|
|
Brian Booth's Tracking
Quizzes
|
|
|
Quiz #6 - Question
(April 2003)
|
|
|
-
Habitat: Marsh, with 2 lakes, next to a railroad, and
surrounded by oak woodlands. Suburb just outside of Hartford, CT.
-
Time of year: Late November. One of the lakes was
frozen, but the ice was soft & weak [see photo D1]. This was
the first time in the season the lake had frozen. The other
lake, which has a stronger current going from inlet to outlet, had not
fully frozen yet.
-
Substrate: 5 inches of fresh, soft snow.
|
|
|
|
If you look closely at photo D1, you can see this animal
has been traversing all over the place on top of the lake's soft ice. |
|
Photo D1
|
|
|
|
|
|
Photo D2 shows 2 trails going both in & out of
the unfrozen lake.
|
|
Photo D2
|
|
|
|
|
|
Photo D3 shows an intersection of 2 trails on the isthmus
between the lakes. Note the animal's belly makes full contact with
the snow as it moves forward. The ground is level here.
Trail width = 8".
|
|
Photo D3
|
|
|
|
|
|
Photos D4 & D5 are more zoomed in. Note the
footprints don't have any repeating pattern; very random looking, not
really possible to measure a "stride". |
|
Photo D4
|
|
|
|
|
|
Photo D5
|
|
|
|
|
|
Photos D6 & D7 are close-ups of the footprints.
Individual tracks measured about 2½" wide by 2½" long. |
|
Photo D6
|
|
|
|
|
|
Photo D7
|
|
|
|
|
|
Photos D8 & D9 show the animal's scat.
Notice it is dark green, rather "mucousy", and has fish scales
& fish bones in it. |
|
Photo D8
|
|
|
|
|
|
Photo D9
|
|
|
|
|
|
If you're still not sure after looking at D1-D9, then photo
D10 ought to seal the deal. The animal was going across snow on
the isthmus, and skidded to a stop on its belly, directly on top of a
less-than-fully frozen puddle. The result was a wet imprint in the
snow, outlining its full body, including paws, neck & chin, belly,
and tail.
|
|
Photo D10
|
|
|
|
|
|
Quiz
#6 - Answer |
|
|
|
(All photos on this page are Copyright
© by Brian Booth unless indicated otherwise)
To send comments,
questions or feedback about these quizzes,
email Brian Booth |
|
|
|
