »

Trivia Question of the Week

This week's question is pretty easy:

What is the largest state in the Union?

Hint #1: It's not Texas

Hint #2: I don't think you need four more hints.

Hint #3: Fine, for the sake of posterity, it's in the north.

Hint #4: The state motto is "North to the Future"

Hint #5: You really didn't need five hints.

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Yes, it's Alaska. More or less a dead giveaway for this week, but Alaska is so big I'd thought I'd share some fun facts. Alaska's land area is nearly 600,000 square miles-- larger than Texas, California, and Montana (the next three largest states) combined. The distance from the southernmost point of southeast Alaska to the westernmost point in the Aleutian Islands in southwest Alaska is equivalent to the distance between Charleston, South Carolina and San Diego, California-- the width of the entire country! The coastline of Alaska is longer than that of the entire coastline of the contiguous United States.

The US may share a border with both Mexico and Canada, but it's also pretty close to Russia, thanks to Alaska. The distance between Little Diomede Island (US) and Big Diomede Island (the easternmost point of Russia) in the Bering Strait is just 2.4 miles.

Everything may be bigger in Texas, but it turns out that Texas just really isn't all that big. :)

Trivia Question of the Week

This week's question:

What is the heaviest species of bird in North America?

Hint #1: Although the largest species of bird in North American is the California Condor, this bird has condors beat in the heavyweight category.

Hint #2: Most of their range is centered in Alaska and western provinces in Canada, but they can also be found in parts of Idaho, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, Michigan, Iowa, and Minnesota, among other locales in the northern US.

Hint #3: Along with being the heaviest bird in North America, this species is the largest extant (still in existence) species of waterfowl in the world.

Hint #4: These animals are large and slow moving, but are often associated with beauty and grace.

Hint #5: They are white.

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If you guessed Trumpeter Swan, then you are correct. The average weight of adult trumpeter swans is between 15 and 30 pounds. These birds often mate for life, and can have a lifespan over 20 years in the wild. Because of their large size and slow flight, trumpeter swans were extensively hunted in the 19th and 20th century, and were extirpated from large parts of their former range. Today, Alaska maintains the largest number of breeding pairs of these birds. Why are they called trumpeter swans? They have a unique and somewhat melodic honk, of course, a bit like a trumpet:

Curious about how trumpeter swans compare in size to bald eagles? Check out this incredible series of photographs captured by photographer Tom Carver in British Columbia of a bald eagle attacking a trumpeter swan in flight!

Trivia Question of the Week

Time for the TQOTW!

How much salmon can a brown bear consume in a single day?

Hint #1: A lot.

Hint #2: No, seriously. A lot.

Hint #3: Dieticians recommend around 2,000 calories per day for the average American adult. For brown bears? Well, let's just say that 65,000 calories is more typical, and 100,000 isn't abnormal when the salmon are running strong.

Hint #4: You would need to eat around 180 servings of salmon to match a brown bear's maximum daily consumption.

Hint #5: Did I mention it's a lot of salmon?

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Brown bears can consume up to 100 pounds, or around 40 salmon (depending on the size of the fish) each day. These figures are likely most relevant when there are a lot of salmon available. Average salmon consumption rates are probably between 55 and 75 pounds of fish per bear per day! Keep in mind that bears can also eat less salmon, and make up the additional calories by eating berries-- wild blueberries, devil's club, watermelon berries, salmon berries, currant, and cranberries, among others. Grasses, invertebrates, and carrion are on the brown bear's menu as well.

Trivia Question of the Week

This week's Trivia Question comes to you from our trail cameras! It's a little tougher this week:

What type of animal was captured in this photograph?

(You can click the image to view a larger version)

Hint #1: This photo was taken with an infrared flash at night, so colors won't be there to help you.

Hint #2: The animal in question is in the bottom left-hand part of the frame.

Hint #3: It may seem obvious to some, but it's worth pointing out: this animal is nocturnal.

Hint #4: It's facing away from the camera-- what we're seeing here is, predominately, its back.

Hint #5: This animal is a bird of prey.

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Did you guess Great Horned Owl? If you did, congratulations! Want to helps us identify some other animals?

One of the trickiest aspects of using trail cameras is that the photographs we capture aren't always straightforward. Animals sometimes move quickly across the frame, and the shutter speed of the cameras won't be high enough to prevent motion blur. Sometimes, animals get too close to the cameras and the flash reflects back into the lens, causing white-out or blown highlights. Some animals will be hovering around the edges of the camera's field of view, and only parts of them- tails, feet, the curve of their rump- might end up being captured. Photos taken at night can be particularly difficult because there are no colors. As humans, we rely on colors and color patterns to identify a lot of different animal species-- tough to do when everything is showing in gray-scale!

