A warm welcome to all members of the New England Flying Squirrel Network (and to any community members who are interested as well)! We are very excited to have you! May has been a very productive month this year for a number of reasons.
Here are some exciting developments that have occurred recently:
During the last week of April, three senior interns from Beverly High School joined our staff! Shalissa, Lara, and Dale have been working on and helping with our projects this month and we are excited to have them!
Shalissa, Lara, & Dale wearing NEFSN t-shirts Some of the projects our interns have been working on include translating some of our resources into Spanish to increase accessibility, setting up our new ultrasonic detection system, designing hair sample collection prototypes, and working on community outreach. (If you live on the North Shore and would like to apply for an internship in the future, we’d love to hear from you!)
We also recently officially launched our project on Anecdata and SciStarter! These platforms are a great way to spread the word about our project. If you’re interested please check them out!
We currently have nest boxes in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Vermont! Thank you to all of our current participants for aiding in our research!
Have you checked your nest box recently?
Here are a few reminders for the next time you do:
It’s good to check your box about once a month. This will allow you to track developments while also avoiding disturbing any occupants too often.
Remember to knock first when you check your box. If your nest box is occupied when you check it, do not attempt to touch, capture, or evict any of the occupants. Participants should not handle squirrels or other wildlife.
Try not to disturb the contents of your box too much! When you open your box, simply take a quick photo. If the box is unoccupied when you check, it’s okay to look around a bit, but if it is occupied try and get a clear photo as quickly as possible to limit the disturbance to the resident(s).
When you check your nest box please report your data using our NEFSN Nest Box Data App which is accessible on both desktop and mobile platforms.
More detailed box checking protocol can be found on our website, or you can watch the videos produced by our interns on how to check your box and how to send in your data with our app!
Happy squirrel watching!
Our intern Lara checking a nest box! Can’t get enough NEFSN?
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