Hellooooo there, beautiful people!
I made it out to Centennial Woods this pleasantly warm Valentine’s Day to join the NR 2 iNaturalist Wildlife Sightings project. While I didn’t come across any active wildlife, there was still enough snow to preserve the tracks of creatures that had previously roamed the paths—in addition to an astronomical number of dogs.
As I walked down to the creek, I came across clear tracks left by one or more white-tailed deer. There were remarkably well-preserved hoof prints near the stream in the grassy area that was covered with snow.
While following these tracks, I stumbled upon the trace of an animal that looked distinctly different from the many dog prints found in Centennial Woods. However, it left me thoroughly puzzled—the marks had pads shaped like that of a large cat, with an h-shaped relief above the paw and possibly a leading toe, but also had clear claw marks in the snow. They were much bigger than any of the dog prints I came across.
My best guess is that these are bobcat or red fox tracks.
In addition to these creatures, I heard the call of more than one American crow from afar (who conveniently stopped calling every time I tried to record them) and a white-breasted nuthatch.