Trinity Woods Phenology

Over the weekend, I visited downtown Burlington and walked along the bike path. It was a nice and sunny day, so I was able to walk pretty far and found many tracks along the way. Most commonly, I saw dog prints and scat as many people walk their dogs along the bike path and veer off to play in the grass/snow. Besides visual tracks, I heard a few birds. I was able to hear some Northern Cardinals and many American Robins as well as some other birds flying over Lake Champlain that I wasn’t able to identify. I tracked all of my observations easily on iNaturalist which was extremely helpful in narrowing down animal prints and tracking bird calls that I heard while adventuring!

I found it quite difficult to identify some of the tracks I saw due to the fact that the snow was very deep and many of the tracks didn’t have a defined print. The first tracks I saw were large and looked like the animal was moving quickly because there were large gaps around print with kicked up snow most likely due to a leg moving in and out of the snow. The tracks were diagonal, which is the main reason I believe it was a deer. The foot print was large in size, but got skinner moving up the layer of snow. I am still not 100% sure if this track is from a deer, but it seems like the most plausible option. Besides the bird tracks and dog prints spotted, I found some more interesting tracks the more north I went on the path. I came across prints that I believe belong to a red fox. The tracks were also diagonal, but much smaller and more defined. The print was about 2 inches wide and 2.5 inches long in size and the rest of the snow layer seem disturbed, most likely due to the back legs following in pursuit of the front when walking. Minimal to no drag is shown, but that could be likely due to the fact that the snow was very icy and solid on the top layer. Not far from these tracks, I noticed a trail near the water that looks most similar to a bobcat. The tracks are kind of sporadic, but I can see that the shape of the prints are round/ovalish and it follows a diagonal pattern. I was hesitant to call these bobcat tracks because it didn’t seem to be a common area where bobcats are found, but after comparing pictures of my tracks to photos online, it seems like the best match. Their prints are about 2” in size which matches with my observations. The final tracks that I saw were very difficult to identify, but I believe that they come from a river otter. The tracks follow a bounding pattern and also appear to have a small tail drag in pursuit. Although the tracks are quite big, river otters walk very close to the ground so it could make sense that they would kick up a great amount of snow when moving or moving quickly. The path the animal took was also leading down to the lake. Overall, I found it difficult to identify the tracks I saw and I am still not 100% all of them are correct, but I did find a diverse amount of animals in Burlington!

~ by Mia Rietzel on February 24, 2025.

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