What’s going on out on the land?
Deeper Questions of Common Sign : Tracking at Kinghurst
This past Saturday was another outing with the Earth Tracks Wildlife Tracking Apprenticeship. We went out to the Kinghurst forest in Grey County, Ontario to see what we could find together. It was a small group of six of us, but that made it a little bit sweeter as we could really dig in to all of the things we were seeing.
Towards A Better Understanding of Scat
Ok, so the title might be a bit provocative, but it is the best I have come up with the truly explain what I am getting at. Recently, while the tracking apprenticeship was staying at the Wildlife Research Station in Algonquin Park, we encountered some scat from a few different mammals. The questions kept coming as to the contents, the diets, and the bodies which formed and shaped the scat. I want to explore some mammalian scat a little bit more with this blog post and try and understand what clues the poop might hold to the different physiologies of a few of the species whose scat we encountered.
Some scat from Point Grondine
During one of our daily drifts down the Mahzenazing River where we would occasionally have to paddle a little to be sure we didn’t hit an island and wreck out friends canoe, we decided we should stop on one of the islands so we could have lunch and investigate some of the plants a little better. While out of the canoe getting a better look at some Harebell flowers I noticed some scat atop a bed of Star-tipped Reindeer Lichen and White Pine needles
An old s****y mystery
A few years ago I was walking with a friend of mine along the trail towards the forest where I work. Along the way I happened to spot some scat in the middle of the trail. It was tapered and long, fairly fat, and had some seeds in it. The scat appeared to have come from a Coyote but I was at a loss as for what kind of plant the seeds had come from. I looked up a couple of books I have which have a few photographs of seeds but never found an image of a seed which looked right. The mystery haunted me.
Mystery scat
Earlier this year, my partner and I were paddling along the Mahzenazing River, heading back in the direction of the park entrance. We had just spent our last night at Point Grondine where we'd seen two Black Bears, three big ass Beavers, and had a late night encounter with either a Bobcat or Lynx - it was too dark to tell.
We were paddling back when my partner had to pull the canoe over so she could pee. While I waited in the canoe I noticed there was some scat on a rock nearby. This is where the mystery began…
Boyne Valley Tracking Journal, 11.12.2021
Once the two of our crew had returned from bringing a car to the next road over, we began our journey through the Boyne Valley, North of Orangeville. I had been there before. The last time was 2019 with my second year of the apprenticeship. It was a great place for trailing White Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and was the first place I had ever seen Northern River Otter (Lontra canadensis) tracks. I was stoked to be back.
Towards a better understanding of Turkey scat
Towards understanding Turkey scat. Looking at physiological differences in males and females which influcence the shape and structure of their scat. Why wonder about scat? Well… TRACKING!