This sunny Monday afternoon me and a classmate headed out to East Woods Natural Area Loop to identify some tracks. I want to preface this post by saying that since this is a well traveled urban natural area there was not a plethora of tracks like there are in Jericho for example. But this is still a good example of land use practices and recreation.
The first track of interest that we found seems to be from a Snowshoe Hare. We came to this conclusion for a few reasons. Firstly the tracks demonstrate a galloping gait which is characteristic of rabbits and hares. Secondly the track was quite large signifying that it was most likely from a Snowshoe hare which have much larger feet than rabbits
The second set of tracks that I found interesting definitely belongs to some species of bird. These tracks are long in shape and small in size. They have a direct register walk but few defining features past that. I would hypothesize that these tracks are old as it is hard to see much that would clue me into the species. Based on what I can see and my knowledge of the area I think these tracks belong to a crow.
Lastly I wanted to finish off with a picture showing the amazing conditions out there early today as well as some dog tracks because we saw at least three dogs on our short walk. It is always a treat to see people and their pets enjoying urban natural areas to there fullest extent!
