Linda J. Spielman

Possum Puzzles

The opossum is a humble animal, slow moving, shy, and generally of a placid disposition. But opossums can present surprising challenges to the tracker, not the least of which is getting a handle on the tracks themselves. To understand opossum tracks it may be helpful to see the animal’s actual feet, so let’s take a look. The photo below shows the underside of the left rear foot of an opossum–it resembles a human hand with a large, widely angled thumb and four additional, finger-like toes. If you hold up your left hand with the palm facing you, you’ll see the resemblance. Try to imagine your hands as the rear feet of the animal.

In the next photo you see the opossum’s left front foot–very different from the rear. The five toes of the front foot are somewhat finger-like and similar to each other in shape, and the middle pads are quite bulbous. Both front and rear feet are adapted for climbing but are less ideal–especially the rear feet–for moving on the ground. This, combined with the animal’s heavy body and relatively short legs, means opossums are not very agile.

Now let’s look at opossum tracks. In the photo below the right front track lies on the left and the right rear track lies behind it on the right, both tracks oriented toward the left. The spreading toe indentations of the front track radiate from a compact grouping of middle pad impressions. In the rear track the thumb points to the side (downward in the photo), and the other four toes are closer together and angled to the opposite side (upward in the photo).

Because the opossum rarely moves faster than a walk (or sometimes a trot), front and rear prints are often partly superimposed, and that’s another source of confusion. (The animal whose tracks are pictured above was drinking at a puddle, so it left some nicely separated prints.) In the photo below you see a left rear and a left front track, oriented toward the right. The two tracks are so close together it’s hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. If you look at the right side of the frame you’ll see five similar toe marks radiating outward from four closely set middle pad impressions. That’s the left front track. The hollow made by the thumb of the left rear track sits just behind the front middle pads, and above it you can see the middle pad and toe indentations of the left rear track.

The indirect register walk is the opossum’s preferred gait, so we often see sequences of front and hind prints like the ones shown above. In the photo below an opossum walked from the lower left to the upper right, leaving the zig-zag pattern typical of the walk. Each angle of the zig-zag is composed of front and rear prints from one side, and in each of these couplets the hind print lies just behind the front print. The sequence of tracks is right rear, right front, left rear, left front, right rear, right front, left rear, left front.

When tracks are less distinct, possum trails can be downright perplexing. The next photo shows another walking opossum trail, again proceeding from lower left to upper right. The rear feet fell farther behind the front feet at each step, but the zig-zag pattern can still be seen. A few of the prints are recognizable as possum tracks, and the rest are just weird looking.

If an opossum needs to move a little faster it shifts into a trot, leaving a trail like the one shown in the next photo (oriented from lower left to upper right). It’s harder to sort out front and rear tracks in this trail because the snow was dry and the faster gait created more disturbance. But if you look closely you’ll see that the rear tracks are consistently just behind the front tracks. The sequence of prints is right rear, right front, left rear, left front, right rear, right front, left rear, left front.

We know it’s a trot because the trail is straighter than the walking trails shown in the previous photos, and the distances between the sets of tracks are slightly greater. There must have been a slight hitch in the gait of the animal that made this trail, because the claws of one of the right feet (it’s hard to tell whether it was the front or the hind) seemed to brush the snow each time it moved forward to the next landing spot.

You may have noticed that none of the possum trails I’ve shown so far have tail drag marks. Opossums don’t drag their tails as often as people may think, but it does sometimes occur. Here’s a photo of a possum trail (oriented from upper left to lower right) with a nice tail drag mark. Don’t worry if the direction of travel isn’t obvious–it’s hard to tell from the photo because of the angle. A fox left a galloping trail on the left side of the frame, moving from bottom to top.

Much of the opossum’s winter diet comes from scavenging on carcasses, and the animals don’t generally move very far away while a food source lasts. So if you come across a possum trail it’s worth following–you may find a feeding site, or even a den like the one shown in the next photo. I had to climb through and around lots of tangles and thickets, but I eventually found the den the opossum was using while it fed on a deer carcass not far away.

Opossum tracks and signs give us a window into the lives of the animals. But I’m fond of them for an additional reason: the tracks are just so quirky. In fact, the consistent peculiarity of possum tracks is one of the clues to their identity. So be alert for weirdness, and when you find it, consider the opossum.

Where Do The Bones Go?

Have you ever wondered what happens to all the bones? Animals are dying all the time, and when they die their soft tissues are eaten by predators and scavengers, picked off by birds, ingested by insects, and decomposed by microorganisms. This leaves just bones, like those of a rabbit shown below. But we don’t see bones littering the landscape, so what happens to them?

First let’s consider small animals. When a tiny creature such as a vole is killed by a predator, the catch is swallowed whole and the bones are crushed and partly assimilated. Undigested bone fragments are eliminated in scat (or pellets if the hunter was a hawk or owl). You can see small bone fragments in the red fox scat shown below–there’s also plant material, tiny hairs, and what appears to be a whisker. Scat like this will eventually be weathered and dispersed into the soil. Even if a small animal isn’t completely consumed immediately, its remains will be broken down, dispersed, and probably hidden from our view by its surroundings.

