Tracking Workshop at Oxbow

We went back to Oxbow Regional Park for more animal tracking, this time taught by Metro volunteer Terry Kem. This was much more in-depth than the Dirt Time workshop we attended in April, and began with a short lecture. Mr. Kem shared many amazing track prints he's collected, and explained an excellent method for identifying mammal prints.  The first step is to take a careful look at the prints, and count how many toes are visible on both front and back prints, and whether any claw impressions are visible.  Here is a  quick breakdown:  

Front toes-  Hind toes- Claws visible? = Group

4                       4               yes                   dogs, coyotes, foxes

4                       4               no                    cats, mountain lions, cougars, lynx

4                       4               some                rabbits (Mr. Kem notes that rabbits have five hind toes but                                                  normally only four will register.)

4                       5               some                rodents

5                       5               yes                   o'possum, raccoon, bear

2                       2                no                   deer, elk

Mr. Kem advised that aside from making casts, it's great to photograph prints and have a small ruler along to place next to the prints in the photograph.  He said that it's best not to rush to make a judgment about what prints you are looking at, but to keep an open mind and keep looking at clues.  He's taken hundreds of photos of tracks, and finds that when he looks back at early photos, he believes he would make new identifications of many of them with his increased experience. He explained that good tracking skills require an understanding of how animals move, and how that can change if they are in a hurry, running to catch prey or running for their life. Mr. Kem highly recommended Wildlife of the Pacific Northwest: Tracking and Identifying Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, Amphibians, and Invertebrates  by David Moskowitz, particularly for its excellent drawings of prints.  The fact that it includes only animals in our area makes it really nice, because you don't have to spend a lot of time cross-referencing tracks with range maps.

Right there in the parking lot was a tree with many impressive holes from a pileated woodpecker. When we went out onto the sandy floodplane, we really found some marvels.  Jasper spotted some prints next to a stream.  Some were bird prints, and others were from a mole.  Mr. Kem was very pleased to find the mole prints, which he says are often difficult to find.

Pileated woodpecker holes.

Bird tracks.

Mole tracks.

Next we found tracks from a mountain lion!  They were really impressive.  The front tracks were 3 1/2" wide, and the animal had a 59" stride, so it was a pretty big cat!  Mr. Kem saw signs that it was dragging something, and thought he might spend some time afterwards looking to see if he could find the carcass. He noted that mountain lions to not live year round in Oxbow, but will travel through as deer and elk migrate in the spring.  He explained that it is not always easy, but the gender of the animal can sometimes be told just by looking at its tracks.  One of the volunteers who accompanied us, said that she had seen tracks of a mother deer and her fawn, then found a mountain lion's tracks following them.  She saw where the deer tracks broke into a run and came to the edge of the river, and saw the mountain lion tracks leading away.  So apparently they got away! Tracks can often tell dramatic stories!

Mountain lion print.

A row of mountain lion prints.

Another mountain lion print.

We went down to the Sandy River, where we found the remains of many crawfish.  A raccoon must have had a grand meal there.  We also found deer and coyote scat.  It's amazing how many clues there are all around us of the presence of animals, if we only take the time to read them.

Raccoon trash.

Deer scat.

Coyote scat.