Red Wolf Recovery Program - Field Notes and Observations

Submitted by Rred Wolf Biologist Michael Morse

Week of July 1, 2006

This morning started with a telemetry flight with the National Park Service (NPS). The NPS is the sister agency to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (both are agencies in the U.S. Department of the Interior). The Red Wolf Recovery Program began using the NPS Cessna 206 in the spring of 2006 after a previous vendor relocated. The C-206 is a slightly larger aircraft than the Cessna 172 used previously. Although a similar "high-wing," single engine design, the C-206 is a little more spacious inside and is equipped with a larger engine. Modifications to the wing-tips allow the plane to cruise faster than the C-172 and still fly as slow as needed to obtain wolf visual observations.

During today's flight, in addition to listening for all of the radio-collared wolves, I'm interested in a particular male wolf that was collared this spring with a GPS -enabled collar. This GPS collar is a special design that allows us to receive location data on a lot more wolves than can be sent from a conventional VHS radio collar. The great thing about the GPS package is that it uses satellites to automatically locate itself 4-5 times each day then stores the locations in the collar. Every month or two, a biologist on the ground just needs to get near the animal in the wild, and by using a special receiver, s/he can download all of the locations at once. This dataset can consist of 300-400 locations! Using a computer back in the office, the dataset is used to produce a map of where the animal has been each day. The map shows us the degree of animal movement, habitat preference, and home-range size as well as what other wolf it's spending time with.

Today's wolf focus (11301M) was collared late last winter while still a yearling and living with the pack in his natal home-range just south of Columbia, NC. The subsequent collar downloads provided us with accurate home range data from where he was born and much more. Because most young wolves disperse from the pack between 12-24 months of age, we were able to follow 11301M as he left his natal home range this spring and began his travels from place to place. We could see his path as he seemed to go from wolf pack to wolf pack looking for a place to live. We could see how he skirted the core areas of the adjacent packs in order to stay out of trouble with other wolves (a smart thing for a young single wolf). We even tracked him as he moved completely around Lake Phelps before stopping on Pocosin Lakes NWR where a female wolf (11358F-also born in 2004) had just paired with a sterilized, radio-collared wolf/coyote hybrid.

The most recent download showed how 11301M not only displaced the hybrid out of the pack's area, but likely killed him. After retrieving the carcass, our theory seemed to be correct. As I fly over Pocosin Lakes today, I can see that 11301M has paired with 11358F. Together, they will now form the new Pocosin Lakes pack. These types of wolf/non-wolf interactions where the non-wolves are displaced, are some of the observations the new GPS collars will allow us to record.

Satellite Tracking Collar

GLOSSARY:

GPS : Global Positioning Satellite; allows multiple satellites in earth orbit to accurately determine coordinates of a point on the earths surface.

Conventional VHS : transmits a radio signal that can provide a location when listened to with an antenna from the ground or air.

Yearling : A wolf between the age of 12 months and 24 months.

Natal home-range : The pack's area where a wolf is born and lives in before dispersing.