Wake up marmots!

Blogger: Lilah Hubbard

It’s that time again! Last week, four of us early-season researchers skied 3.7 miles into our field station, the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL), to record when the marmots emerge from hibernation. Although the weather over the last few weeks was showing signs for an early spring, we arrived to Colorado just as a huge storm rolled through, dropping up to 13 inches of fresh snow in just one day. The local residents (people and wildlife) of Gothic, Colorado were getting excited about the snow melting and temperatures increasing, but it turns out that Punxsutawney Phil may have predicted correctly: winter may not be over quite yet!

 

As a first-time early-seasoner coming from sunny Los Angeles, I’m pretty excited that the snow is still here and we get to ski around for a while. Yesterday we went up valley to one of our field sites and, using our spotting scopes, we detected 4 yearlings and 2 adults out and about in the snow! One of the yearling marmots, referred to as “Danger” since it has a fur mark of a warning sign, seemed especially excited to run around in the snow and refused to follow her siblings back into the burrow when it started to snow again (I guess the “Danger” fur mark was appropriate)! 

But researchers aren’t the only ones keeping an eye out for marmots… there are a variety of predators in the valley too! Yesterday morning, we saw a hawk circling the field site we were observing. Then, in the afternoon, one of our team members spotted a red fox hanging out near our cabin. After exploring the area for a while, the fox suddenly darted across the road and up onto a huge snow pile. After a few seconds of digging, we realized it was uncovering a secret stash of mice! It munched out on a couple mice right in front of us, and then continued on its way. Who knew that the snow outside our cabin was also a freezer for a fox’s meal?!

 No signs of woken marmots at our other field sites yet, but stay tuned for more updates!

Eager males, or...?

With our first sighting of a marmot emerging from hibernation on our second day, I feel like the season of marmots has begun!

I’ve seen four marmots at the colony I’ve been observing, Picnic. A yearling and an adult emerged from a burrow way up the slope at the base of a cliff. Two adults emerged from burrows at the base of Picnic.

Despite this being my fourth year in the early season, I continue to gain new insights into the behavior of these animals. The other day I saw one of the adults, which I’m assuming is a male for the time being, sniffing around the snow-covered colony, honing in a location, and then digging a hole and disappearing for 20 minutes. After coming back out, he repeated this behavior.

Adult males tend to be one of the first animals to emerge, presumably to mate. At Picnic, in the absence of a bounty of emerged females, this particular animal appears to have taken the initiative to dig through the snow in order to enter burrows that may house semi-hibernating females.

I haven’t seen that animal again since that day. Maybe he went off to another colony to find more females . . . or at least burrows he can access through the snow!

As of right now, I can’t say this is the animal’s intention. However, with careful observations of the females that emerge from particular burrows and genetic data on those females’ pups, we may be able to figure it out!

Picnic colony as of today. I've been spending my mornings here.

Early season at RMBL 2014

Although this is only my second year coming to RMBL, this spring sure feels different. The big dust storm that blew in a few weeks ago left this crazy red layer all over the valley. 

It looks kinda cool because it contours the hills in nice patterns but it is not cool for skiing in to the research station! Skiing over it essentially feels like you hit the emergency brake, so here we are actively avoiding it on the road in to RMBL.

We're still waiting to see how the long winter, dirt layer and now warm, rainy days (!) affect our marmot population. So far, a few animals are out and about, but it seems like most are still hunkered down in burrows. Where we don't see marmots, we have seen a few open burrows like the picture below. Since there are no tracks around these holes, it appears that a marmot popped out, had a look around, and decided to go back into torpor. Although it doesn't look like much, these are the kinds of things that us marmoteers get excited about in the early season.

So for now, we are keeping busy catching up on data analysis, shoveling snow to get into cabins, and re-learning how to ski. More updates will come as the marmots start showing their faces, errr...their backs, since all we really care about are their marks.

Late snow

Last winter was really mild. Snow arrived mid January and was melted by mid-April. However, the month of May always have some non-expected snowstorm that transform our study in a dreamy land.

Photo by Julien Martin

The circle of life...

The winter has been so long this year and emergence of a lot of species has been delayed. As researchers, we have to deal with this by just sitting in the snow for long periods waiting for our study animals to emerge. While observing we can just have a granola bar if we get hungry, but what about predators if their prey are not around?

Photo by Rebecca Richardson

This is the story of the coyote that lives in our study area. When we arrived, he was in good shape, very active looking for something to eat, but as the time has passed, this coyote was getting more and more skinny.

