Welcome McKenna

Hi everyone! 

My name is McKenna Sanchez, and I am a rising senior majoring in Ecology and Conservation Biology at Texas A&M University. This is my first season of field work, and I am very excited to be a marmoteer this summer!  I am a Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory REU student, and my project is focusing on flight initiation distance and summer survival in marmots. I am originally from Katy, Texas where I can be found reading, birding, playing soccer, or attending musicals. I have loved working with the marmots and marmoteers so far, and I can’t wait for all the adorable pups to show up!

Foxes outfoxing us and the marmots...

We have a fox family in town (again!) and they've been able to kill several yearlings and at least 1 adult. This is exceptional. Mostly the foxes kill pups...but by killing adults they really enhance their impact on the population. It's really taking a toll on the marmots in town.

Louis was able to chase one down the other day and id the marmot (a yearling named Dragonfly). He then, kindly, returned Dragonfly to the fox...who stuffed it into her mouth and marched off to feed it to her 3 adorable kits. Sigh.

Welcome Mackenzie!

Hi all! I’m Mackenzie, a first-year master’s student at UCLA. This is my first field season at RMBL, and what an experience it’s been so far! 

One of the advantages of arriving with the early season crew is witnessing the dramatic change in seasons. From cross country skiing between field sites, to now wading through waist-deep vegetation, the landscape has completely transformed. 

This explosion in greenery is beautiful, but it’s created new challenges in terms of my field work. My thesis is all about marmot shyness-boldness, which means that I need to collect Flight Initiation Distances from each individual marmot. This entails walking steadily towards a marmot until it runs away—sounds simple, right? It was in the snow, but now the vegetation has turned my subjects into tiny plant-munching submarines that completely disappear in the seas of tall grass. Thankfully my FID partner McKenna and I have collected data from almost all the animals, but just like Pokémon, we gotta catch ‘em all! 

When I’m not (quite literally) chasing after marmots, I like to spend my time puzzling over crosswords, experimenting with plant-based recipes, and brainstorming names for my future dog. Can’t wait to see what the rest of the season brings!

Welcome Madison!

 Hello!

My name is Madison Pfau, and I am a senior at UCLA studying the microbiome and social behavior in the wonderful marmots at RMBL! I have been working in the Blumstein lab for almost 2 years now, and studying marmots for almost a year!

One of the most exciting things about being a marmoteer this year is being able to see and collect data from these animals that I have been working with and fascinated by since I joined the lab. I have also learned way more about the process of fieldwork and what goes into collecting a rich dataset, a skill I think will come in handy for future field and research opportunities. My favorite marmot moments so far have been watching marmots playfully wrestle, especially when the one that initially receives the interaction retaliates by initiating another wrestle, or my personal favorite, a pounce!

When I am not watching marmots every chance I get, I like hiking and exploring the area and listening to creepy podcasts! 

Welcome Hali!

Hi, my name is Hali Muir and I’m a rising third year biology undergrad at UCLA on the 2022 summer marmot team! I’m a nature lover from Santa Cruz, California, and whenever I visit home, you’ll find me surfing on my hot pink foam board from sunrise to sunset, or on poorly planned road trips to car camp in the hills above the clouds in Big Sur. Aside from my passion for redwoods and fresh air, I’m a trained dancer and avid musical theater lover. My project this season focuses on NDVI satellite imagery and how the varying resolutions predict marmot fitness when compared to manual data. It’s my first season out in the field with the team, and I got up close and personal with a marmot for the first time today! I’m so excited for what’s to come.

Welcome Carol-Ann Chabot

From the top of my five feet, I have the pleasure to take part of the fieldwork of the Marmot Project based at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory for the summer of 2022. Being part of this project will give me the background knowledge to conduct my research on the reproductive strategies of the female yellow-bellied marmots for my MS at the University of Ottawa. More specifically, I am interested in the causes and consequences of the age at first reproduction.

Predation in the wild!

Hi! I’m Conner Philson and this is my third year studying the marmots here at RMBL! I’ve spent quite a few hours looking at marmots over the past three years. I’ve seen marmots duel for territory, fend off foxes, and just chill out on rocks. However, I never saw a marmot get chased down by a coyote at full speed before – until last week…

 

Coffee Bean was a beautiful yearling marmot (meaning they were born last year). Coffee Bean roamed one of the northern most areas we study – far up the East River Valley. While an adventurous and interactive marmot, Coffee Bean sadly could not outrun a coyote that spent this faithful morning stalking marmots from the trees. As the coyote bolted out of the trees and made chaise of Coffee Bean, they both headed for the nearby burrow – a marmot’s protection from predators. However, poor Coffee Bean missed the burrow by only a matter of feet by the time the coyote caught up - but as goes the circle of life. It was a beautiful and gruesome moment, but what describes nature better than that. I’m excited for what else this season will bring!

