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CELEBRATE THE SEASON:
Solemn Stillness
by Wayne Kelley
Winter Outings
By Snowmobile or Sleigh
A Christmas Tree Shoppers Glossary of Terms
by Walt Rockwood
Vermont's Top 10 Winter Events
IN THE FARMHOUSE KITCHEN:
Holiday Cookie Collection
EVERYTHING WOOD HEAT:
More Woodstove Magic
by Daryle Thomas
GARDENING:
Forcing Bulbs for Winter Bloom
by Leonard Perry
Winter Gardening Tips
by Vern Grubinger
INTO THE OUTDOORS:
Unfinished Stories in the Snow
by Jenna Guarino
 Tracking Winter Wildlife
by Heather Behrens
Did You Ever Eat a Pine Tree?
by Euell Gibbons
The River in Winter
by W.D. Wetherell
VERMONT WEATHERVANE BOOK NEWS:
My Dog's Brain
plus the story behind the creation of the book
Will Moses' Silent Night
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Statewide Calendar of Events
Blue Ribbon Events
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Tracking Winter Wildlife
by Heather Behrens
When looking at animals in a field or the deep forest, we often miss the secrets of their private lives, since the animals have invariably seen us first and are reacting to our presence. But the trail records the animal when it was alone in nature and brings us closer than ever to its normal habits and perceptions of the world.
The tracks and traces that animals leave behind tell us a story -- both a record of the past and a connection to the present. Interpreting these traces for ourselves brings us into their world, one where sound, smell and sight give important cues to where the food is hiding, a predator is lurking or a mate is waiting. It is a hidden world to most of us. We see only the obvious, the necessary or the lovely.
But besides the track itself, other signs that give evidence of animal life in the vicinity are stray feathers, drops of blood, urine or scat markings, twigs chewed, bark gnawed, lodges or dens, holes in the ice or stream banks, diggings in the ground and countless others.
These traces tell us who may have been here recently and what was their intentions. Anything unusual in nature was affected by something or someone. What did it and why?
Beyond looking at habitat, size of the track, and footprint being examined, for most trackers the single most important clue is the track pattern. Although any animal may speed up or slow down, which can alter its track pattern, most animals typically fit into one of four distinct ways of moving: walking/trotting, galloping, bounding, or waddling.
The simplest type of movement is the walk or trot. In a walk, four-footed animals move hind left leg and front right leg, then hind right leg and front left leg. This diagonal way of walking is quite balanced, since there is always support on both sides of the body. A child who has learned to crawl uses the diagonal walk of a quadruped. Typical examples include members of the cat and dog family, deer and moose.
In waddling, animals move both limbs on the right side, then both limbs on the left. Waddling makes the whole animal sway from side to side in a gait typical of short, squat animals such as raccoon, porcupine, opossum and beaver.
In the third type of movement, bounding, the front feet reach out together and the hind feet follow as a pair, landing just behind the front feet or almost in the front prints. This movement is typical of members of the weasel family.
Finally, the fourth common type of movement is galloping. It is similar to bounding except that here the hind feet land to either side or ahead of the front feet. This gait is typical of rabbits and squirrels, and also long-legged animals when they are trying to move fast.
As you will discover on the trail, these four types are oversimplified, but are valuable as a framework for interpreting tracks.
Good tracking conditions depend on the quality of snow as it falls, the weather conditions after it fell, and the ways in which these two effect the movements of animals.
Tracks can be found anywhere, but they are often most common at the edges of habitats, such as where a forest and field meet, and particularly near water.
To discover the presence and lives of animals, you need only to be like a detective involved in solving a marvelous mystery.
Heather Behrens writes from the Vermont Institute of Natural Science in Woodstock, Vt.
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