Grey Squirrel Mushroom Sign

Squirrels love mushrooms.  I was lucky enough to catch sight of this one going mad in the mushroom candy store of our back yard.  Why do they never eat the whole thing?  Here's a good video of a squirrel eating a mushroom it appears to have cached under a log. Or the videographer cached it.

Note clear incisor marks on lower right.

It left this one attached to its stem, in the ground, and just took a pizza slice out of it, as well as gnawing the edge.

Red Fox Puzzle in Slick Mud

 

There are a lot of puncture marks here, some of which don't belong with this particular pair of feet.  Can you find the toes that go with the nails?  Can you find the heel pads?  Notice how far ahead of the toe the nails hit the mud.

 

This is the complete photo

I call these a front and rear because the upper track is much larger than the lower.  If you look very carefully you will find another track on the left, showing two clear nails, and one clear toe.

Chipmunk in the mud

Beautiful little chipmunk pattern in what must have been very squishy mud.  Fronts to the right



Fronts at bottom

 Gorgeous day on the powerline.  A rare find of a trail of chipmunk tracks. Their narrow trail width is only 2 1/4", even in this wet substrate.  4 toes in front, 5 on the rears. 

As a bonus, many of the spring flowers are out; goat's-rue, mountain laurel, (a pink variety), berries ripening on the huckleberry.  Young redtails, looking huge as eagles, whining from the towers, waiting to be fed.  Turkeys and flickers gorging on ants in the sandy road.  A glossy black racer, tasting the air as I passed.  Towhees sneaking around in the scrubby bear oak.


Racemed Milkwort  polygala polygama

Opossum Tracks

 

Opossum tracks don't get much better than this.  Especially the left rear.  Possum patterns are one of those where when I see a total mess, I start looking for possum characteristics. Speaking of which, "possums" live in Australia, and "opossums" live in the western hemisphere. (according to grammarist.com)

Left rear; note the beautiful musculature of the "palm" and the opposable "thumb".



Right front partially covered by right rear, in the opossum's typical understep walk.

 




Killdeer Snackbar

At my favorite mud puddle, a recent arrival.   Killdeer leaving the most delicate, calligraphic lines of tracks, in mud fine as clay slip.  Great tracking!

Killdeer tracks  1 1/8" long  the blunt toe to the rear of tack is another bird.
 

Note webbing between toes 3 and 4, and absence of rear toe.

5-footed Grey Squirrel

Grey squirrel

Picture perfect grey squirrel.  Notice the second step of the right front foot, where the later step is on top of the one in front of it, which is gives us the pattern of a 5-footed squirrel. The rears are the two outer tracks.

Wolf Spider Burrow

Tracker's eye view

Wolf spiders build beautiful chimneys around some of their burrows.  This hole was 6" deep and is built of more crude materials than others I've seen. Often the walls of the chimney are pine needles, or fine grasses. Here is an amazing video of a spider emerging from its burrow to steal a fly from an ant.



Spider's eye view

 

Worm's Last Tracks

Wonderful mud puddles after Friday's downpour.  This poor worm never made it back underground.  Its death throws make a beautiful filigree in velvety drying mud.

Cottontail Party

It was cottontail party time this morning at my favorite mud puddle.  The rabbits let loose, and left some great tracks.  These are a pair of rear feet, with a trail width of 3".   Asymmetry, four toes on each foot and deep punctures of claws very close above the toe pads are typical for cottontails in this moist, clay-ey substrate. Also note overall pointy nature of the foot.  A great find after all this dry weather.

House Sparrow dust bath

Next time you're in a parking lot, check out the little islands full of dry dirt and struggling shrubs.  A family of sparrows took great delight yesterday in the fine dust there, fluffing their feathers, ducking their heads, fluttering and cheeping, and generally being their rambunctious selves.  Yes, house sparrows are invasive and non-native, but if they can find fun and thrive in what is truly the most marginal of habitats, good for them.