What Made Those?
On January 25th I was walking along the greenbelt path in our neighborhood, burning calories like a fiend, while observing nature with a keen eye. As I walked along the path I was seeing lots of muddy paw prints on the concrete. A cardinal was singing and a crow called in the distance. Just as I was about to congratulate myself on my expansive bird-song knowledge, this “conversation” happened.
“Those were different,” my Brain said.
“Huh?” I replied.
“Different! Those were different!”
“What?” I said, not slowing my pace.
“Stop and go back and look at those tracks!” my Brain replied with unnecessary urgency.
The Track that Caught My ahem… Eye
I backtracked along the path until I found the track, a mud print on the cement actually.
So, take a moment to think about what your first impression might be. Who made this print? What kind of animal might it be? Canine? Feline? Raccoon? Possum? Anything else?
I looked around for some more prints and found a trail of them on the sidewalk:
I paced off the length of the trail at an estimated 48 feet. The mud on the animal’s feet finally wore off and the last print was barely visible.
I went back to the beginning of the trail and carefully searched some more. People walking on sidewalk quickly averted their eyes when I looked up at them as they passed by. I’m sure they were wondering what this old guy was doing stalking up and down the sidewalk on his hands and knees looking at that dirt.
I kept my secret to myself and kept searching. In a thick patch of mud on the sidewalk, I found more tracks!
At this point, because of the size of the track there were really only two options: large dog or large cat. Of course, a large cat was way more unlikely, even though I did not see any claw marks in the print above. Hmmmm….
I went to The Google for help to see if a large cat was even possible in this area. It seemed unlikely.
This came up on the Austin American-Statesman YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPrPMIeTFy0
This big cat was seen in January 2019 about 11 miles from where I found my tracks.
However, I also saw a Great Dane along this greenbelt that the owner said weighed 180 pounds.
I needed data!
As I rushed home to retrieve a tape measure, rulers, field guides, and my Enthusiastic Assistant, I could not decide which animal the tracks belong to. Dog was more likely, but even I could walk 11 miles, so a Mountain Lion wasn’t completely crazy, right?
When I announced to the Enthusiastic Assistant that WE were going back to measure some tracks, she tried to hide her exuberance behind a gaping yawn. “That’s nice, dear.” When she realized that I failed to fall for her façade, she took another tack. “Really, you want me to go?”
We went back to the site to measure tracks. We measured and stalked the tracks like field experts, really cool field experts, who measure tracks in their neighborhood greenbelt with tape measures and stuff for real while neighbors walk by with strange looks on their faces.
These are the two tracks I found in the dirt area on the concrete sidewalk. They are about 9˝ apart.
The first individual track I measured was 3˝ wide. AHA!
The second track in the dirt patch was 3˝ wide and almost 3.5˝ long.
So far, my imagination has the animal standing in the muddy patch with its two front feet. Then it twists to its right and starts down the sidewalk, gaining speed, as I’ll discuss in a moment.
But first, a couple of pictures of the foot prints and measurements on the sidewalk.
Here is an indication of the distance between the right front paw making a mark and then where is lands after a step. That’s about 41-42˝ in stride. Now, take a moment to make a 42˝ step with your right foot. Hmmmmm.
Here is a picture of a right paw and a left paw with about 17˝ between them.
The trail of tracks went for 45 feet. There were 12 pairs of front tracks on the sidewalk after the animal left the mud patch.
I said earlier that the animal increased its speed as it went down the sidewalk. Here’s why I am supposing that. I measured the distance between the 3rd and 4th right paw print at 41.75˝, the distance between the 7th and 8th right paw print at 48˝ and the 9th and 10th right paw print at 51˝.
Again, as an experiment, make a step of 51˝ with your right foot.
It looked to me like the animal stopped at the edge of the sidewalk, the right foot slightly in front of the left, both feet in a muddy spot on the sidewalk from the recent construction. I assumed it was looking straight ahead off the sidewalk, until something made it turn and proceed down the sidewalk. It appeared to be increasing its speed with each set of tracks because the distance between each right paw print increased with each stride. The animal was continuing down the sidewalk but the prints were no longer visible to determine how much farther than 45 feet it went. Based on the size of the strides (36˝ – 51˝), I doubt it was escaping predation. Something (human activity?) may have spooked it so it was leaving the area. Or, it could have been pursuing something. Or it could have been attached to a leash. No way to know for sure.
I walked up and down the track line trying to visualize what had taken place. First, I imagined I was a cat, and then found running deer tracks where the prints led. Then, I imagined I was a dog, and saw myself catching up to my jogging owner. Hmmm.
“Are we done yet?” said the Enthusiastic Assistant.
Back at home, I did more research before sending my photos to a tracking expert in Idaho.
She replied the same day, saying all the tracks were obviously dog tracks and I now have a presentation with 67 slides on how to tell the difference.