But what of larger animals whose carcasses would be more obvious? Deer immediately come to mind, but the question also applies to bears, coyotes, woodchucks, raccoons, and other similar sized animals. We do occasionally see the remains of recently deceased animals, like the deer carcass in the next photo, but why don’t we see piles of old bones lying around everywhere?

The answer has to do with the nutritional value of bones. The deer femur in the next photo was cracked open by a coyote to get at the marrow. (I say coyote because the only other animal in our region which is powerful enough to break a deer leg bone would be a bear, and there were no bears in the area where the bone was found.) Toward the upper end of the larger piece you can see some striations which were probably made by the coyote’s molars as it worked at the bone.

We sometimes see evidence of the utilization of bones this way in scat. The coyote scat in the next image contains an abundance of deer bone fragments and deer hair. The hair would have cushioned the sharp bone edges and prevented injury to the animal’s digestive system. It wouldn’t take long for bone fragments like these to be hidden in the upper layers of soil.

In addition to marrow, bones contain calcium, phosphorus, and other minerals which may be lacking in the diets of wild animals. Mineral deficiencies are especially likely for herbivores. Many animals supplement their nutrient intake by chewing on bones, and they usually choose less daunting ones such as scapulas, ribs, and vertebrae. The bones of birds, reptiles, and smaller mammals such as rabbits can also be utilized by less powerful animals. Even deer have been observed chewing on bones. This kind of chewing may not leave obvious signs–just ragged edges, missing ends, or random gouges.

Rodents also gnaw on bones, and the evidence of their activity is often more conspicuous. In the next photo you see a segment of deer leg bone lodged on a midden at the base of a Norway spruce tree. Middens, piles of discarded cone cores and scales, are created when a red squirrel repeatedly uses a favorite perch to feed on cones. The red squirrel that claimed this tree must have used the same perch to work on the bone.

In the next photo you can see the grooves made by a squirrel’s incisors as it chiseled off bone shavings.

Smaller rodents, like voles and white-footed mice, leave finer grooves like the ones in the next photo.

These creatures weren’t after marrow, since the bones were relatively old and the marrow had been removed long ago. This behavior is probably driven in part by the need to supplement their mineral intake, but rodents also chew on bones (and antlers as well) to maintain their teeth in good condition. Their incisors grow constantly, and are subject to malocclusion if not shaped and worn down with regular gnawing. The same is true for rabbits and hares, which are also known to gnaw on bones.

As time passes carcasses are pulled apart and bones are cleaned of soft tissue, scattered, broken, crushed, pulverized, chewed, and ingested by many different animals. Rather than piling up as useless cast-offs, animal bones gradually disappear as they are utilized by living creatures. Animals are part of the web of life both while they are alive and after they are dead.

Conspicuous Communication

If you’ve ever found a pile of feces perched in a conspicuous spot, you’ve encountered a message from an animal. Canines are especially likely to communicate this way, and they’ll use any location that makes a good exhibit. The photo below shows red fox scat displayed on the base of a fallen log. There’s both recent and older scat–recognizable by its lighter color–indicating that this location has been used more than once. One older chunk is nestled in the center of the new deposit and another rests below it on a shelf of wood.

Our olfactory abilities are too limited to appreciate the complex bouquet of chemicals in scat, but for canines–and probably other species–each deposit conveys information. The specific content of the communication could be establishment of a territorial boundary, advertisement of mating availability, or reinforcement of group cohesion. Scat can also indicate the health, status, and identity of the animal which produced it. The coyote scat in the next photo was in the center of a road rather than on a raised object, but it’s placement made it noticeable nevertheless. I found this in June, when we would expect coyote parents to be leading their offspring on short explorations, and my best guess is that the message was territorial in nature.

Important locations may accumulate a number of deposits. The rock in the next image must have been significant, because there are four different scats on the rock and several more which fell off to one side and aren’t visible in the photo. All of the deposits were left by red or gray foxes, and the contents include apple skins and seeds, hair and small bones, and insect parts. The most intriguing one is the chunk at the lower right.

A closer look shows that it contains porcupine quills.

An ant mound formed the pedestal for the red fox scat in the next shot. I found it in early spring, so the ants would still have been deep underground when the animal stood on the mound and dropped its feces directly on top.

Manhole covers can provide suitable display locations. The red fox that left the scat in the next photo had dined on a small rodent, as indicated by the short hairs and small bones it contained. The manhole cover was in a grassy trail and allowed the scat to stand out in the uniformly green surroundings.

Sometimes scat seems to represent an assertion of confidence. Coyotes will kill foxes, so the smaller canines are usually careful to avoid encounters. In the photo below a recent gray fox scat (at the lower right) sits on an older accumulation of coyote scat. The deer hair in the coyote scat shows that the animal had scavenged on a mostly cleaned out carcass, while the gray fox had eaten meat from a fresher carcass.

Any protruding object is a potential platform for canine scat. The photo below shows a deposit of coyote scat on a pile of horse dung.

In the next photo you see one of my most surprising finds. A gray fox had deposited scat on top of a rock cairn which marked a trail junction. This must have required a delicate balancing act, because the pile of rocks was tall enough that the fox would have needed to place at least one rear foot on the cairn.

