Snow trail

I'm going to be offering a program at the library this spring about tracking animals. The dirty secret is that for much of the year unless a wild animal is kind enough to step into mud or soft sand "tracking" is a euphemism for looking at poop. The snow yesterday actually allowed for real tracking, but would the Governor Ames Estate be accessible?

After shoveling out, I gathered up Maggie for our traditional Sunday breakfast at Back Bay Bagel and then headed over to the park. Someone had already pulled in with a car so I drove through to my usual parking spot with no problem. As I was dressing a somewhat reluctant Maggie in her coat and harness, a rumbling sound was heard and a large Trustees of Reservations pick-up came around the loop with a plow. It looks like the road in the park will remain open throughout the winter.

Maggie and I headed off through the light snow to the big beech tree near the little back pond. We saw large animal prints associated with human footprints and then found what we were looking for: a track line with no human companion track. It ran around the edge of the little pond so Maggie and I began to backtrack. The tracks had been made hours earlier and had filled in a little with blowing snow making identification difficult.

Maggie has an adaptation that makes her reach down and grab snow when she wants a drink. Whatever animal we were tracking on its nightly rounds preferred not to do that. It's tracks went to the edge of the pond and then over the edge where you could almost see it balanced precariously carefully taking a drink. The mysterious tracks led over to the bluebird nest box just where the trail leads into the beech hemlock woods.

We were beginning to have trouble. I had brought my snowshoes with me but had chosen not to use them in the shallow snow. Unfortunately even shallow snow can drift. While this was no problem for me, my canine companion was struggling to make a path through the 6 inch drifts. I was reluctant to give up the trail so Maggie was given a ride. Sadly she missed the next piece of evidence. For months we have had to stop at the bluebird nest pole while Maggie sniffed around. Clearly it was a canine signpost. Yesterday in the snow there was a small patch of dark yellow on the track line at the nestbox. The pole was a wild canid signpost. From the positioning of the spot, the animal was a female. Maggie's track line was only a little smaller than the wild one so the mystery was fairly solved: we were tracking a female fox on her nightly rounds. This was confirmed when we finally found some clear tracks on the up slope away from the human trail.

Maggie and I had found the middle of a hunting circle. If we continued to backtrack we might find where the fox denned during the early part of the storm. The yellow spot told me that this was the home territory for this fox so it was possible the den might be her permanent home. Respecting her privacy and hoping she'll be raising a family soon, Maggie and I cut back to the road. On the bare ground again, Maggie got back to doing the same thing as the fox-marking her territory as she followed her daily route.