Over this week I got to explore more of the Burlington area and travel to the Intervale center for lab as well as cross country skiing around and outside of campus. Visiting the Intervale center after fresh snow allowed the opportunity to identify more species tracks that might not be so common in Burlington proper. My crew started with the recreation aspect of lab, while xc skiing we came across tracks that looked to be cottontail rabbit, because of its foot shape and hopping pattern.
when we split up for tracking my crew came across a group of downy woodpecker, and the snags they were chopping up! we identified the downy woodpecker by their red crown and unique black and white speckling patterns on their wings, head and back.
getting deeper into the thicket we saw lots of what looked to be mink tracks, and what we suspected to be a den inside a subnivean tree hollow. we suspected mink tracks because of the small size, about 6cm, stride, ranging between 50-100cm and the narrow straddle, about 6cm.
We came across tracks that looked similar to mink tracks in pattern but were smaller in size, straddle and stride. iNaturalist identified these as weasel tracks, and later I found what I believe to be the prints of a house cat based on the small size, paw pattern and its leading to a fence, inclosing a house.
