The week of tracking started at noon on Sunday. We met at the wildlife research station in Algonquin Park. We headed out almost right away to investigate the tracks surrounding a dead moose that was about 50 feet off the side of Hwy 60 (which runs through Algonquin Park). The moose was mostly buried in snow and ice. It had evidently been struck by a vehicle and had crawled under a tree to die.

Dead animals are magnets for all sorts of animals who come to feed off the carcass.

Ravens, being scavengers, are also attracted to dead animals.

Here's a set of raven tracks (walking towards the right side of the photo).

The wolves that live in Algonquin Park are also drawn to animal carcasses.

Here's one wolf track that was right nearby the dead moose.

The tape measure beside the track gives a sense of the size of the print.

Those familiar with tracking know that track measurements are one way to help identify the animal that made a particular track.

A wolf's trail as it leads away from the carcass.

If you look closely you can see a clear paw print in the trail.

Fishers also visit animal kill sites.

Here's a nice set of fisher tracks.

Peck Lake, just in from the highway, and very near where the dead moose lay.

A beautiful sunny calm afternoon!

We also found a wolf lay near the dead moose. This is a place where a wolf had laid on the ground for a period of time. The wolf in this case lay looking back toward the highway, as this was the most likely direction from which danger (humans) might come.

Later we visited the Algonquin Park visitor centre to get an overall review of the Park's history and ecology, and to browse their excellent bookstore (I'm a sucker for nature books!).

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