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larose forest photos | profile | all galleries >> WILDLIFE (including birds, mammals and reptiles and amphibians) (18 Galleries) >> Animal Tracks and Signs (5 Galleries) tree view | thumbnails | slideshow

Animal Tracks and Signs (5 Galleries)

NEW IMAGES are at the beginning of the gallery.

Identifying tracks is a good way of discovering who is living in a particular woodland, field or wetland. Tracks in mud, sand and snow also tell stories. You can see where animals have interacted, sometimes to the misfortune of one of them. You can also, if you follow them, often discover what they were doing, where they were looking for food, whether they were meandering along investigating here or there, or whether they had a purpose, no dawdling and sidetracking permitted. Fresh snow is excellent for finding tracks, and winter reveals the presence of all sorts of birds and animals we might rarely see because they are secretive and/or nocturnal, or just plain hard to see!

Of course, tracks can also be found in mud, but snow covers such a large area that it is easier and more fun to figure out what was going on.

But there are always tracks that defy identification. Many tracks could be those of several similar species. I've just left those labeled as "Tracks"!

In addition to tracks, there are other indications of an animal's presence in an area. Scat is a good clue, if you can figure out whose scat it is. Sometimes it is easy, other times not at all. Often animals show their presence through their eating habits. Moose strip the bark from young red maples, porcupines chew bark on trees, mostly high up, but sometimes at ground level, snowshoe hare chew branches closer to the ground, etc. As well, some mammals make readily identifiable nests, such as the grey squirrel leafy dreys, the big grassy "balls" in trees made by red squirrels, and nests of mice and voles.

Scat is also a good place to look for insects including certain species of butterflies which are attracted to feeding on it.

Raccoon tracks
Raccoon tracks
Shrew tracks
Shrew tracks
Fisher tracks
Fisher tracks
Otter slide
Otter slide
Black bear scat
Black bear scat
Shrew tracks in snow
Shrew tracks in snow
Meadow vole tunnel in snow
Meadow vole tunnel in snow
Squirrel Tracks and Signs
:: Squirrel Tracks and Signs ::
A chewed bone
A chewed bone
Muskrat lodge
Muskrat lodge
Fox and Coyote tracks, scat and signs
:: Fox and Coyote tracks, scat and signs ::
Rabbit and Hare signs
:: Rabbit and Hare signs ::
Bird tracks and signs
:: Bird tracks and signs ::
Porcupine tracks, scat, and feeding signs
:: Porcupine tracks, scat, and feeding signs ::
Deer and moose tracks, scat and feeding signs
:: Deer and moose tracks, scat and feeding signs ::
Mouse or Meadow Vole tracks
Mouse or Meadow Vole tracks
Otter slide
Otter slide
Otter slide
Otter slide
Otter and Ruffed Grouse tracks
Otter and Ruffed Grouse tracks
Otter slide and tracks
Otter slide and tracks
Otter run
Otter run
Otter or mink scat
Otter or mink scat
Meadow Vole tunnel
Meadow Vole tunnel
 Meadow Vole tracks
Meadow Vole tracks
Meadow Vole tracks forming a run
Meadow Vole tracks forming a "run"
Meadow vole tunnel in grass
Meadow vole tunnel in grass
Meadow vole tunnel, after the snow has melted
Meadow vole tunnel, after the snow has melted
Mole or vole tunnel
Mole or vole tunnel
Meadow vole scat
Meadow vole scat
Mouse tracks, Peromyscus sp., possibly White-footed
Mouse tracks, Peromyscus sp., possibly White-footed
Mouse nest made of grass, in nest box
Mouse nest made of grass, in nest box
Mouse nest made of milkweed and other seed fluff, in nest box
Mouse nest made of milkweed and other seed "fluff", in nest box
Weasel tracks
Weasel tracks
Tree felled and chewed by a beaver
Tree felled and chewed by a beaver
Beaver tracks
Beaver tracks
Beaver track
Beaver track
Fisher tracks
Fisher tracks
Fisher tracks
Fisher tracks
Fisher tracks
Fisher tracks
Mink tracks
Mink tracks
Mink tracks
Mink tracks
Close view of Raccoon (Procyon lotor) scat on log
Close view of Raccoon (Procyon lotor) scat on log
An accumulation of Raccoon (Procyon lotor) scat on log
An accumulation of Raccoon (Procyon lotor) scat on log
Raccoon (Procyon lotor)  track, front foot
Raccoon (Procyon lotor) track, front foot
Black bear scat
Black bear scat
Black bear scat
Black bear scat
Black bear scat
Black bear scat
Black bear track
Black bear track