Thanks so much for joining us! Our small group had an in-depth exploration at Knight’s Pond. A special thanks to Chebeague & Cumberland Land Trust for all the work they do to steward this beautiful land. The land we explored is on unceded Wabanaki territory, and we have so much gratitude to be remembering what our human animal bodies are designed for in these forests, ponds, and rivers.
Donations
Donations are split between Chebeague & Cumberland Land Trust, Royal River Conservation Trust and the Northeast Wildlife Trackers Access Fund. From this paypal link you can donate by ach, credit card, paypal or venmo:
https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/JLU6RLK8EK5LW
Conditions was a perfect September day in the Northeast, crisp and a warm sun. If you want to learn more about anything we encountered, here’s a species list of tracks and sign that we saw:
- Feeding Sign- We asked Becca’s favorite question, whose face could do this? We discussed all the animals that feed on the mast of acorns including our big list of rodents, corvids, deer, bear, and more. We also looked at different nuts like the hickory and the specifics of telling the difference of species on the acorn and discussed the holes, the bevel, the context of where, and more. Below you’ll see from top right going clockwise the most likely sign from chipmunk, gray squirrel, mouse, flying squirrel, and mouse again.
- More Feeding Sign- we found this super interesting feeding sign from the beaver. One we knew about and the other took some deducing.
- The discarded tuber of the water lily from the beaver feeding.
- The second picture looks also to be related from the same feeding as it is the lower stem of the same plant!
- We need your help!- We only had some guesses on this sign, it was submerged in the pond. Anyone know who fed on this?
In addition to lots of domestic dog we found some great mammal tracks including the Raccoon. Notice on this right front foot the sausage shaped fingers, the raised shelf between finger 3 and 4, and the dexterous hand.
We also saw Bobcat Tracks! This Bobcat was cruising the waters edge. We had a great discussion of feline vs canine tracks including the asymmetry, lobed and relatively larger heel pad, lack of claws showing, and other aspects of the Bobcat.
- Twig Pruner- This was a not ideal but good sign of twig pruner insect sign and we got to discuss the difference between twig pruners, twig girdlers, and mammal signs like nip twigs.
This was a fun feather find on the edge of the pond. We have some guesses as to who but what we mainly discussed was that it is a body feather because of the bottom part of the feather being plumulaceous (my favorite new word and meaning missing barbules for locked structure) compared to the top of the feather. Based on it’s size, it’s not a small passerine. We did see a Mallard, 2 Cormorants, 3 Kestrels, and heard more birds. Who do you think it is?
It’s always fun to find scat. After looking at the contents of this, not being insect or flesh and more vegetative, and based on the size, location on a rock next to the pond, and the considerable rain we had recently we wager this is a Muskrat scat. Maybe it was who the Bobcat was looking for!
Apologies for the quality of the picture below but we got a good video and clipped and zoomed in for this beautiful creature. Margaret, a Master Naturalist in attendance did some research and came up with most likely the early stage of a Green Darner Dragonfly!
Hope to see you at our next Wildlife Tracking Club in Casco Bay area or the Mahoosuc area. Make sure to check out our other events, including our Winter Tracking Immersion at the AMC Huts in the 100 Mile Wilderness next February.