Did you have difficulty identifying the owl in this photograph? You're not alone. Correctly identifying the species in trail camera photographs is critical for later data analysis, so it can be time consuming and trying to sort through hundreds of photos and pick out the different types of animals in each. Sometimes we find images we really can't identify. With those, we have to do our best to determine the animal's family, at the very least. Is it a mustelid (member of the weasel family, like a mink, marten, ermine, otter, etc.)? Canid (coyote, wolf, fox)? Ursid (brown bear, black bear)?

We also rely a great deal on natural history (knowledge of the animals living in an area and their habits) and contextual cues. For example, wolves aren't likely to be seen close to town, so an shaky image of something dog-like is probably a coyote or domestic dog. River otters won't be found far from water, so an image of a large weasel-like animal captured with a camera on a high altitude trail a mile away from the nearest stream is probably a marten. If one set of photographs is blurry, but there is a photo taken a couple minutes before or afterward of a mink, the blurry photos are probably also mink-- it's uncommon to capture photographs of two completely different animals within a few minutes of one another, unless they're, say, different types of birds feeding along a spawning area.

Here are a few other tricky photos for you to try out:

See the hump in the bottom part of the frame? Any guesses? This one is probably a marten.

In the lower part of the frame, just to the left of center, see the lighter-colored animal against the dark background? This is likely a mink.

See the weasel-like animal just below and left of the center of the photo? This one is probably a mink, too.

If you enjoyed looking at these photos and trying to figure out what you're seeing, you might be able to participate directly in projects like ours in the near future. Yiwei is currently working on developing an interactive game for Facebook that will allow users to work in teams to help tag photos just like these.

Trivia Question of the Week

It's time for the Trivia Question of the Week! This week's question:

How fast can brown bears run?

Hint #1: If a brown bear were running through a School Zone, it would break the speed limit law.

Hint #2: They can't outpace foxes, coyotes, or wolves.

Hint #3: Usain Bolt wouldn't have a chance at beating a brown bear in a sprint.

Hint #4: In a 1 km race against a cheetah, the cheetah would reach the finish line in half the time it would take the brown bear.

Hint #5: A brown bear probably would have made it out of the Boston Molasses Disaster alive.

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If you guessed 35 miles per hour, you're correct! Brown bears can run at up to 35 mph for a couple miles, and bears have been recorded sprinting at upwards to 40 mph over short distances! Yikes! The fastest human footspeed on record is just under 28 mph, whereas cheetah regularly sprint distances at 70 mph. The take-away message here? Don't run from bears! :)

Trivia Question of the Week

Alright, time for the trivia question of the week! This week's question:

What is the largest bird in the United States?

Hint #1: The species neared extinction in the 1970s

Hint #2: The decline was likely caused by a combination of factors: habitat loss, poisoning, and lead ingestion

Hint #3: They have a wingspan of over 10 feet, can weigh up to 30 pounds, and can live up to 60 years in the wild

Hint #4: They are scavengers

Hint #5: They live in California

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If you guessed California Condor (Gymnogyps californianus), you're correct! California Condor once ranged over the entire western United States, but today they're one of the most endangered species in the world, and their habitat is limited to parts of California and Arizona. Just over 100 birds live in the wild, and most of these were captive-bred animals that are still very closely monitored and regularly fed. The photo above is an image of a California Condor in Grand Canyon National Park.

So, was that a trick question? ;)

The Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) is no lightweight either-- it's the largest raptor (bird of prey) in the United States. With a wingspan between 6 and 8 feet in length and weights ranging between 7 and 14 pounds, Bald Eagles may not be as large or hefty as California Condors, but they are definitely big birds. Just check out the size of their tracks!

Trivia Question of the Week

Okay, so I might not actually post trivia questions each week, but who knows?

Do any of you recognize this town?

Fifteen bonus points if you guess what's special about it without cheating!

Hint #1: The people in the picture here are fair-goers. The people that used the town for its original purpose were probably wearing fur coats and leather boots. And there might have been a French beret around. I'm not sure.

Hint #2: It's called Dalton City

Hint #3: Ethan Hawke was here.

Hint #4: There were also probably some wolf hybrids running around.

Hint#5: Jack London may or may not have been impressed.

Hint #6: It's a set from the Disney adaptation of White Fang!

Hint #6 is less of a hint, and more of the answer to this week's trivia question. Disney's adaptation of Jack London's classic novel, White Fang, was filmed entirely in Haines. Dalton City, pictured above, was a set used for the film. Dalton City remains standing in the fairgrounds, and most of the buildings are now used as shops.

White Fang was released in 1991. If you're interested in seeing more of the scenery around Haines in a live-action format, you could rent and watch the movie.