North Beach and Centennial Woods
This week for our phenology project, I expanded my exploration beyond my established phenology site of Centennial Woods. Looking for any signs of animal life that could be used for tracking, I thought it would be best to visit more than one place, especially since recent snowfall made conditions different on Sunday.
The first place I went was back to my “home base”, since I was curious if I would be able to find any animal tracks that missed on my other visits, or were more fresh. As I walked in, there were a couple leashed dogs being walked through the trail. They left some prints of their own I could take a look at but may have scared off other animals. I did not see any other ones in person. I did however, see signs. Prints of what I think is likely a gray squirrel scattered my phenology spot as they did last time. The tracks looked like they were those of a bounder, suggesting possibly squirrel or rabbit based on their small size. The straddle was about 5 inches, and the tracks continued to an oak tree where they disappeared. These signs point to gray squirrel.
I also found myself at North Beach that weekend. I actually did not intent it to be a tracking expedition, but I was on a run and decided to look around a little bit on one of my stops. I am glad I did so, because I found some pretty clear prints, and the backpack I brought had my tracking guide in it! The toes all pointed in the same direction and the path was linear, making a domestic dog an unlikely source for the tracks. At first they looked pretty large, but excluding the melted area around them, I think they must have been a little less than 3 inches long, and looked to diagonal walk. These facts make me think the prints were left from a red fox.
At first the iNaturalist app was having problems connecting, which was more likely an issue with my data plan then anything else, but eventually I got it to work. I used the app at home to take part in an “Urban Canine Project” where people documented signs of foxes and coyotes around Madison Wisconsin. I think it is a very useful tool to have for this class.