One of the most valuable things I have learned this year is to pay closer attention to the natural world around me. There are so many details and stories that are easy to glance over when I am not paying attention. That’s why for this week I focused on a location that I pass almost everyday – the pines on Redstone campus. Other than squirrels, I did not see any mammals, but just because I did not see any doesn’t mean that they aren’t there!
I found this set of tracks on my walk, and although they seemed to be part of the same trail, they look fairly different to me. If they are the same animal, then my best guess would be that this is from an opossum due to the 5 fingers with nails and shape of the center. The tracks on the right make me think that this is more likely a squirrel or raccoon though.
Later that day I watched a rabbit hop by me as I was coming back from dinner. Of course I had to stop to take a picture of the fresh tracks!
Aside from the mammal activity I witnessed at The Pines, I was awed by the massive flock of crows I saw leaving one of the trees. I remember that happening once when I was little, and my mom explained that this is crows roosting. I suppose they do this during the winter as a survival tactic, as they are more likely to find food, stay warm, and overall be more safe.
For this weeks phenology assignment, I was excited to be prompted to use the iNaturalist app. I had used this before, but it had been a long time and I had never been part of a group page before. It was really neat seeing my classmates observations, and I enjoyed posting some of my own again! It felt like a game more than an assignment.
Here is a link and a screenshot of my Profile if you want to check out my observations or follow me!
https://www.inaturalist.org/people/sarahship12