Welcome Kenta!

Hi, 

I'm Kenta Uchida, postdoc in Blumstein lab in UCLA and supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). I am very excited about doing field work at RMBL and working with the marmoteers. I am interested in how animals adapt or adjust to anthropogenic environments such as urban areas. Particularly,I am currently focusing on the process of habituation or sensitization to humans and its fitness consequence in wildlife. In order to understand the consequence of responses to humans, long term field based data collection is essential. RMBL is a great system for these studies. Unfortunately, I had to change my initial research plan due to COVID-19-related issues and I've only been able to come out for a shorter-than-planned visit. However, I am very happy to be involved in this wonderful long-term ecological research system and working with the amazing marmots! 

Introducing Conner!

Hi! I’m Conner Philson, a 1^st year Ph.D. Student in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UCLA. This is my first year of three out here at RMBL working with the marmots. I‘m studying how individuals are effected by the social group they are a part of. In other words, how do all the social interactions that occur within a group subsequently effect each individual group member’s survival and reproductive success. You could think about this in humans by asking how do the social interactions between co-workers at an office influence individual employee productivity?

 

I’m a field biologist at heart and love getting down and dirty to study animal behavior. I think RMBL is the place for me!

Gina's Back!!!

Hi everyone, my name is Gina and this will be my third year as a marmoteer! I am currently a first year master’s student in the Blumstein lab and study the influence of the microbiome on life history traits in marmots. Marmots need to get very fat to survive the winter, and I am specifically interested in if microbes may play a role in this rapid weight gain. 

This field season will be different than any that I have personally experienced, and that any past marmoteers have experienced. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, our season was delayed about a month. Usually we ski in and sit in the snow watching for animals to emerge from hibernation, and sometimes get uncomfortably cold! However, this year we arrived and marmots are everywhere and most of the snow has retreated, so the work begins right away! Additionally, we will be working with only a 2-3 person team this year, when we usually have around 8-10. 

It is good to see that my marmot friends from last year made it through hibernation, and I look forward to a strange but successful season collecting data on these adorable animals, all while wearing a mask!

And again!

I really wasn't certain that I'd be writing this. In April I was interviewed for the science show, The Pulse (https://whyy.org/segments/how-the-coronavirus-pandemic-has-disrupted-field-research/) where I was quite depressed about being locked down and not being able to get to the field to resume our study (this is the 59th year of continuous marmot study...).

Well, after tremendous uncertainty, and a long delay, we have a skeleton crew (Dan, Gina and Conner) back at the RMBL. We arrived on Weds and spent the afternoon getting set up. We're officially being quarantined and can't be in RMBL buildings for a week. But we can work outside. Which is what we did starting on Thursday.

It's really weird. In April when we typically arrive, we spend a lot of time skiing around waiting for marmots to emerge. We don't see a lot for weeks. Eventually, marmots start emerging. But now, they're all emerged and have apparently been waiting for us.

Indeed, I've solved a puzzle that has been going through my mind for the past 2 months--if a marmot emerges and nobody is there to see it, has it emerged? Well, the answer is yes! More importantly, I know that they have missed us. I know this because they're back to their normal activities that include turning perfectly in a way to prevent us from seeing their back and therefore identify them from their fur marks. Honestly, it's a good problem to have! If we wait long enough we can normally figure out who we're looking at. And, there are so many to look at!

In 2.5 days, we've identified a bit more than 40 marmots; we think there are about 50 alive. This includes 2 animals that must have dispersed into our 'Avery' group late last summer. Avery has been extinct for years! These Avery animals need to be marked--something we'll get back to next week when we are permitted in our lab. Most of the other marmots have pretty good marks thanks to a lot of work done in August and September last year ensuring that everyone was marked.

With a skeleton crew there will be few blog entries. Gina, however, is posting regularly to our Instagram page (https://www.instagram.com/rmblmarmotproject/) and Conner is joining Dana and is posting regularly to our Twitter feed (https://twitter.com/teammarmot?lang=en). So, if you want to know what's REALLY happening--that's where the fresh information will be.

We're very grateful to be here, see our old furry friends, look forward to meeting some new ones, and able to continue collecting data!

Parental Drama

Alex took this photo of So Happy nursing her pups while having a visit from Lambda--the male we think is likely the father of her litter. DNA will ultimately be required to sort this one out but Lambda is having a really interesting (as in 'we live in interesting times...') year. His neck is scarred from fights with his father--Dandelion--and he has vocal exchanges with both So Happy and Mrs. B. Here, they're doing just that--squealing at each other--while So Happy nurses. And, let's not forget that we RARELY see nursing after the pups emerge from the burrow (we assume that they are mostly weaned). So this fascinating photo captures two things--a squabble and nursing! Great photo Alex!!!

