Wildlife Wednesday - Let's Get Tracking!
By Andy Ames, board member
The first snow of the season means it’s time to start tracking! Each new snow creates a fresh canvass. Just in the past day I have seen tracks of deer, elk, coyotes, fox(?), mountain lion, as well as turkeys, rabbits, voles, chipmunks, and mice. Not only do these (and many more) animals create beautiful patterns in the snow, but they also offer us a great tool for learning. Tracks tell us who else has been using the landscape and when. With careful inspection we can tell where an animal was going, what it was doing, and even its speed. Over the course of the winter we will take a deeper look at some of the mysteries tracks can reveal.
There is no mistaking the tracks of turkeys. These large birds are often seen traveling together. Each footprint looks like an arrow, pointing in the opposite direction of travel.
Elk traveling left to right, deer from bottom to top of photo. While elk tracks are much larger than deer, they can also be distinguished by their rounder shape. Elk and deer can sometimes be found in close proximity. While not intermingling, there is safety in numbers. The more eyes looking out for danger the better.
Coyote track. While following some coyote tracks, I soon started seeing more and more. The varying ages of the tracks told me they had been been in this area for at least a couple of days. Sure enough, the tracks led me to a well consumed deer carcass. There should be some happy coyotes near by.
Fox track, (I think). It shares the symmetrical shape of coyotes and other canids but slightly smaller. The short stride length and light weight makes me lean toward it being fox tracks, however.
Mountain lion. I almost missed these tracks. I was fixated watching some deer on the hillside. When I looked down, however, I was standing right over some mountain lion tracks, just what I was hoping to see. It had been traveling on the same trail I was before it veered off up the hill. It just goes to show how important it is to pay attention to your surroundings.