Wildlife Signs and Twigs

I traveled to my phenology spot for the first time back in Burlington on Wednesday, January 30th. To my delight the snow was fresh and I was able to see many tracks in the snow. However, the tracks seemed to all belong to gray squirrels. The tracks are in a galloping motion, and it was clear that the squirrel suspect was leisurely galloping from tree to tree to perhaps find food. There were also tracks that I identified as dog tracks. Their motion was erratic and it was clear that they stayed near the path and did not conserve their energy.

I also was able to identify multiple trees: Sugar Maple, Red Maple, Paper Birch, Oak, and American Beech.

Squirrel tracks in the snow by the path
Close up of the squirrel tracks, showing the toes that allowed me to identify them as squirrels
Dog tracks
Sugar maple twig sketch
Suspected sugar maple twig
This twig was hard for me to identify given that it has multiple terminal buds. However, the cluster of terminal buds also hints that it may be a member of the white oak group.