Winter Tracking

by George Moore

Last Winter, with a group of Boy Scouts and parents, we walked the J. Harry Rich Forest along the Nashua River in Groton. There had been a substantial snowfall two days earlier giving us several inches of powder, making the movement of animals much more evident.

We crossed the trail of a bounding fisher. This animal is a relentless hunter and now quite plentiful in our area. We tracked it in the dry powder as it zigzagged in search of a meal. Mouse, vole, or rabbit are lunch for the fisher. We followed until it straightened its course as if it had a new purpose. Finding no evidence of other animals in the vicinity, we continued, noticing the fisher begin to sweep left and right, poking its nose deep into the snow. After about twenty feet we saw where a ruffed grouse had exploded from its snow cave. These birds hunker down and let the snow cover them until the storm eases. Sensing the fisher’s approach, this grouse made its exit before the fisher was able to pinpoint its location. The fisher must have hesitated, startled by the shower of snow and the thundering wings.

After a few frustrated rolls in the snow our fisher resumed its hunt. We followed as it circled back toward the Nashua, where it soon had better luck: a mouse or vole most likely. There are not many leftovers from a fisher’s meal.

We ended our walk with a wrap up of the afternoon’s sightings. We had seen tracks of deer, grouse, and rabbits. The Scouts were impressed by the way a male coyote had claimed a small bush. “Hey, my dog does the same thing.” The fisher was the main focus of discussion. Witnessing the dramas of the natural world in our backyards is an effective way to get the stewardship message to the next generation.

When we track in snow, not only do we witness the predator/prey interaction but we sometimes see the lighter side of life in the wild. One such outing occurred as we walked with our two dogs along a dirt road not far from home. The dogs were interested in a culvert carrying a small stream under the road. Two otters had traveled the culvert, their path making a classic otter pattern. Their bellies and tails dragged leaving toboggan-like grooves in the snow, stubby legs barely reaching the ground. We followed down a hill.

We tracked them for probably half a mile to where the stream entered a pond. Between their exit from the culvert to their entrance into the pond these otters seemed to thoroughly enjoy their journey. From the bottoms of their toboggan slides they went back uphill to slide down again. Where gravity needed an “otter assist” there would occasionally be footprints on both sides of their slide.

They traveled in the shallow icy stream emerging to roll in the snow, cleaning mud from their coats. There was evidence of a game of “chew the stick”. They poked under fallen snow-covered trees and ran on stonewalls. One last swim in the open water as the stream entered the pond, one last cleansing roll in the snow and they were off, with an occasional tussle, across the frozen pond to a well-used den dug into the earth.

As this excursion took place in late January it’s likely their journey was either a honeymoon trip with pups to be born the next winter or a short break from family responsibilities with pups already in the den. If that had been the case, Dad would not be allowed in the den.

The critters are always there but without snow it’s much more difficult to tell their story. Both of these experiences took place just a short distance from home.

A guide for identifying animal tracks can be found at the MassWildlife website; http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/dfwpdf/dfwtrax.pdf.

George Moore is a retired firefighter, living in West Groton. He is an education consultant to the Nashua River Watershed Association and a registered canoe instructor and guide for the Nashoba Paddler in West Groton.