The conspicuous locations often chosen by wild canines mean that we often notice the scat left by wild canines. We’re less adept at interpreting the messages contained therein. But even if we miss what’s most important to the animals, it’s fun to enjoy the creative and sometimes whimsical positioning of the scat of foxes and coyotes.

Seeing the Forest And the Trees: Lessons from Raccoons

Details versus the big picture–in tracking we need both, but sometimes one can get in the way of the other. We can focus too closely on the small details and miss the overall view, or we can see a larger pattern but miss the crucial fine points. The tracks of the raccoon present challenges on both levels, so they can be helpful for balancing both perspectives.

In the photo below you see two raccoon tracks, a left rear (on the left) and a right front (on the right), oriented toward the top of the frame. Both tracks have the five finger-like toes characteristic of the raccoon. Indentations made by the claws can be seen ahead of each toe, and the undivided middle pads show behind the claws. There are also heel impressions in both front and hind tracks. They’re not as deep as the impressions of the toes and middle pads, but they show up because their texture matches the texture of the other parts of the tracks.

Compare the left rear track shown above to the left rear print in the next photo. In the image below the toes are also finger-like, and they’re held even more tightly together, but the middle pad looks different–it’s shaped like a trapezoid rather than a C. There’s also no heel impression.

The next photo shows a right front print. It’s toes are similar to the toes of the right front in the first photo, but they spread less. And the middle pad is not quite the same; instead of being symmetrical it extends farther back on the outside of the foot. Another difference is the lack of a heel impression.

In general front tracks are smaller than rear tracks and have more spread in the toes. The middle pads of front and rear prints also differ: those of the rear tracks are generally broader with more gently curved front edges than those of the front tracks. Because of these differences it’s usually possible to tell front from rear prints in the raccoon.

It gets trickier when the tracks are incomplete. In the photo below of a right front raccoon track (oriented toward the left) only four toes show, and they’re not very finger-like. The middle pad impression is faint, and you need to look closely to see the curved leading edge. This kind of track could easily be mistaken for that of a different animal.

But we don’t want to miss the forest for the trees. The arrangement of a series of tracks is as important as the details in the individual tracks. The image below shows the typical pattern of a raccoon moving at a pace-walk from right to left: tracks in sets of two, each pair composed of a front from one side roughly next to a rear from the opposite side. This is different from the regular walk commonly seen in deer, house cats, dogs, and wild canines, in which the superimposed front and rear tracks from the same side form a zig-zag pattern. In the raccoon trail shown below the details of track structure that were covered in the preceding paragraphs allow us to distinguish front from rear prints. For instance, in the pair of tracks at the upper right the rear print (larger with a broader middle pad) is above and a little ahead of the front print (smaller with a narrower middle pad). The sequence of tracks, starting from the right, is left front, right rear, right front, left rear, left front, right rear. In each pair the rear print is a little ahead of the front. This position isn’t a constant–the relative placement of the two tracks in a pair can vary, but is usually maintained unless the speed or attitude of the animal changes.

With that pattern established, let’s look at an interesting variation. The photo below shows a similar pace-walk pattern, again proceeding from right to left. Although the track details aren’t as clear the relative sizes suggest that the sequence, starting from the right, is right front, left rear, left front, right rear, right front, left rear, left front, right rear. But what are those extra marks? In each of the left rear prints ( the ones in the first and third pair) there’s a deep gouge behind and some light claw drag marks ahead of the actual track. And the right rear tracks (the ones in the second and fourth pair) seem to be connected by continuous drag marks. Grooves and drag marks like these are not usually seen in raccoon trails and indicate that the animal was injured.

This close-up shows the details better.

By the way, you may have noticed a few gouges in the snow in the first pace-walk photo. These aren’t foot drag marks because they don’t connect with the tracks. The best explanation is that the raccoon was carrying something, probably a prey animal, that hung down and touched the snow at every other couplet of tracks. We see this kind of evidence more often in canines and felines, but raccoons will take small mammals if the opportunity presents itself .

Now that we’ve explored raccoon tracks at both detailed and big-picture levels, here’s a final example. When thaws or seasonal changes create seeps in the winter snowpack, raccoons are quick to explore them for edible items. In the photo below a raccoon made two trips between seeps, leaving muddy drips and beautiful mud tracks on top of the crusted snow. The upper trail goes from left to right and the lower one from right to left. In each trail the pace-walk pattern is clear, with the larger rear prints falling slightly behind the smaller front prints. The track details show nicely: the finger-like toes, the narrower middle pads of the front tracks, and the tighter arrangement of the rear toes.

The forest and the trees–both the big picture and the fine details are necessary in tracking. And it’s even more complicated, because there are more than two levels. There are details within details, and larger views beyond large views. The ability to move among many levels is not only essential for effective tracking. It adds depth and excitement to any tracking experience.

Dust Baths

The photo above (by Rajesh Kalra) shows a house sparrow in the throes of a dust bath. By rolling, wiggling, and scooping up dust with its wings, the bird covers itself with dust, then shakes vigorously to fling the dust in all directions. You can see a dust bathing bird in action here. It’s believed that dust bathing helps to clean dirt and excess oil from feathers and skin, and to suppress parasites. Without this kind of maintenance the bird’s health would suffer and flight efficiency would decline. Dust bathing is a common behavior in many birds.

