This Week in the Woods, we finally climbed up a steep hillside to collect photos from a game camera near a log, where different species urinate, rub scent glands, and otherwise leave their calling cards. Often, more than one species will visit the same scent post, as is the case with this punky log. Bobcats and coyotes are also occasional visitors.
We were hoping for a bobcat photo, but what we got instead was this image of porcupine. A second photo (not shown) revealed that the porcupine was licking the stump. The images were taken during porcupine breeding season in November, so the animal may have been reading signs from a potential mate.
Another reason a porcupine might seek out a post like this – especially in late winter and early spring, as the trees begin to wake up – is to access salts left by urination. Porcupines need salt to counteract the high levels of potassium that growing trees and other plants produce. A salt/potassium imbalance, when extreme enough, can kill an animal. This is why porcupines chew on tires and treated lumber, and also why they wander into roads so often in early spring; along with other herbivores, they’re attracted to the road salt. This Outside Story essay by Susan Shea describes this salt-seeking phenomenon.
Another fun find this week: a crop of white Trametes polypores, with maze-like pores and a slightly melted-cheese looking surface. Fungi in this genus grow on decaying wood, and we’ve often found them on the stumps, trunks, and logs of dead or dying hardwood trees.
What have you noticed in the woods this week? Submit a recent photo for possible inclusion in our monthly online Reader Photo Gallery.