Watchful Porcupine
taken January 22nd at approximately 1pm around the Wachmeister Field Station in Canton, NY

While walking around the field station on our first lab day we came across a porcupine up in a tree. This was definitely the first time I had ever seen a porcupine at St. Lawrence and it wasn’t until taking this class that I realized they were somewhat common in the North Country. Porcupines are nocturnal so it may have been sleeping up there, or foraging. Porcupines are herbivorous but it is unlikely to have been foraging up in a tree at this time because most of them have lost their leaves, unless it was eating bark, which is characteristic of porcupines. They are slow moving creatures whose track is identified by their dragging tail. We came across a porcupine later in the semester at Lampson Falls