The last couple of days, we haven't been outside our house (except for the back yard) due to cold and ice. But it isn't all a bad thing - I get to read, my spouse gets to cook, and we all watch the bird feeder.
Yesterday, spouse said "what are those tracks in the back yard?" The tracks show two feet, then two feet - deer, perhaps? I took this picture from a window. And, come to think of it, there were lots of tracks out there. Some belong to the birds our feeders attract- dark eyed juncos, mourning doves, white throated sparrows, song sparrows (maybe), Carolina and winter wrens, and sometimes even a Northern cardinal feed on the ground.
(If you wonder why you see dead stalks not cleaned up, we don't clean up our perennials until later in spring. Wildlife appreciates an untidy yard. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.)
We've seen various animals in our yard - grey squirrels, chipmunks, more grey squirrels. We know we have mice, raccoons and skunks. Spouse once saw a deer on a street near us, but our yard is so small I couldn't imagine a deer fitting into it comfortably.
What we did find, after some Internet sleuthing, is that tracks in snow aren't as easy to identify as one might think. Some of the pictures didn't come out that clear, either.
This one definitely isn't a deer, or a rabbit.
There is a lot to learn if you want to learn to identify tracks in snow. This increases my respect for Native Americans and others who had to learn to track to find food because their lives depended on it.
As much as I detest winter, I'm not totally sorry I didn't try for Florida this year.
How fun! Your yard is a wildlife magnet! Or a short-cut. Still, that's really something to see so many tracks. I leave some messes, clean up others. I leave the wild sunflowers (lots of small heads) until the birds have picked them clean. I don't leave the black-eyed Susan or coneflowers, because in my yard, nothing ever comes and eats them. Better stuff elsewhere I guess. Maybe bird feeders.
ReplyDeleteOh so now I know the reason why I always have so much wildlife in my yard lol!!
ReplyDeleteFootprints in the snow are interesting. The first ones definitely look like deer to me and I would say the last ones do look like rabbit. But I'm not a tracker!
ReplyDelete...I was out today taking pictures, there are tracks everywhere!
ReplyDeleteMaybe you’ll see who made the tracks
ReplyDeleteI did read just in the last day or two that clearing out your yard now is a bad idea as smaller critters winter in some of those dead branches and such.
ReplyDeleteWinter does has it beauty.
ReplyDeleteCoffee is on and stay safe
I love the proof that, even in the 'dead' of winter, life goes on!
ReplyDelete