Tweeters:

That an Aplodontia would cross Hwy 9 is entirely reasonable; although this
is generally a secretive species, animals can unexpectedly show up in the
open, as at forest edges, especially at this season. It should also be
remembered that the drive from Lake Stevens to Arlington (I drive it pretty
often) is mostly forested with several expanses of pure Red Alder forest,
middle-aged to mature. I would expect Mt. Beaver to be especially well
represented in the forests here. There is mixed forest and a regenerating
cutover zone (heavy with shrubbery/saplings) also, but open meadows and
montane rocky talus (for ground squirrels and marmot respectively) are
absent. Further, I'm not aware of any ground-squirrel sp. occurring
regularly in Snohomish Co., but please enlighten if you're aware of some.

Another fact to consider is that there are is new development in the area,
most notably Glen Eagle, a huge project that is visible in places at the
north end of the drive but in fact continues behind a narrow strip of forest
along Hwy 9 for a fair distance. With major forest clearings many creatures
are displaced; I think this could well be a factor for Mt. Beaver movements,
in fact my two best sightings were associated with animals seen in
newly-created suburbs, one in a ground-level crawl-space (!) and the other
an animal cornered by dogs...

I guess the one thing that might dissuade me from Aplodontia (until others
enlighten otherwise) is the prospect of an escaped petstore subject.

Scott Atkinson
Lake Stevens
mail to: scottratkinson at hotmail.com





>From: "John Fleckenstein" <john.fleckenstein at wadnr.gov>
>Reply-To: john.fleckenstein at wadnr.gov
>To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
>Subject: Subject: RE: Prairie Dog ?
>Date: Tue, 09 Jul 2002 09:00:02 -0700
>
>Birders,
>Depending on how long the "short" tail is, maybe it was a California ground
>squirrel. The behavior sounds right (conspicuous behavior, little regard
>for personal safety, serious attempts to cause human havoc), and they are
>in the area. I'd be surprised at a mountain beaver crossing the road
>during the day.
>
>John Fleckenstein
>Olympia




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