December 28th 2008

...we followed the tracks of a rather large Bobcat downstream at one of the feeder streams of the Middle Branch of the Swift River near Johnny's Bridge and came upon this kill site where the wild cat had taken this Raccoon with apparently very little struggle. The kill happened at the bare spot on the right. The Bobcat had entered the chest cavity to feed. Several ribs had been gnawed through (but not femurs or other large bones). A small raven (or large crow?) had fed on the carcass, clearing the skull.

December 29th 2008

Whitetail Deer were feeding on ferns, in this case Marginal Wood Fern, Dryopteris marginalis. As is typical with deer, it was not an example of profligate feeding, but obvious for what it was.

December 30th 2008

Fresh Porcupine debarking, feeding, on Witch Hazel, Hamamelis virginiana.

December 31st 2008

A Bobcat track on ice. This type of track results from the foot compressing snow, which then remains as ice when the surrounding snow melts or is washed away by rain. If you look closely you can actually see the heel pad and four toe pads.

January 1st 2009

This was a scent post of a Red Fox that I had the pleasure of tracking in a quarter-inch of fresh snow. The urine was surprisingly mild-smelling, with no overt "skunky " undertones.

January 2nd 2009

- an entrance to a Mink denning area adjacent to a stonewall next to a Beaver pond in the Quabbin. Mink are always exciting to track, although it takes patience, humility, and a willingness to crawl on your hands and knees in wet, shrubby tangles!

January 3rd 2009

This bird's nest, constructed and used this past spring, is typical in size and placement for a common yellowthroat or other warbler.

January 4th 2009

- a perfect example of the precise trotting trail of the Eastern Coyote.

January 5th 2009

A Fisher, probably a female, in a 2-2 bound.

January 6th 2009

Beautiful Gray Fox tracks in fluffy snow. Direction of travel is toward the top of the photo.

January 7th 2009

Classic Opossum walk, understepping, no tail drag or slap showing.

January 8th 2009

A Red Fox, transitioning out of a transverse gallop into an overstep side trot. The third group is not a rotary gallop but a "lope" pattern - look closely and you see f-h-f-h on the ground, followed by a group of "pattern with no name" followed by a brief section of straddle trot, before it settled into a side trot. It is amazing to watch our four-legged relatives move with grace and ease, leaving intricate patterns in the snow.

January 9th 2009

Tracks of a bounding Shrew. There are four species of Shrews found in our area, three in Genus Sorex and one in Genus Blarina. We watched a Northern Short-tailed Shrew (Blarina brevicauda), apparently hunting, outside our chicken coop at night. This species commonly takes mice and voles (Eadie, W.R., Journal of Mammalogy, 1944, 1948, 1948, 1952), and we think it's likely it was seeking out one of these rodents.

January 10th 2009

The rising Wolf Moon. Because it is at perigee, the closest point in its orbit around the Earth, this is the largest and brightest it will appear all year.

January 11th 2009

The scat of a Bobcat that we tracked in the dark.

January 12th 2009

A porcupine trail.

January 13th 2009

A hole made by a shrew, emerging from the world beneath the snow.

January 14th 2009

A hole made by a vole entering the subnivian realm. Compare the size with that left by the shrew, the day prior.

January 15th 2009

Here is an Opossum trail with extremely vigorous tail slap.

January 16th 2009

Exquisite Otter trails.

January 17th 2009

A Coyote scent post in one of the most remote areas of the Quabbin.

January 18th 2009

A Fisher scent post. The Fisher rolls, depositing body scent, much as Otters do, and then urinates afterwards. This is typically done on a low, punky stump, as here. The urine is usually a tiny amount, and has a very mild, almost undetectable odor.

January 19th 2009

Here is an example of a classic Mink trail - regularly-spaced 2-2 bounds, paralleling the frozen Quabbin shore.

January 20th 2009

This is an example of what we have started calling a Moose "whammy," adapting a term Paul Rezendes coined to describe a particular type of Black Bear intentional communicative marking behavior. Unlike the Bear, however, in the case of the Moose this is a result of feeding, and as such is non-intentional. This is quite often found on deciduous trees such as Red Maple, Striped Maple, and several Birch species here in southern New England. In northern New England and Newfoundland I have found this extensively on Balsam Fir. We are seeing this on Hemlock, which appears to be a replacement food for Moose since Balsams do not grow extensively in this area. Thus far this is undocumented in the scientific literature (to the best of our knowledge), and as such is an extremely exciting phenomenon to witness.

January 21st 2009

Porcupine nip twigs, from feeding on White Pine.

January 22nd 2009

This is a result of a Moose feeding on a Red Maple tree. The marks are made by the lower incisor teeth as the Moose scrapes upward, in an effort to harvest the nutrient-rich cambium layer just below the outer layer of bark.

January 23rd 2009

Here a member of the Lagamorph order, either an Eastern Cottontail, Sylvilagus floridanus, or a Snowshoe Hare, Lepus americanus, has fed on the bark of rubus, in this case Blackberry. Tracks will help you determine which animal was feeding here.

January 24th 2009

A lone Eastern Coyote trotted across a small frozen snow-covered pond in the Quabbin forest. The wind sculpted the trail into fascinating shapes.

January 25th 2009

A Gray Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) crossed the snowscape in short, even bounds. Note the mark left by the wide, fluffy tail in the center of the trail.