By Don Lyman
Boston Globe, October 11, 2018

Above: A large male white-tailed deer was captured by a camera trap in the woods near Merrimack College. BILL MCDOWELL
Halloween conjures up images of creatures of the night, like bats and owls. Although not a threat to people if left alone, a bat fluttering by or an owl hooting in the darkness can be a little scary. But there are lots of other nocturnal animals besides bats and owls. When we go to sleep at night, much of the animal world wakes up. A group of scientists and students at Merrimack College in North Andover, where I teach biology part time, were curious about just what kinds of animals roamed the woods around campus, so they decided to find out, using camera traps, which take pictures and video of animals that walk by the cameras.
I recently spoke to Bill McDowell, a biology professor at Merrimack who is working on the project. (I, by the way, haven’t been involved.) He said it was started a couple years ago by professor Jon Lyon, who is now vice provost. McDowell and his wife, Kristy, also a Merrimack biology professor, took over the project with some of their students last spring. McDowell said his conservation biology class has used the project to better understand the use of the woods around Merrimack by a variety of wildlife, coyotes in particular.
Kristy McDowell is teaching a course for students who intend to become elementary school science teachers, and sees the project as a possible instructional technique these future teachers can use. “Camera traps,’’ she said in an e-mail, “are a great way for kids to learn about organisms that live in their area that they may never see otherwise.” The weatherproof camera traps are powered by batteries, and are strapped to tree trunks, a couple feet off the ground. Bill said they set out eight camera traps, some along trails used by people, and others in the woods off the trails. But they discovered that almost all of their photos were of animals walking on the trails, so they now put all their cameras next to trails.
“Animals tend to use trails the same way people do,” Kristy said, “as it is the easiest way for them to get around.”

Above: A group of raccoons ambled down a trail at night in the woods behind Merrimack College. BILL MCDOWELL
Bill said the cameras have motion detectors triggered by movement in front of them, which works well for capturing images of animals walking by. They’ve discovered quite a cast of characters prowling the woods behind Merrimack at night. Some are what you might suspect — skunks, raccoons, opossums. But others were a bit more surprising. He said they got several pictures of coyotes. They also got images of several deer, including an eight-point buck, as well as a picture of a large owl, swooping down toward the ground. Bill guesses it’s probably a barred owl, as he’s heard them calling on campus occasionally. He said the most surprising thing they’ve seen on the camera traps have been fishers, large members of the weasel family. He said he’s heard them “yowling” at night — they sound like a person screaming — in the woods near his house in southern New Hampshire, but he didn’t realize they were found around the Boston suburbs. He’s also been surprised by how frequently they’ve seen images of coyotes on their camera traps, and how close the coyotes are to nearby neighborhoods, even near major construction projects.

Above: A coyote on a trail at night in the woods behind Merrimack College.BILL MCDOWELL
Paige Sorenson, a senior at Merrimack pursuing a double major in environmental studies and music, said the most surprising thing she saw while working on the project was close-up video footage of a large coyote howling and running across the screen during the night.
“I was impressed by the sheer size of the creature,” Sorenson said in an e-mail, “and was delighted to have been able to hear the howl with my own ears.” Camera traps “can reveal a whole new world, especially at night, that plays out right under our noses and back doors,” Lyon said in an e-mail. “It is really quite exciting.”

Above: A fisher walked down a trail in the woods behind Merrimack College at night. BILL MCDOWELL

Above: An owl swooped down in the woods at night behind Merrimack College. BILL MCDOWELL

Above: A skunk walked down a trail in the woods behind Merrimack College at night. BILL MCDOWELL
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