Chicago Wildlife Watch blog post
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mason_UWI
scientist
Hi all, our first CWW blog post is up. Check it out to get some more info on our study sites.
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mason_UWI
scientist
Hi all, CWW blog post number two is up, wherein we give some insider tips on differentiating gray squirrels from fox squirrels.
What kind of squirrel is that?
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DZM
admin
Interesting! It seems like even though fox squirrels are "tougher" and put up more of a fight, gray squirrels are more adaptable to urban environments? The fighter vs. the survivor? 😃
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mason_UWI
scientist
In a way, yes! Gray squirrels don't have to spend as much energy foraging, which in cities where there may be fewer predators they get a distinct advantage over fox squirrels. However, this changes depending on geographic location too! On the west coast, the fox squirrel is an introduced species and out competes the smaller western gray squirrel.
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mason_UWI
scientist
Blog post number three is up! This one is about recording wildlife behavior in our photos
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mason_UWI
scientist
Having trouble identifying the various canids we see in Chicago? Our next blog post has some tips on how we differentiate between coyotes, red foxes, and gray foxes.
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DZM
admin
It's sad that there are so few gray foxes out here! They're very beautiful animals, and I personally think it's so cool that they can climb trees. 😃
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mason_UWI
scientist
Hi all. Here is a new blog post about what everyone has been entering on Chicago Wildlife Watch!
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DZM
admin
Wow, what an absolute wealth of fascinating information. Thank you!!
Lots to be surprised about... for instance, that people generally agree about chipmunks. I figured there would be a lot of disagreement between squirrels and chipmunks. Also, foxes are hard to agree about! I guess people mix them up with dogs and coyotes.
We're good at IDing other people, at least! I guess people don't much look like anything else. 😃
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mason_UWI
scientist
No problem! It is great that everyone is identifying similarly. Once we get most of this season done we can start making figures about where we are seeing these species too, which will be a lot of fun!
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escholzia
Interesting! Poor agreement on cars is probably due to uncertainty how close it must be to count it. If the car is far away on a road, I don't bother.
Is the % agreement for individual species based on unique classifiers? Agreements are higher than I'd expect.
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WOW - great to get some specific feedback about how we are doing!
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