HELLO COOL CATAMOUNTS AND KITTENS! On this wild and windy Wednesday I ventured to the golf course just south of campus. I figured that on a gusty day like today, animals might find any way to seek shelter and the patch of trees on the golf course would have just the place to go to avoid the open fields. The conditions were very hostile, requiring me to bundle up sufficiently and try my best to keep my hat on. Below I describe to you a few of my findings which correspond to pictures attached in the gallery below.
While meandering through the rolling hills, the most common tracks to find were grey squirrels, just behind the nordic and dog tracks. At the base of every tree, many lines radiated out often times to a neighboring tree or a sheltered area, providing refuge for the rodents during their quest for cached food. Upon entering the densely covered patch of trees there were more clear paths to follow. The first of which being a coyote, made clear by the four toes and narrow, slender shape of the print. Next, I came across tracks with the distinct bounding pattern of the weasel family and the unmistakable 5-toed, 6cm long track of the fisher. It was going up the hill towards a tree. I tried following the tracks then lost them at the base of a tree. Then I came across a single print that stumped me. With the wide pad and four toes, I presumed it to be a part of the feline family, but this track was large. Larger than a typical bobcat track and on par with the size of a mountain lion track at about 10cm. I find it odd that a mountain lion would make it down to the Burlington Country Club, but I guess you never know what those crazy cats are up to in the wee hours of the night. Could it have been Rally? The last mystery I solved was on an open stretch of the course where I found some rectangular imprints which instead of depressions, was raised. I conclude it to be the tracks of a snowshoeing human.
When I tried to use iNaturalist, it did not help much with identifying the tracks. I imagine it could have been useful with pictures of the actual animal, but without a good sense of scaling and some of the images not being very defined, it was not very helpful in tracking.
grey quirrel 
grey wolf 
Fisher tracks 
fisher tracks 
large bobcat? 
snowshoe tracks