Once the bath is finished and the bird is gone, the evidence remains in the form of body-sized hollows. Dust baths sometimes appear as roughly circular cleared spaces surrounded by vegetation, as in the photo below. The diameter of the sandy hollow (15 inches) strongly suggests turkey.

Sometimes feathers provide definitive evidence of who the dust bather was. The dust bath in the next photo is ornamented with a few body feathers belonging to a ruffed grouse. There’s also a partial track below the feather. At roughly 8 inches across, this dust bath was the right size for a grouse. The bird had chosen an inactive ant mound, and the finely processed soil was a perfect medium for a good cleansing thrash.

In the next photo you see a dust bath that holds definitive evidence of the bather. A turkey tail feather lies on the lower left side, and a clear track sits in the center. Finding tracks as good as this one is unusual, because they are generally obscured as the bird shakes the soil off. The whole area was large, about three feet across, but the hollow made by the turkey’s body was about 18 inches across.

Some bathing spots don’t seem very enticing. The grouse dust bath shown below was located in a gravel road and couldn’t have been very comfortable. The hard surface must have yielded very little dust, so I wonder how much benefit the bird’s effort yielded. Maybe it was the best site the grouse could find.

Birds aren’t the only creatures that take dust baths. Large herbivores such as bison and elk often roll and wiggle in dusty spots, and small rodents are frequent dust bathers. Rabbits and cottontails also enjoy an occasional roll in the dirt. The next photo shows a snowshoe hare dust bath. Rear tracks show as sets of claw marks on the left and indistinct shapes on the right.

Another mammal that likes to roll in sand or soil is the otter. The animal that made the roll shown in the photo below had just come out of the water, and part of its motivation was to dry its fur. The sand bath also probably helped to clean the otter’s fur and remove excess oil. You can see flattened areas where the sand was pressed down by the otter’s body, and there are some tail marks on the left. The disorganized collection of tracks in the center is interesting. It looks to me like the animal shook itself vigorously to throw the sand off, lifting and placing its feet several times in the process. It then proceeded on its way toward the top of the frame.

Dry, loose substrates are preferred for dust bathing. Dusty roads or trails, sandy deposits, fine humus, and decomposed logs are likely places to find dust baths. Small birds and mammals often choose hidden locations for their hygienic activities. Turkeys usually establish dust baths in open sites where escape is not hindered by obstacles. But wherever you find them, you should check out any strangely hollowed or cleared spots you come upon. You might have found the location of a seldom seen part of a wild creature’s life.

Red Squirrels and Norway Spruce: A Special Relationship

The staccato warning call of a red squirrel is a common sound in our northeastern forests. These feisty animals are extremely protective of their territories, and they seem to react to the presence of people as much as to other squirrels. Red squirrels are found in both hardwood and coniferous woodlands, but their numbers are highest where there are extensive stands of conifers. In the Northeast one of their favorites is the Norway spruce (Picea abies). These majestic trees are native to northern Europe, but were planted extensively during the 19th and 20th centuries. Their tolerance of poor soils made them ideal for degraded sites, and many stands were established on abandoned farm land during the Depression.

Open grown Norway spruce trees are impressive for their height and form. The specimen shown above exhibits the large cones (up to 6 inches long) and the drooping branchlets that help to differentiate Norway spruce from other spruce species. In plantations the huge cones littering the ground reveal the tree’s identity, and even fairly young trees show drooping branchlets like those in the next photo.

Red squirrels feed on the cones of many different conifers, but they find the large fruits of the Norway spruce especially attractive. Cones are stored in underground larders and supply the animals with sustenance over the winter and often well into spring. Red squirrels like to feed on perches, and in winter they favor low branches located above or near their larders. Years of use can result in impressive middens of discarded cone scales and cores like the one below.

Conifer cones reach maturity in late summer, and the period between the exhaustion of the previous year’s provisions and the ripening of the new crop can be a lean time. Tree buds, berries, underground tubers, and insects help to carry red squirrels over this stretch, but conifer cones are their go-to choice. For most conifers species the cones don’t provide much nutrition until they have reached nearly full size, but Norway spruce is different. Because of their size, even immature cones attract hungry red squirrels. I’ve found evidence of red squirrels extracting tiny seed meats from the current year’s cones as early as late June. At this stage logs and stumps are often used as feeding perches. The red squirrel that left the remains in the next photo found a perfect picnic table.

In the close-up below you see the partly processed cone and some of the cone scales and seed remnants. Squirrels work on cones starting at the base, tearing off each scale and biting a hole in each seed coat to extract the nutritious contents.

Sometimes the accumulations of cast-off cone scales and seed remnants can be quite colorful. In the photo below there’s a pile of cone scales in the upper left and a scattering of winged seeds in the center. At the very top of the frame you see the outer aspect of several scales. Their exposed tips are bright green and the parts that were overlapped by the scales below are tan or reddish. Below and to the left of those, there are several scales with their inner sides showing. The green ovals outlined with red show where the seed wings were positioned. In the center of the photo you see what remains of the seeds, tan seed coats attached to the maroon seed wings. Ragged openings in the seed coats show where the meat was extracted.

