A few weeks ago the Dot Earth blog on the New York Times included a fascinating photograph of animal tracks in the snow. The tracks indicated a conflict between predator and prey, a raptor attacking a rodent. Since we had a relatively big snow fall over about 36 hours here from Thursday through Saturday, I was reminded of the Dot Earth blog when I trudged out in the snow. Following along the creek behind my husband, I almost lost his tracks when I headed uphill following another set of tracks. We crossed them again on the bluff line, where the hoofprints were better preserved on the flatter terrain.The perpetrators were deer, who used a cut in the bluff line to get down to the creek from a nearby field.
Of course, our cats’ tracks are all over the place, including near these hundreds of bird tracks and more deer tracks.
and near these mouse or rat tracks (coming in a bit fuzzy from the left and then ending in two streaks near the feline paw print). The good news for the mouse is that the cat tracks look older, although it does look like the mouse tracks end abruptly. Any thoughts from readers?
These mouse (or rat) tracks fascinated me for how far that they ran across the wide expanse of snow. The mouse ran from an old, downed pine tree to a holly bush. Then I found more tracks from the holly bush to the front porch, for a total distance of at least a hundred feet. Was this mouse meeting up with the mouse that disappeared on the other side of the porch?
My husband also ran into Spit, the possum that hangs out around our place, last night in the alley between the house and garage. (Actually, they both caught each other by surprise and both nearly scared each other to death, according to my husband.) I looked this morning to see if I could see where Spit went–and where he’s been hanging out, because until last night we hadn’t seen him since the cold snap in early January. These must be his prints, venturing out briefly and then turning around and, apparently, following a ledge around the house, to crawl under the back porch. Spit’s prints appear raised in these photos because of oddities of photography and melting snow.And here are the possum tracks turned around on each other:
By the way, I found more mouse tracks near Spit’s tracks. The cats better get back to work, instead of constantly begging to come into the warmth.
You may also be interested in Tracks in the Snow, Revisited, where I captured the perpetrator of a bizarrely backwards set of isolated tracks.
Copyright 2010 Ozarkhomesteader. Short excerpts with full links to this site are welcome. Please contact me for permission to use photographs.
What a beautiful Cat! Great pictures too!
http://tjbrown1980.wordpress.com/
Thank you on her behalf! And to think she was born under a lawn tractor. Did you see her brother? He’s the extra-long tomcat lounging on my pillow in the post “barn cats.”
aww that cat is beautiful 🙂
Thank you! She’s wicked smart too.
Love the snow! we are just very cold but no snow…… :{ See you have opossums too! They have such oddly cute feet….they look like their toes go all the way around their feet…lol….you should see them and the raccoons when they hold their Friday night poker games on my patio…..hehe…
We’ve banned the raccoons for bad behavior (stealing cards)–as if that keeps them away!
I got a kick out of the tracks our guard llama left in the recent snow around the perimeter of our property. A slightly wandering line all around the fence, with periodic circles to check the “defenses.”
You named your possum neighbor?! We have a slight battle with our possum neighbors over the rights of the chicken population… 🙂
I tried to scare off the possum repeatedly, the same way I tried to get rid of the skunk (which did finally decide to leave on its own). As the days got shorter this fall, it became more difficult to get the cat’s kibble in before it got “possum spit.” Soon we just shortened it to, “Can you grab the cat food? I just saw Spit out there.” If we had chickens now, we might take more drastic measures to get rid of Spit.
Did you post photos of your llama prints on your blog?
I didn’t think to do that, sorry. Next time!
I’ll look forward to seeing your llama print pics.
nice photos.
Thank you for sharing the images.
I have spent time following tracks with my children. Always great fun trying to identify them.
Enjoy a great day,
David
http://www.TheWonderTechnique.com
P.S. I read your blog topper. My family have been working on being as sustainable as possible for almost ten years now. I frequently reflect on how my work can be more earth friendly – one of the reasons why I now sell ebooks I wrote on stress management and stopped printing them on paper.
I suppose I cheated on identifying most of these tracks, since I knew who made them or saw them being made.
I love the idea of Ebooks.
My husband would love this!
its snow! wow, i want to eat the snow
Even with all of the animal tracks?
Great photos. We saw some turkey tracks last week–the kids loved it.
Thank you! I spotted some turkey tracks next to the creek last week in the mud but did not have my camera with me.
Wow. Gorgeous cat!
I’m hoping you get comments in answer to your question about the tracks ending abruptly in the snow. Same thing in the back yard here. Tracks coming out of the woods and then stopping. If an owl scooped up the critter, wouldn’t there be a scuffle mark? Hmm, maybe not?
My cat is preening herself now, basking in all of the compliments.
I suspect more and more that the cats actually were doing their job. Given where the tracks are, I can see one of the cats leaping off the porch (and leaving such deep tracks), snatching up the mouse, and dashing under the car to finish the job.
I hope someone who knows more about bird-mice interactions will weigh in!
What I like most about kitties is that they read you mood so accurately.Then thay always make you feel better :)Go Kitties!
Very interesting – I think there’s something quite romantic about tracks in the snow – it tends to remind me of 100 and one Dalmatians, and the excitement of trying to runaway, but the whole idea of the footprints giving you away. I guess it could be seen of you leaving something behind wherever you go.
Thanks for sharing!
Keep Pondering!
