2:00pm, February 23, 2025
Rock Point Trail
To check out a slightly different area, I went with some friends to check out the trails at Rock Point. It was a cloudy day and warmer than it has been in weeks, about 32 degrees Fahrenheit. We started near the Rock Point South Community Garden and followed the trail North for some time, and then a bit west. There was still a significant amount of snow all over, making tracking easier. As opposed to my phenology spot, there was a lot more open space and less vegetation on the forest floor. On this hike, I was recording my wildlife observations on iNaturalist as part of a citizen science project to record wildlife in the Burlington area this month.
Following the trail, the main wildlife I encountered were birds. Compared to my last few visits to Centennial Woods, there were a lot more birds calling. I’m not sure if this is because of location or time of year. The photo above shows an American Robin in a tree. Unfortunately, all the birds I saw were high up in trees so I wasn’t able to get photos of any. I saw an American robin, red-bellied woodpecker, and a black-capped chickadee. I also heard a mystery bird. When I recorded audio for the Merlin Bird ID app it said that it could be a Golden-crowed Kinglet, but I didn’t see the bird. My favorite thing I saw the was red-bellied woodpecker. After hearing its pecking and its call, I was able to find it up high in a tree and watch it for a while. It was very vocal.
We found these tracks in two seperate places and our best guess for both is that they are cottontail rabbits. It is possible both track were made by the same one since they were not super far away. The size of the hind foot helped rule out asmaller mammals such as a chipmunk or squirrel. While the tracks weren’t super clear, there didn’t seem to be obvious toes, which made us think it wasn’t a racoon. The back feet are larger than front, but didn’t seem wide enough to be a snowshoe hare. This lead our best guess to be that they were left by cottontail rabbits crossing the walking path.
I think it is likely the above tracks were left by a squirrel. The front and hind feet were in different sizes and the tracks moved over several fallen branches. You could vaguely see the imprint of toes. As you can see next to the ruler, the hind feet were about 4-5 cm in length. This larger size makes it most likely that the tracks were left by a gray squirrel.
These prints had no trace of toes and resembled a hoof. The length of the track was similar to a small deer, but the pattern didn’t match. The prints seemed to be one foot directly in front of the other. My best guess is still that this was left by an eastern white-tailed deer.