Wabbit Twacks

Do you notice how busy the trail in this picture looks.Judging by all of those tracks, there must have been a lot of people walking through this busy nature park. Right?

Actually, that's not right. Take a closer look at these tracks. None of them are from humans. I was the only person to enter this park since it snowed. Every one of the tracks in this picture are from animals, mostly rabbits.

So, what does this tell us about this park?

First of all, there are a heck of a lot of rabbits running around in this place. I already know that part is true because I've gotten my best rabbit pictures from here. If you come here at the right time you can see literally dozens of rabbits running around. Seeing that many means there could be hundreds.

The second thing it tells us is not many people like to come out to a place like this when it is cold and snowy. Obvious? My point here is that I like this kind of weather and I love being in a place like this all alone. So this is the best time for me to get back to hiking again. It all makes me happy.

Without the people crowding this place, the animals can thrive here. That's good for the animals, for me, and for you because I'll share the pictures of them with you.

And it won't be just rabbits, even though most of these tracks are from them. I saw squirrel tracks too, which are similar to rabbit. There were some deer walking this trail. And I even saw tracks from at least one coyote.

But there were other kinds of tracks I found on my next trip here. Those tracks were a bit confusing. I eventually found the culprit. The creature that made them was different than any other I'd ever seen before. I'll reveal what I saw in my next post this Friday. I'll talk to you later.

A Narrow Escape

I made it back to my favorite nature park the other day. It looks colder in my pictures than it actually is. The weather is getting so warm that the winter coat I was wearing was a little too much. All the snow is melting but there is still plenty here in the forest of the park.

There is a main trail to walk on, but I decided to go to the back of the nature center building where I saw the deer the last time I was here. I was hoping there was another trail back here. There was, but it was a deer trail, not one made by the humans of the park.

I decided to follow the deer trail anyway. I've followed deer trails many times before. They can go in interesting directions. I knew this one wouldn't be that exciting, but it's still fun to see just exactly where in the park it was going to lead.

I took this second picture to show you the deer tracks in the mud on the trail, but it shows something else a little better. Sure the deer tracks are there, but they're kind of difficult to see in the picture. You know what's easier to see? Mud.

If you read a couple of posts ago you might remember how I described slipping down a hill in the snow. At the end of the post I said it wouldn't be snow I'd slip on here, but it would be mud. Because of that I decided to follow this relatively flat deer trail.

Here's the fun part. On my way back out of the park I was walking down a slight incline on the trail. I had to cross from the left to the right of the trail. I couldn't walk down the center because it was too muddy. As I was crossing I stepped down with my left foot right in the middle. My foot slid out from under me and I slid about three feet down that trail on one foot.

Somehow I was able to keep from falling, but it was a very close call. I gotta say, I really hate when that happens. I mean I hate almost falling, not narrowly escaping. I thought I'd just clear that up.

But even with that little misadventure I had a wonderful time. I didn't see anymore deer but I had a nice short hike through the woods. I even saw a few other interesting things. Next time I'll try to get a little closer look at some of the more interesting things I saw.

I have to say it was good getting back in the woods. I didn't take the time to enjoy it this time though. I only really thought about it after it was over. Next time I'm going to stop and let myself really experience the forest. There's nothing else like it. I'll talk to you later.

The Great Animal Tracker

So there I was, just entering my normal nature trail when I found some odd dog-like tracks. I'd normally ignore them because this particular park allows dogs, but there was just something different about them. Oh sure, they look like the tracks of a dog, but it was their pattern that interested me.

I didn't get the proper pictures to demonstrate this, but most dogs that are with humans travel in a meandering chaotic pattern; the same as an exploring puppy of any canine creature might. Dogs are like eternal puppies, considering humans their adults. But creatures like coyotes, wolves, and foxes act like adults when they are grown.

These tracks travel in a straight line with no thought of exploring every tree, bush, or interesting smell. And they are also traveling the deer trail, not the human trail, which almost no dog would do here. This is why the tracks are so intriguing to me. But just what exactly are they? I can't say I know, but I can guess.

First, notice in the bottom left of the picture. That's the edge of my boot there. See the print I left before attempting to move my big feet out of the picture? This snow is deep, but the print shows that the snow is hard enough that I didn't sink down. The animal track did, so it's obviously at least a few days old.

But what is the animal track? Well, it still could be just a normal, everyday dog. But I'm going to go with my fantasy and a little knowledge and guess either a coyote  or a fox. The tracks are smaller than what a wolf might make, and there aren't any wolves around here. But we do have coyotes and foxes. And they have both been reportedly seen in this exact spot of this park. Yup, I talk to people here all the time.

This is the very same direction these two types of animals have been seen going by those I have talked to. The one problem is that I have very little experience with these tracks, and both leave very dog-like prints. After some study, I think they look maybe different than coyote tracks; very much like fox tracks, but a bit bigger. So they're either a dog by itself, or I'm not experienced enough with this type of track yet. You decide.

And what do we have here? Wabbit twacks! Uh, rabbit tracks! The rabbit came through here after the canine animal, but obviously before me. The tracks sink in too much for such a small animal to be here very soon before me, but they show that the snow was harder than when the bigger animal came through.

That straight line of the rabbit tracks is similar to the straight line that the other creature left. I didn't get the whole line of other creature's tracks because the sun was shining in exactly the wrong direction. My shadow would have gotten in the picture in the other, and that would have been just unforgivable.

It's just... If I show you my shadow then my secret identity would be revealed, and we just can't have that. ...Well, I guess I can tell you. I will finally reveal myself to you. I'm... I'm... I'm Batman!

See you next post! Same bat time, same bat website!


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