The next two photos show the inner aspect of a single cone scale. In the first shot there’s one winged seed on the left, still lodged where it formed. The squirrel extracted the meat by biting into the base of the seed without displacing it. For the next shot I removed the seed so you can see how it rested against the inside of the scale.

As red squirrels begin to feed more and more on the current season’s cone crop, brightly colored discards pile up on the brown remains from previous years.

In a month or so red squirrels will begin the serious business of putting up stores of cones for the coming winter (see my post, Bounty From Above, September 14, 2020). If you do some investigating when you come across stands of Norway spruce you’ll get a look into the lives of red squirrels and the seasonal cycles which have shaped their behaviors.

Knowing Coyote Tracks

Coyotes are one of our more common predators, but when we find a possible coyote track it can be difficult to identify it with certainty. Could it be a fox? Or maybe a bobcat? And there’s also the possibility of domestic dog. Dog tracks show up almost everywhere and are often mistaken for coyote. In this post I’ll share some thoughts on how to separate coyote prints from some confusing look-alike tracks.

First let’s deal with felines. The bobcat track below is a right front print, oriented toward the top of the frame. Like coyotes, bobcats have four toes and an undivided middle pad, but unlike coyotes (and other canines) bobcat tracks are asymmetrical. They have a leading toe (the second from the left in the photo) and a trailing toe (the right-most one), and the middle pad is canted to the outside. Try this simple test for symmetry: Imagine a vertical line which passes through the center of the track, and then imagine folding the right half of the track over onto the left half. You’ll see that they don’t match up. Now do the same thing with the track in the next photo, a coyote front print, again oriented toward the top of the photo. You’ll see that the right half matches almost perfectly when folded onto the left half.

Both the bobcat and the coyote prints pictured are clear and complete, but because of varying conditions some bobcat tracks–especially rear prints–appear more symmetrical, and canine tracks sometimes have an asymmetrical look. Fortunately, there are other features that can help to distinguish the two. An important feature is the shape of the ridges between the toes and the middle pad. In the coyote track the large ridges between the toes and the middle pad form an X, and at the central point of the X there’s a dome. The major ridges in the bobcat track don’t form an X–they could be described as a squashed H or a partly rotated C-shape with some kinks. Another characteristic to look at is the relative sizes of toes and pads. In bobcat tracks the toes are small in relation to the overall track size, and the middle pad is large. In coyote tracks it’s the reverse: the toes are larger and the middle pad is smaller in relation to the overall track size. In the coyote track there are some delicate claw marks, two close together ahead of the leading toes and a lighter one on the left outer toe. Claw marks are absent in the bobcat photo. If more grip is needed a cat may extend its claws, but claw impressions are much less common in bobcat tracks than they are in coyote (or other canine) tracks. Bobcat prints also tend to be rounder, and coyote prints are more oval or egg-shaped.

Then there’s red fox, whose tracks overlap with coyote tracks at the lower end of the coyote size range. The next photo shows a red fox front print, oriented toward the right side. It’s similar to the coyote track in being symmetrical, and in having the canine X and dome, but there are some features that separate it from coyote. The hair that covers the underside of the fox’s foot shows as striations in the toes and middle pad. This hair gets worn down as the season progresses so it may be less conspicuous in late summer and fall, but in early winter a new growth of thick hair develops. Red fox tracks in snow often have a blurry appearance because of the dense hair. The undersides of coyote toes and middle pads are bare of hair in all seasons, so the toe and pad impressions have smooth surfaces and crisp outlines.

In the middle pad of the red fox print there’s a curved indentation (vertically oriented in the photo) made by a ridge of tough skin that protrudes through the hair. This bar or chevron (present in the front foot and very rarely in the rear foot) is unique to the red fox and, when visible, separates it conclusively from the coyote. In the preceding photo of the coyote track you can see that the bar is absent.

Distinguishing coyotes from domestic dogs can be the toughest challenge. Dogs are so variable that there aren’t any absolute criteria, and many dog tracks are similar to coyote tracks in size. The photo below shows the rear (on the left) and front (on the right) prints of a coyote, oriented toward the right. As in most canines the rear track is smaller than the front. Note the absence of claw marks except for the delicate, closely set pricks ahead of the leading toes of the front foot. Both front and hind tracks are oval in overall outline, and their middle pads are small in relation to the overall track size.

Coyote rear (left) and front (right) tracks

Comparing those tracks with the dog tracks in the next photo, we see some clear differences. The front track of the dog (above) is more rounded and has a larger middle pad. The claw marks in the front print are more robust and are present ahead of all four toes. The rear print of the dog (below) is slimmer than the front but has a conspicuous middle pad, and there are claw marks ahead of all four toes.

Domestic dog front (above) and rear (below) tracks

Dog tracks like the front print below (oriented toward the top) are even easier to identify. The large middle pad and the thick claw marks are strong indicators, but the most striking feature is the spreading of the inner and outer toes. Many dogs have “floppy” feet. Because they are not as active their feet lack the muscle tone of wild canines, and their toes spread more. The inner and outer toes and claws may point to the sides rather than straight ahead. Dogs that get plenty of exercise, like the one that made the tracks in the preceding photo, may not show this spreading.

