SIA Border Cameras Report
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Sky Island Alliance’s Border Camera Summary JUNE 28 2019 SKY ISLAND ALLIANCE by: Meagan Bethel 1 Sky Island Alliance’s Border Camera Summary This report summarizes the data collected by Sky Island Alliance’s remote sensing wildlife cameras over 23 months of sampling effort starting July 2017 and running to the most recent data of May 2019. While Sky Island Alliance maintains more than thirty cameras, 24 cameras are within 35 miles of the United States-Mexico border. Those 24 cameras along the border contributed photo data to this report. 2 Total number of photos for all border cameras by month 4000 3500 3000 2500 2000 Number of Photos 1500 1000 500 0 Figure 1 The total number of unique wildlife photos collected by Sky Island Alliance’s border cameras that spans 23 months. Two peaks can be seen in October 2017 and May 2018, however the total number of photos collected has been declining over time. 3 Table 1 A summary table of all species detected by the remote cameras with in sampling period. There were 45,886 photos with animals in them. Humans and domestic animals are separated from wildlife. Wildlife Number of Photos Humans and Number of Photos Domestic animals White-tailed deer 23994 Cattle 12001 Javelina 1915 Human hiker 1093 White-nosed coati 1159 Domestic dog 292 Mule deer 923 Vehicle 1000 Mountain lion 827 Horseback rider 90 Coyote 758 Border patrol 87 Raccoon 619 Cat 11 Turkey 398 Black Bear 366 Spotted skunk Grey fox 242 Bobcat 224 Hooded skunk 162 Desert cottontail 100 Bird species 86 Striped skunk 78 Mexican jay 68 Antelope jackrabbit 57 Hog-nosed skunk 44 Great blue heron 43 Greater roadrunner 42 Rock squirrel 29 Opossum Raven 7 Arachnid 6 Cooper’s hawk 6 Ringtail cat 6 Roadrunner 6 Badger 5 Spotted skunk 5 Turkey vulture 5 Skunk species 3 Black hawk 1 4 Percentage of Photos for Each Species Detected Black bear 1% Raccoon 1% Turkey 1% Grey fox 1% Coyote 2% Mountain lion 2% Mule deer 2% White-nosed coati 3% Human 3% Javelina 4% White-tailed deer 52% Domestic animal 27% Figure 2 Percentages of the number of photos for each species detected by the remote cameras. Species less than 1% are not labeled. 5 Specific Observations Number of white-tailed deer photos taken over 23 months 2500 2000 1500 1000 y = -1.61x + 707 Number of Photos 500 0 Jul-17 Jul-18 Jan-18 Jan-19 Jun-18 Oct-17 Oct-18 Apr-18 Apr-19 Sep-17 Feb-18 Sep-18 Feb-19 Dec-17 Dec-18 Aug-17 Aug-18 Nov-17 Nov-18 Mar-18 Mar-19 May-18 May-19 Figure 3 Trends in the number of white-tailed deer photos that make up a large proportion of the data. There is a distinct downward trend starting October 2018. Number of top carnivore photos taken over 23 months 160 140 120 100 80 60 Number of Photos 40 20 0 Jul-17 Jul-18 Jan-18 Jan-19 Jun-18 Oct-17 Oct-18 Apr-18 Apr-19 Sep-17 Feb-18 Sep-18 Feb-19 Dec-17 Dec-18 Aug-17 Aug-18 Nov-17 Nov-18 Mar-18 Mar-19 May-18 May-19 Black bear Bobcat Coyote Mountain lion Figure 4 Trends in the number of predator photos at all cameras, there was a large spike in black bears at one site for unknown reasons 6 Common Species by Site The majority of the sites had white-tailed deer as the most frequent animal. The following list is the second most common species seen on each camera. Site 1: Pajarito/Atascosa - Sierra Cibuta Linkage Javelina Site 2: Patagonia-San Antonio Linkage Javelina Site 3: Huachuca - Sierra Chivato Linkage (2 cameras) Black Bear Site 4: Patagonia Mountains Gray fox Site 5: Huachuca - Sierra Chivato Linkage (2 cameras) Raccoon Site 6: Tumacacori - Santa Rita Linkage (2 cameras) Javelina Site 7: San Pedro River Linkage Hooded skunk Site 8: Pajarito Mountains (5 cameras) Mountain lion Site 9: Patagonia-San Antonio Linkage (2 cameras) Javelina Site 10: Huachuca - Sierra Chivato Linkage Turkey Huachuca Mountains 84% of all black bear photos collected for this report were taken in the Huachuca Mountains, only 2 miles from the Border. Pajarito Mountains 96% of all mountain lion photos collected for this report were taken in the Pajarito Mountains, just 5 miles from the Border. 7 Image 1 Two young white-tail bucks sparring Image 2 Turkey chicks and mother Image 3 Greater roadrunner Image 4 Black bear Image 5 Two large mountain lion cubs and their mother Image 6 Hooded skunk 8 Image 7 Coyote Image 8 Large band of coatis with several young Image 10 Bobcat Image 11 Grey fox coming from a culvert under I-19 Image 12 Mountain lion looking at camera Image 13 A white-tailed deer and two very young fawns 9 .