My Dad came up this weekend to go skiing with me. After our ski excursion we decided to take the time and look for some animal tracks near campus. We started by walking on the path right next to Virtue Field near red stone campus. The start of this path had high human traffic but as we continued to walk it started to become more secluded. Adjacent from the walking path was a small wooded area.
As we looked in this wooded area we saw the sign of some faint tracks. As we approached closer we could tell that these tracks were from a diagonal walker and they were walking in a straight line. Since these tracks were walking in a straight line it immediately ruled out the possibility of it being a dog.
While looking closer at the tracks I was able to pick out that these tracks were very small and had four distinct toe markings. While looking through my animal tracker guide I stumbled upon the redox track. It seemed to be a similar size and shape of what was given as an example in the track guide. I also know that the red fox is popular in this particular area of Vermont.
My best guess was that this was a red fox track was because the size of the track matched the best then compared to a coyote or grey fox. Recording my observation in the INaturalist app was very easy and fun to do. I enjoyed this experience and I am looking forward to more tracking in the future!