Varying conditions can affect the appearance of coyote tracks, and this is where things can get confusing. The coyote front track (facing to the right) in the next photo doesn’t look as neat and tight as the coyote tracks shown in previous photos. There are claw marks ahead of all four toes, the inner and outer toes aren’t as tightly tucked in behind the leading toes, and the claw marks are more divergent. This animal was trotting on soft, moist sand, so it allowed its toes to spread slightly for support. But the track still shows the small middle pad and the delicate claw marks that point toward coyote rather than dog.

Faster movement can have an even greater effect on tracks. The print shown below (a front, pointing toward the right) was made by a galloping coyote. The toes are spread, the claw marks are deep, and the middle pad looks asymmetrical. But even this track shows coyote rather than dog features. The claws are sharply pointed and the middle pad is small compared to the overall track size.

There will always be times when making a firm identification is difficult. The tracks may be distorted or degraded, or there may only be partial tracks. But even if we can only come to a tentative conclusion, we can still observe and learn as much as possible. And the more we struggle with challenging situations, the better we will be at knowing coyote tracks when we see them.

Streamside Discoveries

As the high water levels of late winter and early spring subside, stream and lake margins become interesting tracking locations. Water is a magnet for wildlife, and visiting creatures leave the evidence of their activities along the shoreline. A great blue heron left the collection of tracks shown in the photo below. The feet of herons resemble the feet of songbirds, with one backward-pointing toe and three forward-pointing toes. But unlike most songbirds, the toes of herons don’t all meet at one point. There’s a left print (facing toward the lower right) in the upper left corner of the photo that shows this nicely. The junction between the backward-pointing toe and the inner forward-pointing toe lies to the left of the intersection between the two outer toes. Another way of saying this is that the two outer forward-pointing toes join a little to the outside of the center of the foot. The same asymmetry shows in the right track in the lower right corner.

The spotted sandpiper is another bird that patrols stream and lake margins. These small birds–about the size of a starling–search for invertebrates on the edges of streams, ponds, marshes, and other bodies of fresh water. Their tracks (shown in the next photo) reflect their erratic and meandering movements. The three forward-pointing toes are relatively symmetrical and diverge at wide angles. On the back of the foot there’s short spur oriented to the inside that may or may not make an impression in tracks. The left print just below the stick in the upper right corner shows the spur nicely.

Raccoons prefer comfortable surfaces so it’s no accident that the animal that left the tracks shown in the photo below stepped along a soft deposit of sand left by a recent flood. The raccoon moved from the upper right to the lower left, leaving tracks in the sequence right rear, left front, left rear, right front. The difference between the wider but tighter rear track and the narrower, more spreading front track is easily seen in the set of prints at the upper right. Raccoons habitually work the edges of streams and ponds where they find tasty shellfish, frogs, crayfish and other invertebrates. The pattern of alternating sets of hind and front tracks from opposite sides tells us the animal was moving at a pace-walk.

Mink are also in the habit of travelling along the margins of water bodies. The animal that made the tracks in the next photo was moving from right to left at a lope, and the track sequence is right front, right rear, left front, left rear. Like raccoons, mink have five toes on both front and rear feet, but it’s not uncommon for the impression of the inner toe to be missing. In fact the only print in the photo that shows a clear inner toe is the left front. This track also shows the middle pad protuberances (just behind the toes) and the heel pad (the small indentation behind the middle pad). Mink share a taste for crayfish, frogs and invertebrates with raccoons, and occasionally catch small fish. They’re adaptable predators and may also hunt for small mammals on the surrounding land.

The mink’s larger relative, the river otter, also leaves its tracks along the edges of ponds and streams, but for this creature it’s mainly a matter of convenient travel between feeding areas. I found the tracks in the photo below on the inside of a bend in a stream where an otter had taken a short cut across a large sandbar. The sequence of tracks is the same as that of the mink tracks in the previous image, and the family resemblance–both mink and otters are mustelids–can be seen in spite of the different substrates. Otters are more aquatic than mink and capture most of their food in the water.

When they’re not foraging in the water otters spend their time on conveniently accessed sites near the water. They roll on soft surfaces like grass and forest duff to clean and dry their fur, and they socialize with other members of their family group. They also leave notices in the form of scat to non-resident otters that the territory is occupied. The otter scat in the photo below contains crayfish shell fragments, but it’s also common to find scats containing fish scales and bones, or the slimy remains of frogs. Otters often use latrines where scat of various ages and contents can be found.

The beaver is another very aquatic mammal. In the photo below you see two beaver tracks, a right front (above) and a right rear (below), both facing toward the right. In the front track the four toes show clearly and the two heel pads appear as elongated grooves because the foot slipped in the mud. In the bottom part of the frame the three outer toes of the hind print show clearly but the two inner toes are obscured by the front print. As is often the case, the webbing of the hind foot doesn’t show. The size difference between the front and rear tracks is striking and helps us to understand why beavers are such strong swimmers. Beavers feed on the leaves, bark, and stems of woody plants year-round, but during the growing season the diet also includes aquatic plants, cattails, sedges, and forbs. Their tracks usually lead between the water and foraging sites on land, and signs of branches being dragged into the water are common.

