What Happened?

That creep! Bike man and I were mad when we woke up this morning. Apparently, we had a visitor last night while we slept. Never heard a sound!

Can you believe this? Three bird feeders on metal posts just flattened. One of the metal post actually broke....the metal split, so Bike man will have to cut the post. We are 99% sure this visitor was a bear. The only tracks we found were near the charcoal grill and it only showed the bears claws, not the actual bear paw. This must be a bear that just awoke from hibernation and is underweight, but very hungry.

Besides the damaged bird feeders, the front shelf on the charcoal grill split and broke when it fell over. Not sure why the bear went for the charcoal grill when I actually cooked on our gas grill last night. Thank heavens the bear did not come up on our deck where we keep our gas grill.

And I was wondering why the kitty cats were not sleeping with us last night! Too much excitement happening outside....the cats didn't want to miss out on the bear show!

More Tracks

I love animal tracks. On Saturday I was telling the Chinese students (remember the smiley girls?) that I enjoyed looking for animal tracks in the snow and I really like identifying the animals by their tracks. The girls wanted to know what kind of animals have I identified. "Well I said, I know we have fox, wolves, coyotes etc. walking around the lake." All of a sudden one of the girls looked all scared. "Are they walking around now?" "Ohhhh, no, no I said." The girls started giggling......it was a nervous giggle. I'm not sure they were totally convinced. They were such sweet girls and really fun to talk to.

So the animal track beside my lip balm, 99% sure it's a gray fox. With a red fox, you usually see the nail prints in the snow and the gray fox you will not.

Found these crow or raven foot prints in the snow as well. Can't wait to find more fresh tracks in the snow. Should receive 2 inches of snow tonight!

She Eats What?

I realize that cats love to chew on house plants.

But fresh oregano? Really? Every day Abby munches a little here and a little there. Maybe she's our healthy conscious kitty cat!

So did you guess my animal paw prints from last night? If you guessed river otter, you guess correct. We have a lot of otter's that live near us because we live in a bay area with two islands close by. It's not unusual to see otter's swimming along the lake bank during the summer. Several years ago I even spotted an otter that popped up and emerged from the lake ice to sit near a downed tree. It's not every day that you see a creature emerge from underneath thick lake ice.

Play Time

This particular animal loves to slide along the snow and lake ice. It's hard to say if this animal is playing or just trying to move in distance.

These animal tracks are smaller with actually five toes, but the inner toe doesn't always show up in the snow. This animal loves rivers and streambeds, while finding it's nesting area in bank burrows and log jams. Do you know what it is?

So yesterday's paw prints? I'm convinced it's a Pine Marten with it's five toes and heal (hind pad) that shows up in the snow. Just so you know, Marten's are larger than Weasels. Years ago we thought we spotted a Marten near our dock during the summer and called the DNR to report it because Marten's don't usually live south of Lake Superior in northern Wisconsin. It just goes to shows that observing animal tracks in the snow can reveal those mystery animals that live and play in your backyard.

Ready For More?

Ok, how about this lovely scat! This freshly green poop reminds me of frozen spinach. Now what in the world would this animal be eating at this time of the year that's green? The only green vegetation I can imagine is the horsetail that grows along the lake bank, but at this time of the year the horsetail is knocked down, but not fully broken down. I'm scratching my head on this scat. Any suggestions? Oh wait a minute, we do have a winter compost pile outside near the woods. Could it be the animal ate lunch at my local compost diner?

Now this is one of the distinct animal tracks I found next to the spinach-type scat. I need to research this one a little more before I give you an answer tomorrow night. Look at that paw print....it's huge.

So yesterday's scat and animal tracks? I've determined that we may have a Bobcat living close by based on the type of scat. The other thing that helped me come to that conclusion was the scratch marks that the Son and I found on a wooden post that happens to be just up the hill from this photo. We found the scratch marks last fall and I remember asking my son what would make these long scratch marks in the wood post. Well now I think I know, but I want Bike man to put up his game camera that will capture night photos of this nocturnal animal. Isn't that exciting?

Awwww, we need more snow. Did I just say that???

Poop & Paws Prints

Now that's some poop, but not dog poop! Well, actually the correct word is scat!

One of the things I love to do during the winter months is monitor animal tracks in the snow. So several days ago Bike man and I spotted an area along the lake bank that had three different tracks......and scat. Oh, how exciting!!!

Of course I had to run back to the dock to get my camera. I love animal tracks. Animal tracks are like the secret nightly visitor that never reveals itself .

So who do you think these paw prints and scat belong to? More animal tracks & scat tomorrow!