This was the early June, the marmots were out and the coyote very hungry. We had some new individuals down valley that we have been observing carefully and waiting for the right time to start trapping to give them a name and a mark. Unfortunately, this is not going to happen to the small one.

It was this morning when all of marmots were sitting just next to their burrows when one marmot met some misfortune. He was in middle of nowhere when he met face to face with the coyote!

The marmot fight against the coyote is depicted below. I am sure the coyote got bitten by the marmot, but this was not enough of a fight for this marmot to escape from a starving coyote.

Photo: Adriana Maldonado

After handling the marmot for about 30 minutes, the coyote left the site, but the other marmots just stayed safely inside their burrows and the morning went so slowly after this incident.

To read more about coyotes, check out the wikipedia...

I scream, You scream, We all scream for Ice Cream!

Yes, so you must be thinking that with all of that snow out there, "How could she possibly be thinking about ice cream?"


Well, for those of you that know me well, you might not surprised that I have in fact been thinking ice cream would be a tasty treat. However, for now, I suppose a marmot sighting will have to do! Let me explain...


I was on my way to the cabin called Red Rock this morning and thought I saw one of the logs of the cabin moving! Low and behold it was a marmot.

After careful inspection, I ascertained that the identity of this marmot was "Ice Cream." Her fur is marked with a dark dye in the shape of circle over a v. What a tease, now I will just have to look forward to ice cream on hot summer days as the snow slowly melts.

50 Years of Marmot Research!!!

Building upon the pioneering efforts of Ken Armitage and the efforts of numerous marmoteers over the years, Dan Blumstein now oversees the marmot research project. As a result of these collaborative efforts, this project has been going for half of a century now.


Most projects only last for 3-4 years (the duration of a dissertation or granting period), so this is quite an accomplishment. To celebrate our golden anniversary, Dan made T-shirts! Check out the logo below:


And the current crew in the field wearing our shirts with pride!

Here's to another 50 years of new discoveries...and FUN!!!

Weather at RMBL

This is an unusual year, or so the tell me! Apparently, most years, we are already trapping marmots by now, but at this rate, we are just happy to see marmots above ground.

We ski into camp from the neighboring town with all of our groceries and supplies in our backpacks because the road is not yet open. This is par for the course most years during early season, but there is no sign that the road will be opening any time soon. In fact, we will be lucky if it is open by JUNE!

For more about the weather at Gothic mountain check out Billy Barr's website for the current and predicted weather forecast. Over the past 30 years, Billy has created the most complete record of the world's natural avalanches and we are certainly lucky to have him around. Billy is also an excellent photographer. Check out his photo from skiing into town for supplies.

Photo by Billy Barr

Call of mother nature

Readers might be wondering because the winter cabin I was staying in currently looks like this...

And because the "summer" cabin that I just moved into currently looks like this...


What on earth does team marmot do when mother nature calls?

Despite their cold seats, the outhouses of RMBL offer their uses a number of perks...


Quiet and solitude...


Scenic views of Gothic mountain...


A central gathering place for socializing...


To summarize, the outhouses of RMBL are priceless.

Signs of marmots!

I just made it to RMBL, and apparently I'm joining the rest of Team Marmot here just in time! Despite all of the snow--6 feet still on the ground--the marmots are telling us that spring is finally in the air. Although we have yet to see a marmot, they are providing us with clues that they are starting to emerge from a long winter of hibernating in their burrows.

Photo by Adriana Maldonado Chaparro
of Jenn Skiing

At this point in the game, us biologists and the rest of the crew at RMBL must use our field skills to play detective (check out my detective hat)!



First, we saw marmot tracks...note the quarter for size reference.

Photo by Shayn, Winter Caretaker

Check out this a diagram of typical marmot footprint.

Image from ProTrails.com

Then, these tracks lead Shayn to the following marmot hole!

Photo by Shayn, Winter Caretaker

Finally, Caitlin Wells, from the ground squirrel project, just documented another active marmot burrow...

Photo by Caitlin Wells,
Ground Squirrel Project

So, perhaps tomorrow Team Marmot will finally get to see one of these marmots above ground and wandering around during our morning observations...stay tuned!

Photo by Adriana Maldonado Chaparro

Early season field work!

This is my favorite time of the year, everything around is so white and quiet that you can almost hear the beat of your heart!

Photo: Adriana Maldonado

Every day, when the snow storms give us a chance we go out to look if the marmots have wake up. This is our first day working, we manage to go out and recognize some marmot's burrows under a very snowy day.