3/12/2023 Bearcamp Trackers Outing
We had a great day today out in the field. We followed our normal pattern of not finding any good tracks until after lunch although we did see some great wildlife sign in the morning.
We discussed the feeding differences between Red Squirrels and Gray Squirrels. Red squirrels create a few large larders of stored food and consequently have large middens of discarded material that is inedible, whereas gray squirrels are Scatter Hoarders and eat as they move through the forest and create many smaller caches of food and therefore they don't create large middens.
We saw tree taps created by squirrels to drink the sap of the maples.
We saw bear sign. The classic dot-dash of a bear biting the tree as well as claws marks as it was scent marking along its trail. The birch was noticeably pinched where the bear bit down.
Along the game trail we found another bear tree but in this case a Black Cherry with hair in it (Zoom in to see).
We found weasel tracks and mink tracks in the same location as the previous outing along the northwest corner of the kettle hole. And to end the tracking season on a high note we found this otter track and 7" slide going under the same evergreen where we saw raccoon tracks on the northeast side of the kettle hole.
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