Litters are up!

It's not even the first day of summer and we just had a litter emerge above ground!  The pup season has begun...now we have to scramble to catch pups in the day or so after first emergence so as to mark them before they get eaten by foxes, raptors, or coyotes. It's a race.

Ana saw 5 pups in marmot meadow playing around 'south pyramid rock'.  We set some traps to catch them and their mother immediately began moving them to another burrow.  Mothers these days...

This is one of the earliest litters ever recorded over the past 54 years of marmot study!  Most of our litters start emerging around the 4th of July (yes, marmots can be patriotic, or perhaps they're interested in the Crested Butte July 4th parade!), and we normally have only 1 or 2 emerge annually much before the 4th.

It was a cold and snowy spring here; based on spring sightings at Marmot Meadow, copulation probably occurred in the ground before the females emerged from hibernation.

Stay tuned for more details...

Marmots on the move

It's that time of year again; marmots are on the move!  This morning, while holding a banana and looking outside my cabin window at the scenery, I saw a marmot!  Marmots don't typically live on the hillside where our cabin is located and I think we were both equally surprised--his tail hair was piloerect and he reared up and looked at me while I stood motionless looking for ear tags. After a long look at each other, I peeled my banana and he ran under the porch. A few minutes later I saw the same marmot exploring the area outside my kitchen window while I was washing up my breakfast dishes. But it was when he was outside my bedroom window, fossicking around our wood pile that I snapped this picture.  No ear tags, beautiful pelage, glorious tail!  Marmots are on the move again, looking for places to settle in.  I suspect it's a he (shape of head), and he's a 2 or 3-year old male looking for a colony to invade.  Remarkably, about 5-10 min later, we spotted him 500 m down valley, coursing through two different marmot colonies, exploring burrows and moving on quickly.  We lost him as he moved towards an occupied burrow, but soon after heard alarm calls coming from that area. If he sticks around, he'll get ear tags and a mark so we can identify him from afar.  I hope he does!

Welcome Xochitl

Hey everyone!

I am Xochitl, the newest addition to the Marmot Team. I am a rising junior at College of the Atlantic, ME. Getting here was a heck of a trip, but it was totally worth it. This is only my third day here, yet I have already learned so much! I am becoming familiar with individual marmots and their (sometimes quirky) personalities and am learning all the dos and don'ts of trapping marmots. I even handled my first marmot out of a trap! Ana and Gabi have been great teachers and everyone has made me feel part of the team. I'm excited for all the new adventures this summer will bring, especially with pups coming out soon!

Yesterday was also an exciting day as we finally trapped and marked the clever little marmot that is living under the library. We had been trying for days, but she would simply sit by the traps with no intention of going in. It was particularly important for us to trap her because she was unmarked. A new animal! Her name is now sunshine, as demonstrated by the beautiful new mark on her back ;) 

Time to do more observations!

Xochitl

Kwasi returns!

There's something about studying these fluffy rodents in one of the most beautiful landscapes in the country that draws you back for more. My name is Kwasi Wrensford, a rising senior from the University of Connecticut by way of Albany, Georgia, and this will be my second summer as a Marmoteer! Along with the regular Marmot Team duties of trapping and observation, I will also be working on a project that looks to quantify and model escape behavior in marmots. So along with catching and watching marmots, I'll be chasing them as well (for science of course). It's an honor to work with Dr. Blumstein and the rest of the Marmoteers for another season, and I can't wait to see what the next few months have in store! 

Welcome Andy!

Hi, I'm Andy. I'm from Indianapolis, IN and I'm a sophomore at Indiana University. I just started working here at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Gothic, CO a week and a half ago. Ana and Gabi have been teaching me everything there is to know about observing and trapping marmots. The mountains are amazing and the field work is always exciting. I'm getting a real taste of what it is like to be a wildlife biologist. Here's Colorado's second newest marmoteer signing off. Peace.

Welcome Rachel

Hey there, my name is Rachael and I from good ol' Maryland, home of Old Bay. I am absolutely thrilled to have the chance to study marmots here at RMBL. Not only do I get to work with such an adorable study species, but I have the opportunity to learn so much from Dr. Blumstein and the other researchers in the lab. This will definitely be a summer to remember!! 

Marmots Galore

Ana writes:

"After a couple weeks of anxiously waiting, we saw our first set of yearlings down valley! They are so small that they look just like they did when they first emerged last year. The snow is practically all melted down valley and we’re really excited to start trapping and get an ID on the individuals who somehow managed to escape our great marmot trapping effort at the end of last summer. We are also excited that we have our first set of undergrads coming in this week!  We have some returners and some people that are brand new to field work.  Soon they’ll meet Gothic’s favorite residents, Dandelion and Stitches, which have been hanging out by Maroon and we have one more mystery marmot in town. This marmot found entertainment in hiding behind the snow so we couldn’t see her mark."