Smaller–but just as well adapted to life in water–is the muskrat. Like the beaver, the muskrat has rear feet that are much larger than the front. In the photo below, the track farthest to the left is the right rear, and just to its right you see the right front. On the right side of the frame the left rear lies below the left front. Notice that the small inside toes of the front feet made impressions in both of the front prints. The muskrat’s front feet, like those of the beaver, are adapted for handling food items and building materials rather than for swimming.

If you wander along shorelines you may find muskrat latrines. These sites are usually located on logs or rocks that lie in the water but protrude above water level. In the next photo you can see a rock decorated with scat of varying ages, deposited as an announcement that the territory is occupied. Although muskrats occasionally consume animal foods they are primarily plant eaters, and their scats usually contain fibrous material.

This is just a sampling of some of the wonders to be found along the margins of lakes, streams, and marshes. There’s always something to be discovered, so next time you’re out and about, take a detour to check a stream edge or a muddy shoreline. Better yet–if you don’t mind some wading–try a stream walk. It could be just the thing on a summer day.

Mud, Glorious Mud!

Unlike many people I know, I’m always sad to see the snow disappear for good. But as soon as I think of what comes next–mud season–I get excited all over again. The transition between the seasons is highlighted in the photo below. A gray fox had stepped in some mud and then left it’s muddy footprints on the snow as it walked from left to right. Each deposit of mud is made by first the front and then the rear feet from the same side, and the zig-zag pattern of the walk shows nicely.

Once the snow is gone, ordinary mud takes its place as a medium for recording tracks. In the next photo an opossum stepped in some mud at the edge of a puddle, leaving a collection of both complete and partially obscured prints oriented toward the left. At the upper left there’s a right front track with a right rear track just behind it. Farther to the right you can see part of another right front track. In the lower right corner there’s a nearly complete left front print and just the suggestion of a left rear behind it. The front prints show the five widely spread toes that are characteristic of the opossum. In the front print at the upper left the segments of the semicircular middle pad are especially clear. The rear track in the upper center shows the strikingly different form of the opossum’s rear foot: a thumb-like inner toe pointing inward and four additional toes close together and pointing outward.

One of the nice things about mud is that it can record the presence of animals that we don’t encounter during the cold season. A spotted salamander (or maybe two of them) walked through the mud in the next photo. These amphibians hibernate in winter and come out in early spring, so mud season is a good time to look for their tacks. There are two trips: one going from the left side toward the upper right and the other proceeding from left to right along the lower part of the frame. Each trail consists of a central drag mark made by the tail and a sequence of front and rear prints on each side. The patterns of the prints tell us that the animal(s) were moving at an understep walk, with each rear foot touching down just behind the front foot from the same side. In the lower trail you can see the difference between the smaller, four-toed front prints and the larger, five-toed hind ones.

The tracks in the preceding photos are pretty obvious, but it’s not always easy to spot tracks in mud. In the photo below there’s a patch of shiny mud in the center of the shot, and on the right side of that patch there are some tire tread marks. If you look on the left side of the same shiny mud toward the top you’ll see a red fox track. The animal was moving from top to bottom, and because there weren’t many muddy spots the print in the photo was the only one I could find.

The close-up below shows the same track, but in this view it’s oriented in the opposite direction, toward the top. The central mound typical of canine tracks can be seen, and the marks made by the hair on the underside of the foot show clearly. There’s even a partial impression of the bar in the middle pad.

Woodchucks, like salamanders, spend the winter below ground and often emerge just as mud season is beginning. The next photo shows the left rear track of a woodchuck at the upper left and a left front track at the lower right. The five clawed toes of the rear print show clearly–the middle three toes set close together and the inner and outer toes angled toward the sides. Behind the toes you can see the four segments that make up the middle pad. In the front track the four toes with their substantial claws can be seen. The subdivided middle pad of the front foot lies behind the toes, and the heel pads show as two depressions behind the middle pad. The front print has a curvature toward the inside, a trait typical of the woodchuck.

It takes a medium with a fine texture to show details of the tracks of very small animals, and what better medium than mud? In the photo below you see the tracks of a white-footed mouse bounding from lower left to upper right. The tracks are arranged in the typical rodent bounding pattern–two rear prints (in the upper right quadrant) that are widely set and almost even with each other. Behind the rear tracks, the front prints are set more narrowly and, in this case, slightly staggered rather than even with each other. Track details show beautifully, especially in the left rear (the topmost track) and the left front (farthest to the left). If we compare these tracks with the woodchuck tracks above we see the rodent family resemblance, especially in the rear prints. The symmetrical mouse front tracks are more typical of other small rodents than the curved front prints of the woodchuck.

You can’t ask for a better rendition of detail than the porcupine tracks in the next photo. Porcupines have unique foot anatomy: their tough, undivided soles have a pebble-like texture that gives the animals good grip when climbing. The photo shows a left front print and, just behind it and overlapping slightly, a left rear print. The tracks are heading toward the left, and the texture of the soles shows beautifully. Because the leading edge of the rear foot touches the trailing edge of the front track, the two tracks seem to be joined together. You may be able to pick out the claw marks of the hind print along the leading edge of the sole of the front print. The four claws of the front foot made indentations at the very left, and if you look closely there are marks made by the three outer phalanges of the front foot behind the claw marks.