Lovess
Luna
xxx
http://www.urbanoptimist.wordpress.com
I still get teary eyed when I think of the barking chain, which appeared to much better effect in the book than the movie. Thanks for the happy memories of a beloved book!
wow,
very timeless photo,
loved the cat.
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Thank you for the referral!
Awesome and very well put together blog. You have a beautiful cat. I hope it doesn’t become prey to one of the wild things around your house some day. I keep my domestic huntress indoors! Keep up the good work!
Thanks so much for the kind words! I hope too that our hunters have figured out how to stay away from everything that thinks they’re prey!
I grew up seeing these tracks and more all around me, as I grew up in upstate NY. Thanks for bringing me back to my childhood for a few minutes. 🙂
You’re so welcome!
I love these pictures and am so excited to have found your blog! I have tried to get such great pics of tracks in the snow. I love to spend time outside with kids learning from these nature signs. Thanks for sharing!
Did you see the tracks at the New York Times Dot Earth blog I linked? I thought they were amazing! You’re welcome, and thank you for the kind words.
Hello, nice post. I just found this blog, but I will definitely visit regularly. Keep us updated.
I love your pictures and the fact that you took the time to get out in the snow and record these animal tracks. I’m also glad to know about your wonderful blog and will make a point to follow it. Cheers!
Thank you! And I’m a big fan of slow food (perhaps you noticed!), so I’ll be sure to visit your blog.
Is that a Maine Coon cat? I used to have one and miss her. Loved your pics, I look forward to seeing more of your blog.
She’s a barn cat, but both she and her brother (see him on the post “Barn Cats”) look more like Maine coons than anything else. I’ve heard that Maine coons are very smart too, just like these. Was that the case with yours?
I just found your blog. I love your pictures. Is that a Maine Coon cat?
See the reply right above–she’s a barn cat, but, yes, I too see Maine coon in her. She’s a long cat but (I think) too delicate to be a real Maine coon. Her brother, on the other hand, could be one easily! You can’t see his majestic tail in the “Barn Cats” post, but he has one that’s about a foot long.
Makes me think of home…I sometimes miss the simple things now that I live in the city.
I lived in Boston, Orlando, Miami, and some smaller cities. When I was younger, I loved the city life, but I retreated to the countryside when I could. Now I live in the country and visit the city. Things are much simpler here. Where are you from?
Northern Michigan 🙂
Lots of snow there, eh? 🙂
Definitely used to lots of snow up north!
Some weeks ago, Seoul had big big snow.
So, sompeople enjoyied skiing on the road.
That sounds like fun! Most people around here do not have snow skis. We just get snow too rarely.
Very interesting blog! Nice pics,too. 🙂
Thank you!
There sure are a lot of unusual breeds of cats in the populace these days. I cannot really pick a favored one, some are more amusing to me than others. But in the end I have to tell I enjoy all the cats I have gotten to experience. They really are fetching little creatures. I believe that the Siamese cats are very ravishing, but also very strange lol. I love them, but they can be kind of high strung.
I’m a fan of pound kitties!
I used to have a mouse – my blog tells you how to get rid of a mouse.
Thanks! Since mice have never gotten inside our house, we don’t really need to get rid of them.
Very nice pictures! I guess there are a lot of animals lurking around 🙂
Thank you! Yes, it’s like a zoo in our yard some days.
Nice little blog. Thank you. As a tracker of many moons, I’ll throw out a couple of observations. Your ‘mouse’ tracks pictured with the cat tracks appears actually to be a songbird. (a hopper as opposed to a walker…hoppers are typically the ground feeding species). Songbirds can be difficult to differentiate from mouse tracks.
Your long distance mouse trail belongs to a vole. Voles typically move in what’s called a ‘direct register trot’…the track pattern in the photo. Mice like deer mice move in hops and bounds…paired tracks usually showing a tail imprint. -joe
Thank you. Interesting. A couple of wildlife biologists looked at the photos, and I thought I had them correctly identified. I can easily believe the vole, but I wonder if the tracks are too big for a vole. Given the location, I’m wondering about the tracks with the cat prints. It is not a location that we ever see birds, and the tracks ran from a spot way too short for a bird. Does that change your thoughts? I appreciate your input!
I can’t really judge the size of the tracks without a size reference in the photograph. I was going on your observation that they were ‘mouse’ sized. If they are anywhere near mouse sized…they are almost certainly vole. I guess I should ask though what part of the country you are in? 🙂
As for the tracks with the cat prints…I’m not so convinced of my call. Those blurry drag marks are typical of songbirds, but not really of small mammals. And if the tracks suddenly disappeared I assume it was a take-off. Any kind of capture by a raptor of a mouse would inevitably leave a disturbance in the snow at the point of capture. But, if you say the tracks originated in a place that was too low for a bird to walk under…that’s a good sign they are indeed from a small mammal. We’d need a better photo to say for sure…and looking at more of the trail is always helpful. In any case, tracking is a blast! and by the way… if you’re on facebook…. “Animals don’t cover their tracks” a track identification group.
Thank you! I’ll be delighted to check it out on Facebook. I’ll check my old photos to see what else I have.
Admiring the time and effort you put into
your site and in depth information you present. It’s nice to come across a blog every once in a while that isn’t the same out of date rehashed material.
Wonderful read! I’ve bookmarked your site and I’m including your RSS feeds
to my Google account.
Your cat is just like my Chanel
Beautiful, fluffy-wooly, and a little crazy? 🙂