Hi Kristin, I love this posting. Unbelievably, I only just saw otter tracks/slides for the first time when in Chistochina. You're right... though I never saw the otters, their tracks looked like they were having a total blast gliding through the woods!
That's so cool that you saw otter tracks! We only see them at a very specific time of year when the river starts breaking up. Of course they could be down there in the summer too and don't leave tracks on the rocks. I love see how they slide into the water off the ice.
I love this. I took a tracking class through an organization called Swan Valley Connections back in December. They are in the Swan Valley, which is in northwestern Montana, between the Mission Mountain tribal wilderness and the Bob Marshall Wilderness, and about 90 minutes driving, and 45 if I could fly, from where I live. Wolves, grizzly bears, wolverines, lynx, et al are there.
Which leads me to my first anecdote: the first trail of tracks we followed was that of the white-footed mouse, or deer mouse. As our leader described, we get so caught up in the apex predators that sometimes the little critters get overlooked, and they are as vibrant and interesting and necessary as anyone. I love the sentiment, and I agree 100%.
Which didn't make it any less cool though when we ended up backtracking a mountain lion with three kittens with her. They were at most only a couple hours gone when we cut their trail. We were on snowshoes and I wish I was still out there. ❤️
Very cool anecdotes. That sounds like a really great class. I would love to take a tracking class. I do appreciate seeing the regular tracks of the animals that I am familiar with and getting to know them in a more familiar way by seeing where they go every day. There was one squirrel on our morning walk that I used to watch and it was fun to see what maddens they would go in and what would come out of them in the refuse pile (lots of spruce cone parts but sometimes moss or mushrooms). And of course it is fun to see an apex predator track too. I love finding wolverine tracks up in the high peaks because they are so secretive that it is hard to find the actual animal but I love knowing that they passed through.
Thanks Berta. Agreed about the freezing fingers. I do love to work on my winter memory also of paying attention and then remembering details that I want to sketch when I get back inside.
Hi Kristin, I love this posting. Unbelievably, I only just saw otter tracks/slides for the first time when in Chistochina. You're right... though I never saw the otters, their tracks looked like they were having a total blast gliding through the woods!
That's so cool that you saw otter tracks! We only see them at a very specific time of year when the river starts breaking up. Of course they could be down there in the summer too and don't leave tracks on the rocks. I love see how they slide into the water off the ice.
I love this. I took a tracking class through an organization called Swan Valley Connections back in December. They are in the Swan Valley, which is in northwestern Montana, between the Mission Mountain tribal wilderness and the Bob Marshall Wilderness, and about 90 minutes driving, and 45 if I could fly, from where I live. Wolves, grizzly bears, wolverines, lynx, et al are there.
Which leads me to my first anecdote: the first trail of tracks we followed was that of the white-footed mouse, or deer mouse. As our leader described, we get so caught up in the apex predators that sometimes the little critters get overlooked, and they are as vibrant and interesting and necessary as anyone. I love the sentiment, and I agree 100%.
Which didn't make it any less cool though when we ended up backtracking a mountain lion with three kittens with her. They were at most only a couple hours gone when we cut their trail. We were on snowshoes and I wish I was still out there. ❤️
I love winter.
Very cool anecdotes. That sounds like a really great class. I would love to take a tracking class. I do appreciate seeing the regular tracks of the animals that I am familiar with and getting to know them in a more familiar way by seeing where they go every day. There was one squirrel on our morning walk that I used to watch and it was fun to see what maddens they would go in and what would come out of them in the refuse pile (lots of spruce cone parts but sometimes moss or mushrooms). And of course it is fun to see an apex predator track too. I love finding wolverine tracks up in the high peaks because they are so secretive that it is hard to find the actual animal but I love knowing that they passed through.
Thanks Berta. Agreed about the freezing fingers. I do love to work on my winter memory also of paying attention and then remembering details that I want to sketch when I get back inside.