Zia's revenge!

Zia is one of the 'phone shed friends' who lost her mom to a fox kill when RMBL was still under a deep blanket of snow. billy saw the end--where the female fox had 'little man with a mohawk' by the neck and beat her against the snow until she was dead. Shocking.

Today, Zia got her revenge.  From Gina's notes:

At 09:41 on 15 July 2019, Zia was perched and enjoying her day on Doctor's Log when the mother fox in town approached from down the road. Zia noticed the fox and rather than retreating back into her burrow, jumped off the perch, moved towards the fox, and crouched down in the vegetation waiting.  The fox noticed her movement and began to slowly approach Zia. The fox then charged Zia and Zia charged the fox resulting in a fight. The fight was fast, lasting about 5 seconds and ended by the fox whimpering while retreating away from Zia.  Zia returned to her perch, and signaled her victory with 256 alarm calls!

Moral of story: don't FOX with marmots!

Thanks CBMBA/CC!

The other day we had help from Nick and Alex digging out our traps from the wreckage that is now Marmot Meadow. The traps were beneath timber that had to be cut away and were packed in dense snow. Nick and Alex work for the Crested Butte Mt. Bike Association and the Conservation Corps maintaining trails and while they were there we collected data for an avalanche study. This year had an epic number of huge slides and by getting 20 slices from trees that were felled by the Avery slide, we provided data to the study documenting the interval between slides (this was at least a 200 year slide). The traps were not too smashed...

Welcome Andrew!

Hi I’m Andrew Evans and I’m a third year undergraduate student at UCLA with Team Marmot. I flew off from LA immediately after finals and found myself in the middle of nowhere Colorado. Although it is immensely beautiful, being from Hawaii and going to school in LA, I’ve found myself quite out of breath. And cold. 

However, it’s a fun change of pace from intensely watching marmot videos back on campus! In these first weeks here, I’ve gotten to see cute marmots playing, I’ve watched marmots alarm call for thirty minutes at seemingly nothing, I’ve felt marmot fur, and I’ve gotten to hold a cute little marmot pup named Teef. I’ve also plopped in a freezing cold river, I’ve gone to a square dance, and I’ve gotten to sit back and watch everyone play cricket in a parking lot.

Here I’m working with Dana on social transmission in the marmots, putting out puzzle boxes and seeing which ones figure it out. Although not many have figured it out, I squeal watching them so confused. I’m excited to see into these marmots’ lives and see who they are, who they know, who they hate, and figure out what exactly they’re looking at all the time!

Ahh, dispersal season again

We've been having so much fun watching yearlings play...a very important thing for their development, but alas, this will all come to an end soon. Soon there will be new litters to catch and mark and the current crop of yearlings...most of them...will disperse.  Shannon, RMBL's GIS guru sent me this photo of the LAZY way to disperse...

Yup, that's a marmot in her Subaru...

Things are looking up...

The road to Gothic was formally opened yesterday and the valley is transformed! Down valley Spring has arrived and we're about to resume trapping. Up valley it's still winter (the road is closed and we're skiing to sites) and we've been trying to re-mark a few unmarked individuals but marmots are STILL emerging from hibernation only to find nothing to eat. There are multiple bears up there and Gina saw a mountain lion running across a meadow the other day!

With the road open we have all sorts of visitors, including this fella that Sam and I had appear about 20-30 m in front of us while we were wondering what the marmots at River Mound were calling at.

Question answered!

The deer have just returned to Gothic. 4 does ran nervously into town and set off L this morning. Why do marmots alarm call in response to deer? I have no idea!

Meanwhile, Dandelion continues his rule of the roost. Young from two different litters (Stitches and WiFi) were foraging near each other around the Gothic Community Center and got into a vocal squabble beneath a parked car. Dandi, tail flagging away, ran over, and disciplined each of them in turn. No more squabbles! I've NEVER seen this happen before. Very cute.

Still snowy!

I'm back in the field after leaving my well-trained crew in the field for the past month and a half. Up valley is still very winter-like. Down valley is finally (and oh-so-slowly) melting out. We have a lot of animals down valley and folks have been seeing some GREAT social behavior. Up valley there are a lot of predators--at least two bears (one with triplets!) and Gina saw a Mt. lion today!!! The marmots are emerging more slowly--which is a good thing given all the snow. I expect late litters...

This is going to be one-hellofa wildflower year. Since I hope we're beyond late season freezes and the flower have not really started blooming there will be no early season killing frosts. So once the growing season starts in a big way, it's going to be a big flower year.  Book your tickets now to the Colorado high country.

We're waiting with baited breath for the road to open next week; I walked in today. Much to do... More as we have more to share!