We decided to follow the trail
of a large fisher today.
These interesting tiny marks
on a white birch tree are the gnawings of a snail as it eats
the algae that grows on the bark.
Along the way we got
distracted (of course!) by this trail left by a northern
flying squirrel as it made its way across the surface of the
snow.
It was a bit of a challenge to identify these
tracks, partly because we weren't expecting a flying
squirrel to be bounding across the snow for such a long
distance (200 feet).
This was a very interesting
scene. In crossing this creek the fisher went through the
thin ice - the hole is still visible. It hauled itself out
of the water and rolled in the snow to dry itself off, and
then continued on its way.
A tuft of bear hair stuck on a
hydro pole. Bears will mark poles by biting them and rubbing
against them.
This is a classic "what
happened here?" scenario which trackers love to try to
figure out.
Turns out this was a crooked landing by ruffed
grouse. He (or she) landed with its left wing extended,
which made the large wing print in the snow at the lower
left of this photo. It then walked off towards
the top of the photo.
After about 2 km we stopped in
a nice clearing where there were lots of birds looking for
handouts. We obliged them with nuts and dried fruit.
