|
Posted by Derek Engel 22/02/08 5:56 pm:
Hey there Jenny,
With reference to the DECC Threatened Species Survey Guidelines there is the following comment :
"Stag watches involve observing potentially occupied hollow-bearing trees" and " involves looking for signs of occupancy of large tree hollows, including stag watching."
Based on this, I'm guessing, as we all hold the guidelines close to our hearts, its stag.
As an aside, with reference to that other classic publication "The Chainsaw Operators Manual: The safe use of chainsaws (which no ecologist should be with out) theres this great definition that goes “Snags (stags) – a snag is usually a dead or severely damages tree that may cause problems”. So maybe it should be snags. There is the option that when writing your reports and considering whether to save or clear a tree, you refer to it as a stag if saving it, but when wanting to chop it down / remove it, refer to it as a snag.
Now, being a Friday night, I'm off to have a cold beer and a snag 
Posted by Jenny Lewis 21/02/08 12:19 pm:
We've always referred to a dead tree as a 'stag' and in the field undertake evening 'stag watches' to look for animals leaving hollows. A lot of the literature refers to 'snags' which confused me at first as I always thought a snag was in a river (or something you throw on the barbie [thank you stefan]).
Are dead trees stags in Australia and snags in the U.S.? What does everyone else think? I guess the obvious answer is to just call them 'dead trees' . . .
|