Once the snow melts and the weather warms, mud may not last long. Puddles may dry up and wet areas may fill in with plant growth. But mud can also appear in new places, and abundant rainfall can bring on new mud seasons long after the early one is over. As a matter of fact, I found the porcupine tracks in the photo above in the month of July. So keep an eye on the conditions of the puddles in your neighborhood, and don’t be surprised if you come across some beautiful mud when you least expect it.

Cottontail Rabbits

Familiar animals can be just as interesting as less common ones, and the cottontail rabbit ranks as one of our most familiar–and interesting–creatures. In the photo below (direction of travel from right to left) we see it’s characteristic Y-shaped bounding pattern: two rear tracks even with each other and widely spaced, and two front tracks behind the rear ones, more narrowly spaced with one leading the other. The right front print (the first foot to come down) lies at the right side of the photo and the left front print (the second foot to come down) lies to its left. Farther to the left you see the rear prints which form the diverging branches of the Y. I found these tracks on a highly developed barrier island on the New Jersey coast, probably not a place you would expect to find cottontails. But these animals manage to survive and flourish not just in rural and undeveloped areas but also in city parks, suburban communities, and busy commercial zones.

Although the pattern shown above is very common, it’s not the only four-print arrangement you’ll see. Sometimes a rabbit’s front feet come down together, and when this happens the prints are even with each other and pressed tightly together. Bounding squirrels make groups similar to those of rabbits, but the spacing of the front tracks is different. Whether the front prints are even with each other (the most common arrangement) or whether one leads the other, there is almost always a gap between the two prints. In the photo below the rabbit tracks are in the lower left and the squirrel tracks are at the upper right.

The tracks in the photo below were made by a cottontail bounding in deep snow (direction of travel from bottom to top), and the toes are splayed out in both front and rear tracks. Tracks like these are sometimes mistaken for snowshoe hare tracks because of their larger size.

The feet of both cottontails and snowshoe hares can spread when increased support is needed, but there’s a drastic difference between the two animals. The maximum width of a cottontail’s hind print is about 2 1/2 inches, while a snowshoe hare’s rear track can reach a width of more than 5 inches. The photo below shows a rabbit’s rear foot (seen from the bottom) in a splayed position. Note that the rear foot has only four toes.

In the photo above you can see the thick fur which covers the bottom of the rear foot of the cottontail, and the front foot is just as furry. This is why the outlines of the toes in rabbit tracks are blurry, especially in snow. The next photo shows the right front print of a cottontail (facing to the right) in mud that had dried to a perfect consistency for recording fine details. The toes are visible but not sharply defined, and the texture of the fur can be seen in and around the toe impressions. This photo also shows all five toes clearly–yes, there are five toes on the front foot of the rabbit. But counting toes can be difficult because there are also some pads which look like toes.

To help sort this out I’ve marked the toes and two of the pads in the next photo. The innermost toe is marked Toe 1, following the convention of numbering from the inside of the foot. It’s smaller than the others and often fails to register in tracks. The other four toes are larger and tipped with substantial claws, and the toe arrangement as a whole is asymmetrical.

If you’ve ever had a run-in with a rabbit’s foot you know that, in spite of the furry covering, the sharp claws can dig in quite effectively. Sometimes the claws are the only parts of the foot that make impressions, as in this photo of the right and left rear tracks of a rabbit in a hurry (direction of travel toward the upper right).

In addition to tracks, rabbits leave many other signs of their presence. You may find stems bitten off at an angle like the multiflora rose in the photo below. These angled cuts are characteristic of rabbit browsing and they arise from the anatomy of the rabbit’s jaws.

In the next photo you see the lower jaw of a cottontail with an added line representing a stem or twig. As it takes the stem between its upper and lower incisors, the rabbit positions the stem so that one end passes through the gap between its incisors and its molars. This biting technique results in an angled cut. Deer don’t have upper incisors so instead of making a clean bite, a deer grasps the stem between its lower incisors and its horny upper palate and pulls or jerks to make a rough break.

Cottontails also feed on the bark of young trees and shrubs. Their chews have a rough appearance, with bites penetrating to varying depths, as in the staghorn sumac stem shown below. Chews made by other bark feeders (beavers, porcupines, voles, and occasionally squirrels) are much neater and more consistent in depth of penetration.

Whether it’s bark, twigs, or buds, a rabbit has to ingest a lot of fiber to get at the nutritious living cells in the cambium or in the tiny leaf initials inside buds. The animals boost the nutrition they get from their food by processing it twice. After passing through most of the digestive system, waste is diverted to the caecum where it is fermented to produce additional nutrients. This material is eliminated, usually at night, as clusters of soft globs called caecotropes. We seldom see this kind of fecal matter because the rabbit eats it immediately. After passing through the digestive system again, the waste is eliminated as pellets like the ones in the next photo.

These pellets are dry and fibrous, and are normally scattered irregularly where rabbits feed and move about. Unlike the rounded cylindrical pellets of deer, rabbit pellets are shaped like slightly flattened spheres. Cottontails are now shifting to their summer diet of grasses, forbs, and flowers, but the final result will be pellets similar to those produced from woody food.

The cottontail rabbit is a thoroughly interesting creature with some impressive tools for survival. By observing its tracks and trails as well as chews, scat, and other sign, we can appreciate a creature that is beautifully adapted to its environment.