I found another set of prints in the mud the next day about half mile south of where I found the first set. I measured these as well and they were the same size.
Several weeks later I did an experiment.
“I think I found some cats tracks and want to measure them,” I told the Enthusiastic Assistant.
“No. I will smack the…..” she replied.
Bird Migration
With a lot of businesses closed this spring, more people were out birding more often than in years past, so lots of new birds were seen and the sightings posted. I saw 19 species for the first time in my home county. Here are some of the highlights.
I almost missed this guy. I heard an unfamiliar song in a juniper tree and spent some time looking for the bird, but never found it. Because I was at the location specifically looking for a different bird I did not spend any extra time looking.
After failing to see the other bird, which I now don’t even remember which species it was, I headed back to my vehicle and heard this guy again. This time I spent the time necessary to find it.
When I found him, he was about 3,000 miles from his wintering grounds and still about 2,500 miles from his breeding grounds. In the fall, he will make that 5,500 mile flight back to South America.
I was looking for a Brown Pelican when I saw something flying over the lake. A quick peek with the binoculars told me it was “different” and probably rare in my county since it looked like it belonged on the beach. I took its photo and immediately texted a back-of-the-camera photo to Birding Expert A.
He replied, “Nice. I’ve only seen one in the county and there are only two records with no pics from our county.”
“Woo Hoo,” I thought. Followed by, “What the heck is it?” But I could not text that to Birding Expert A.
I thought I could text it to Birding Expert B, though, and ask him. He already knows I’m an idiot. But instead of asking “What is this?” for some reason I asked “Is this a Long-billed Curlew?”
Birding Expert B replied, “Nice. Where did you see it?”
Hmmmm. Not exactly a confirmation it was a Long-billed Curlew, but also not a correction. I went with it.
Later that afternoon when I filled out my eBird list I called it a Long-billed Curlew.
That evening I received a text from Birding Expert A asking about the Curlew. He said he saw my pic of a Whimbrel, but did I have one of the curlew.
I immediately began muttering mutters under my breath at Birding Expert B. When I replied to Birding Expert A that I..um..was…not..sure what it was ’cause I don’t go to the coast much, he politely replied for me to send him the raw photo and he would look at it. He determined it was indeed a Whimbrel, which had not even crossed my mind.
I registered my complaint with Birding Expert B, and he replied that the back-of-the-camera photo was fuzzy and he assumed I had seen the correct coloration not clear on the photo and the striping somewhere or not like it was supposed to be and the pale wash of pinkish something along that spot where it belongs or not.
So, I meekly changed my eBird list to Whimbrel. Birding Expert A politely took the blame for being a poor teacher when I took his shorebird class 20 years ago. Of course, I had taken no such class, but did not feel a need to address that point.
I think I was forgiven a few weeks later when I found the Blackpoll Warbler and alerted Birding Expert A who came and got it for the first time in the county.
And, all was forgiven on my part with Birding Expert B when he showed me three new life birds later this spring. Birding is just funny that way sometimes.
State Park Hiking…finally…Lessons and Observations
In late April, the state parks re-opened and we were able to get several hikes in after migration had slowed down. As usual, we were seeking lots of wildflowers, animal encounters, and miles along the trail. The shortened season did not disappoint.
Wildflowers
At Enchanted Rock SNA we found four of the Big Five: Purple Leatherflower, Mexican Mallow, Basin Bluebell, and Pearlvine Milkweed; we missed the Horned Bladderwort. Conditions must have been too dry earlier in the spring and none of the flowers or plants were visible in the normal location, which is often the case.
We found a total of 70 species of wildflowers at Enchanted Rock, which isn’t too bad.
At Hill Country SNA we found 84 species, only two shy of last year’s record.
We made a couple of trips to South Llano River SP. Wildflowers are not as numerous here, but we did find Purple Ground-Cherries and, for the first time at this park, Pearlvine Milkweed and Purple Leatherflower.
Animal Encounters
For some reason I forgot to take pictures of these two encounters.
We left before dawn to get to South Llano River SP early in the morning to try to miss most of the heat. We were walking along a shaded creek bed. The only sounds were the crunch of gravel beneath our feet and birdsong overhead, when suddenly a loud alarm bellow from a feral hog rang out. I could not see the hog because of a large juniper tree. I listened for sounds of a charging sow that never came. I peeked around the juniper and saw two little fat piglet bottoms racing up the hill away from us. Mama hog stood sideways guarding the retreat, listening for sounds of a charging human that never came. The Bride and I were fortunate we were not incinerated upon reentry into the earth’s atmosphere and continued our hike unharmed.
