The stories tracks leave behind
When we speak about tracks at Discovery Southeast we say everything leaves a sign and all signs tell a story. Stories about the natural history of our dynamic temperate rainforest reveal themselves throughout Juneau. One of the best stories I ever read was at Fish Creek with a class of third graders during our mammals unit.
The night before the hike, a storm system blew through leaving a quarter-inch of powdery snow behind. Bluebird skies graced the morning and all participants were excited about the outing.
I had been to the area before, in various conditions, but was not prepared for what we saw. The light snow on top of the frozen dark earth provided one of the most vivid tracking canvases I had ever seen. Among others, mink, river otter, beaver, red squirrel, porcupine and snowshoe hare tracks embroidered the snowy surface like black letters on a page. The kids and I followed the signs like detectives. Back in the classroom, we had studied ways to identify the mammals by counting the toes in the tracks, looking for distinct patterns, measuring the distance between the tracks and examining scat, to name a few. Carnivores like the mink and river otter leave scat that is pointy at the ends and misshapen due to semi-digested fur and bones. Herbivores, like hare and porcupine, leave droppings that are rounded at the ends. (By the way, if you ever want a kid's attention, just pick up scat.) Rodents, like the beaver, red squirrel and porcupine, all have five toes on their hind paws, and four on the front. In the weasel family, mink and river otter have five toes on the front and back, and their eccentric way of bounding leaves unique track clusters. We crawled through brush and discovered where hares had nibbled blueberry bushes. We followed a vole until its tracks vanished in the middle of an opening. Feather marks surrounded the small mammal's disappearance and made for the hike's coolest, and perhaps most curious story.
As part of a small series throughout winter, we plan to profile members of our local animal population and share a few of the tricks we use to identify their signs and the stories they leave behind.
• Scott Burton is a Discovery Southeast naturalist at Gastineau elementary school.