January 29, 2015

A Walk in the Woods: Tracks




It was a beautiful day today, mild enough, with temperatures in the teens, for me to take a snowshoe. The storm earlier in the week brought only a few inches of very fluffy snow, so it wasn't a strenuous walk. The world looked beautifully pristine with the new whites brightening the landscape. It was a fresh canvas for the marks of animal tracks, laid over the pentimento of earlier passings. Deer tracks wandered across the woodland path, curving and crossing.




My snowshoes and pole marked a trail alongside that of a large mammal....




....who I can't identify although I was taught the difference between canine and feline tracks (my mind is a sieve).




What I most enjoyed were the wandering tracks of small mammals, adding another linear element to the landscape, across tree shadows. This animal went into the old sugarhouse, and I could see its tracks leaving on the other side; perhaps it sought shelter there.




The rhythmic line of tracks flows up to the tree, around it, and up and down across the drifts.




Here an elegant curve from rock downwards, and around a small tree. These are lines worthy of Matisse.




Then there are wide tracks made by small mammals; it's possible that because the snow is so soft a wider track is formed.




With the track above and with this, there is a look of a railroad, a highway, as opposed to the thinner lines. It's wonderful to think of the hardiness of all the wild creatures, who make it through bitter winters. The woods come alive with the crisscrossing of many tracks.




I took this photograph a couple of weeks ago, not in the woods, but in front of my house. A mouse headed across the snow to my compost pile, which is behind me. All winter I see small tracks leading to the compost, a feast for winter survivalists. Some come from my shed; as my FedEx driver put it "everyone needs a home". A couple of mornings ago, early, while it was still quite dark, I looked out my kitchen window toward the garden. I saw a large shape on top of the post near the compost pile. It was an owl, waiting for his rodent meal. He noticed me and flew off. I hadn't seen an owl there in several years, so it was exciting; it was also a reminder of how precarious life is for all wild beings, especially in winter.


9 comments:

  1. With all that snow cover animals have a harder time finding dinner. One way to remember about large mammal tracks is that cats always walk with their claws retracted. Canine always have claws visible. Just think about that cat swiping with claws out but they are in the rest of the time. ;) Good to see that you aren't buried in snow.

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  2. Thanks for the comments.
    Thanks, Lisa, for the reminder about the claws. I was told about that a couple of years ago, but was too lazy to look it up. But the large tracks show a visible "X" so maybe they're coyote and the claws don't show because the snow was so fluffy?

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  3. Looks like the tracks of a bobcat -- I'm not seeing an x in it, more like a c, and the track is round rather than long. But compare with a red fox -- about the same size -- and the fox's paws are so furry you can hardly see toe pads. And you have a porcupine, commuting to and from his dinner every night -- you can track him back to his den if you want to. They waddle along and make a wide path, which they travel over and over. And the tiny ones are from a deer mouse, hopping along with a little drag of its long tail, like stitches on the snow. A good tracking day!

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    1. I defer to your superior wisdom, Susan. Bobcat is exciting; I know they're around here. And a porcupine...fun! no wonder the wide track; I think I'll pass on finding his den. And thanks for the mouse ID.

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  4. Keep an eye out for more of those big kitty tracks! If that's what they are. When tracking, I try not to decide what I'm seeing right away -- there are a lot of clues to put together, and lots of conditions to take into account. I'm hoping for another good tracking day soon!

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  5. I think you would really enjoy reading Tove Jansson's The Summer Book. It's set on a tiny island in Finland. She did the moomintrolls kids books. She pays attention to details like you do.

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    1. Julie, I have The Summer Book on my shelf because you recommended it before. I have to admit not having finished it, so I'll have to pick it up again during the summer. I like to read certain books at the correct season.

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