At Colorado Bend SP, we were walking along one of the upland trails that winds its way through some sparse live oaks along a grassy meadow. We stopped in the trail for a brief moment when motion caught my eye. About 15 yards away, a black and white fuzzy looking thing arose out the grass about a foot or more. A skunk’s tail! Thankfully he was moving away from us and only gave the warning instead of exercising the nuclear option.
At Hill Country SNA we found bobcat tracks along a sandy stretch of the trail.
The Bride may be sneakier than I suspected. During the same hike at Colorado Bend SP, she had been leading our hike over the previous mile when she stopped and asked me to take the lead as we entered an area of scattered junipers along the trail. A few moments later this appeared before me at nose level six inches away.
It was only by using my cat-like reaction skills that I was able to avoid a face full of a Giant Lichen Orb Weaver spider by employing an evasive maneuver I call The Heebie Jeebie. Somehow, we all survived, which defies scientific explanation.
Baby Critters
I found this guy one morning about ten feet off the concrete path along the greenbelt. He remained motionless. I did not linger, and I saw a few folks walk past him without seeming to notice him. I had walked past him before subconscious told me something was there I’d missed.
We found this 1.5 inch little dragon in a flower pot in the front yard. He must have been very sleepy because he went to sleep while we were taking his photo.
It took us a week and a half or so to re-find him. In that time he had developed a full blown Anole attitude.
Dispatch Correspondent #1 – Report from the Field to the South
Here are some photographs of wildflowers and other stuff DC#1 found this spring.
DC #1 had his own spider encounter.
“It charged us on a narrow trail, and the Dobie counterattacked but was driven back. I dove to one side and managed a half twist, so that I could snap a picture just before I rolled into the woods. You can tell that’s how it happened because the picture is a little fuzzy.”
Although his maneuver was a bit different than The Heebie Jeebie, he too has a good reaction skills game.
Dispatch Correspondent #2 – Reports from the Fields to the North
Exciting news! We have a new Dispatch Correspondent. She has had some interesting visitors to her backyard so far this year.
This guy came by for about a week and helped aerate their garden until he moved on to help someone else.
I have never seen one of these pigeons before.
She also had a nice encounter with the local Grey Fox.
“A few nights ago we were walking just after dusk with our newly adopted greyhound, Charlie, when I noticed a fox dart across the street. Now this must’ve been a teenager fox because it had no idea that dogs and people are not something you dart towards, but always away from. It stayed in the yard and stared at us while we walked by and even let us take a video. I tried to explain to the fox that our dog was specifically bred to chase down foxes, rabbits, etc. and it best move on its way, but still it sat and watched us. We continued our walk and the fox stayed in the yard.
Now that it’s 100+ degrees out, we’ve even had to stop our night walks. As a replacement we toss a squeaky light-up ball around for Charlie in the backyard after dark. We were squeaking the ball when I saw a fox in our next door neighbor’s yard, and to my surprise it was running towards our yard. The fox hit the brakes pretty fast when it saw us, turned, and darted away. My theory was the fox was attracted by the squeaky toy. This theory was confirmed about three minutes later when we were still playing and the fox came around to the back fence. This time Charlie saw it and chased the fox away from the fence. The fox ran about two houses down and barked a couple of times. Eventually we all lost interest in each other and went back inside, not before making sure the chickens were safe in their high security compound. I hope to see more of this fox, safely on the other side of our fence and away from our chickens of course.”
And DC#2 has been doing an experiment that was briefly mentioned in Dispatch No. 1.
“In a previous dispatch you mentioned a man who stopped mowing his grass and all the different flowers and grasses that came up. We mow infrequently and with this warmer weather we had tiny purple flowers pop up in half of the yard. I noticed bees were feeding on the flowers when it was warm enough for them to leave the hive. Eventually it was time to mow, but I didn’t want to take away the bees’ food supply. I couldn’t commit to the entire yard, but we now have a nice sized patch that’s wild and free. It’s been agreed this patch will be left untouched moving forward. Can’t wait to see what else sprouts!”
It will be nice to hear how what this patch provides in the future. Maybe I can convince The Bride that our entire backyard should be like this.
In Memory Of…
In late 2019 and early 2020, a couple of friends lost their good dogs and faithful outdoor companions. If you have experienced this in your life, you know what a no-good, very-bad time this is.
I don’t remember where I read it, but the author said, “Our dogs give us some of the best days of our lives and one of our worst.”
I heard good stories over the years about these two and just wanted to share a picture or two.
Finally – A New App
I found a new app that has been very helpful this year.
The app is Seek by iNaturalist. It uses your camera to help identify animals, plants, and fungi.
We used it on wildflowers, butterflies, spiders, and birds. Sometimes the app will identify to the species level, but if that isn’t possible it will identify to the genera or order.
One evening I tried an experiment. I used a photo of the tracks I found on the greenbelt and discussed earlier in this Dispatch.
Could the Seek App identify tracks? I gave it a try and received this reply.
I’m just saying.