On this lovely snowy Friday afternoon I ventured over to Centennial Woods to do some tracking. It had been snowing all night and into the morning until I went tracking which did not give me an advantage of any kind. It was easy to tell where previous prints had been, but it was often very difficult to determine what anything was because of a fresh blanket of cold smoke. That being said we were able to make out some small American Red Squirrel prints, and a few Deer tracks. That being said the fresh snow made it very difficult to be for sure on my identifications. The iNaturalist app was very easy to use and a positive experience. It was easy to upload and the app was helpful with identification.
The snow covered tracks were definitely difficult to identify, but some tricks helped us ID what they could be. The red squirrel prints were easy to spot, with distinguishable larger hind feet in front of the smaller back feet (seen above). The tracks were far too small to be a Gray Squirrel’s so that narrows it down to a Red Squirrel. The deer tracks were easy to identify because there was a clear hoof print in the snow the size a deer print should be (top track next to book, going left-right). They also followed along through the forest. There is also a K9 looking print next to the deer tracks we found which we might’ve thought to be a Red Fox, however after a closer examination of the X paw pad and nail direction I think it looks more like a domesticated dog.
Here are some bonus snowy Centennial Pictures!
