Animal Tracking: Bobcat... Coyote or Fox?

Finding tracks by a canine is pretty common, and usually easy to identify because their claws show up in the print above the toes...

the deal is, bobcat prints are very similar to that of a coyote, dog or even a fox --->
They all have 4 toes and a pad underneath, the main indicator that separates the bobcat/large feline from the canine is the claws that show up. It is rare I find a bobcat print (maybe once in my life) and the pics i took here in my muddy bog don't appear to have claws. But what do ya'll think? Bobcat? Canine? (Or maybe the infamous and disbelieved local mountain lion?)

Pictured in the black and white drawing below are a rendering of bobcat prints::::




The mammal print above is a coyote and the one below is a common fox. You can see both leave distinct claw marks in their tracks.
The track you see below is the second track, ahead of the one in the first two pictures - appeared to be a stride. These tracks were large, only a tad bit smaller then ones I have seen from a large domesticated Pit Bull Dog. Get guessing!!!!

Xoxoxo ROar! Woof! puuurrrrrr!

Animal Tracking: Prints In The Snow

The snow has made some really fun animal & bird prints this week! Every inch of snow is like an empty canvas waiting for the imprint of nature to draw something simple, complex and soothing on it. There is nowhere an animal can tread now without leaving a sign of it's passage in the fluffy frozen snow...
The first pic up top I am pretty sure is a hopping bird. This is close under the apple tree and bean rows where I have been watching tons of birds each day try to find food. This spot in particular looks as though they sunk a little and then had to hop out.
This next pic above may look a little scattered, but that is because it is from the Guinea Hens - they stay in close tight groups while walking around in search of food which leaves prints in a jumbled mess in the snow.
Unlike this next pic...
The perfect skipping paw prints of a small dog!

This next evidence is from a rabbit, who is using the same path over and over again under the fallen bamboo! I was pretty sure it was rabbit tracks, then i saw this scat (poop) pictured below and was certain it must be a big bunny!
This last pic below was the prints of a tiny brown and white feathered bird next to the well house. I am not sure how they ended up being straight lines, except maybe the snow was not sinking as much, and the bird's hops were tiny and connected? Or possibly it goes to the same spot over and over and re-traces it's steps? What do you think?
XoXo

Animal Tracking: Kids and Critters (and a worm too!)

Last night my cousin Jessica came for a visit with her kids - as the sun went down and they were just arriving I had to think up something fun to do in the dark! Knowing nature related thrill seeking was most likely in their DNA too I suggested we go out in the woods with flashlights, leave out some food on a rock and wait for wild animals to come while we hide. There was no contemplating this one- they grabbed the flashlights and were like "are we going now?"
What I didn't realize was how amazed and adventurous it would be for them to find all the animal tracks I have been following... yippee! After dropping off some food for the resident pig we carried the rest of our bait while following deer, raccoon, and opossum tracks all the way through the orchard to the last apple tree. The tracking calmed their fear of the dark and unknown, the realization that some of the tracks were animals who were literally running away from our noise made them jump with excitement "it was JUST HERE!"
Not only did we have bunches of fun tracking animal prints and carefully looking for prints of animals we did not want to run into in the night (aka - bear and coyotes), they also found all types of slugs and even some huge earthworms. :) Yay!
We pretty much left out the bait on a big rock and forgot about it- since tracking prints & scat & slugs, climbing apple trees and eating apples was too good to resist.
Because it was so hard to get a good night time photograph of many if the tracks we saw, here are some below I have seen in the last week that are similar...
**Btw---> For easy tracking with kids in your back yard, find or make a moist muddy spot where you can safely leave some food to attract a nocturnal animal. When the animal comes for the food it will leave it's prints in the mud and the kids can try to figure out which animals live in their hood.**
Anyone wanna try to identify these prints above and below? They are classic cut outs!
This last pair is probably some animals you know real well... they might even live in your house with you!? ;)
XoXo