20180113 PFN Tracking
Members from the Peterborough Field Naturalists (PFN) went tracking on the John de Pencier trail at the Trent University Nature Area. The two outings took place on January 13 & 14 with eleven trackers taking part. Species identified by tracks or sign included Red Squirrel, Ruffed Grouse, Snowshoe Hare, Porcupine, Raccoon, 3 Shrew sp (likely Masked, Smoky and Northern Short-tailed), 1 Mouse sp (likely White-footed), Ermine, Red Fox, White-tailed Deer, Eastern Gray Squirrel, American Mink and Coyote. The 14 species of mammals is a record high for one of our tracking outings; normally we count between 6 and 10 species. Other than Ruffed Grouse tracks, bird observations were low. Bird species identified by sound included: Common Raven, Blue Jay and American Robin.
Over the past few years of walking the John de Pencier trail at Trent, this walk showed the greatest activity by small mammals, in particular Shrews. The weather played a role in this change in activity. Normally when the snow is deep, small mammals concentrate their activities at ground level with the snow providing cover from predators and and protection from the cold air above the snow. But a period of warm temperatures and rain melted and settled the snow to a shallow depth which then froze into a hard layer. A light snowfall on top of that provided a perfect canvas to register all tracks. Because the small mammals could not use their network of tunnels, which had collapsed, they were traveling on risky routes at the snow surface. From a tracking point of view this provided an unusual opportunity to observe many small mammal tracks.
Another interesting observation was Red Squirrel middens. Observing the middens was not unusual. It was our attempt this time to identify the tree cones that the Red Squirrels were feeding on. Middens are the "garbage" left behind by a Squirrel when they take apart a cone to feed on the seeds. By carefully inspecting the middens and comparing that to the components of cones harvested from the trees, we can conclude that these Red Squirrels were feeding on cones from both Eastern White Cedar and White Spruce.
(Photographed January 13 & 14, 2018 at Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada)
Read MoreOver the past few years of walking the John de Pencier trail at Trent, this walk showed the greatest activity by small mammals, in particular Shrews. The weather played a role in this change in activity. Normally when the snow is deep, small mammals concentrate their activities at ground level with the snow providing cover from predators and and protection from the cold air above the snow. But a period of warm temperatures and rain melted and settled the snow to a shallow depth which then froze into a hard layer. A light snowfall on top of that provided a perfect canvas to register all tracks. Because the small mammals could not use their network of tunnels, which had collapsed, they were traveling on risky routes at the snow surface. From a tracking point of view this provided an unusual opportunity to observe many small mammal tracks.
Another interesting observation was Red Squirrel middens. Observing the middens was not unusual. It was our attempt this time to identify the tree cones that the Red Squirrels were feeding on. Middens are the "garbage" left behind by a Squirrel when they take apart a cone to feed on the seeds. By carefully inspecting the middens and comparing that to the components of cones harvested from the trees, we can conclude that these Red Squirrels were feeding on cones from both Eastern White Cedar and White Spruce.
(Photographed January 13 & 14, 2018 at Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada)
