Tracking Challenge #1: Distinct and unique

​Author: Teri Lysak, Tracking Leader with the Wolverine Tracking Project

TRACKING CHALLENGE 1
​Send us your photos of:
- clear, distinct tracks, and/or
- the most unusual tracks!
Challenge Ends: February 15
Send photos to: [email protected]
Or, tag us on social media! #CaWTracks
Send us all your tracking questions and stories, too!

We finally have the possibility of some snow in the foothills this weekend and next week!
I am excited for the snow! Some of you may be looking at me askance, but when there is snow, suddenly I can see the tracks of all the animals that live here. What a wealth of information!

The last time it snowed in Portland, I learned a lot of things about my neighborhood. The first tracks I saw when I walked out the front door were these:

Cat. We don't have a cat, but there were the tracks, walking right down our driveway, through the yard, and on. I followed them down the sidewalk, into the neighbor’s yard, out of their yard, and down the road some more. I don’t know where it came from or how far it traveled the night before, but it seemed familiar with the area, walking at a steady, even pace as if making its usual nightly rounds.

Next I wandered to the backyard. A bit of snow had blown into the covered patio on the far side of the yard, and there I saw these tracks:

Ugh, rat. Not what I wanted to see! The tracks ran across the patio and along the fence, but I was happy to see they didn’t come near the house. Maybe I should be grateful to that cat!

I circled the house and came to the bird feeder. The tracks were thick here!  

Small birds were hopping all over around the feeder. I’m guessing they were juncos, because whenever my housemate fills the feeder, the goldfinches and house finches fly to the feeder itself while the juncos hang out on the ground underneath and pick up all the seed that has fallen.

These tracks - and the lack of other kinds of tracks - bring very good news: the rats are not coming to the feeder! That makes me feel much more comfortable. Before I moved here, the neighbors behind us had chickens, and now I speculate that it was the chickens that brought the rats in, and even after several years, it appears they may still be mostly using the neighbor's yard, not mine. That definitely makes me feel more comfortable!

On such a beautiful day, I had to take a wander through the neighborhood to see what I could see. The trail of cat tracks continued, at the same steady pace, in and out of many yards. There were some dog tracks as well, but here the difference between these two animals clearly showed itself. The dog tracks either showed a lot of excited play and were confined to one yard (and sometimes the street adjacent to it, which I’m sure the owners did not approve of), or they were right next to people tracks, presumably from an animal on a leash.  Yep, cats are definitely more independent.

​In a short while I came to our local park by the Mt. Scott Community Center, a small park just a couple blocks in size.  Here, there were lots of these tracks:

Squirrels. Hopping all over, going from tree to tree and all around the place. I’ve seen the squirrels themselves there many times, so this came as no surprise, but today I was struck by how many tracks there were in the park, while there were none in my yard or along the street.  My neighborhood doesn’t have a whole lot of trees. The park itself is mostly mowed grass, but it does have a great overstory of tall Douglas firs.  I’ve read a lot of literature about how we should plant native plants for wildlife - here’s proof that block by block, the types of plants growing in an area can have a strong influence on the animals that are able to use it. 

What if we don't get the forecasted snow?

When there is no snow, tracks are much harder to find. The places I look then are muddy areas and sandy areas.  Sandy beaches can be found along the major rivers, some of the best places are Oxbow 
Regional Park, Kelley Point Park, Sauvie Island, and Oaks Bottom.
​Mud, on the other hand, can be found anywhere. But best spots for finding tracks are around small ponds just as the water is receding. 

Here are some muskrat tracks from Sunny Pond / Tanner Creek Greenway :

And a squirrel at Camassia Natural Area:

Sometimes the mud just needs to be transferred to a place where it can be seen. Here, my friend learned how the raccoons were getting into his yard:

To track closer to my house, I’ve also laid out a sheet of plastic wall paneling or sheet metal covered with a thin layer of charcoal dust in my yard to detect tracks. This tracking station revealed yet more cat tracks:

Often, tracks don’t show up very clearly. Actually, this is usually the case!

Below is a nutria track from Stella Olsen Memorial Park. It’s unmistakable to an experienced tracker, but it does take a fair amount of skill to be able to correctly interpret. 

Here’s a beaver track from Oxbow Park, for comparison:

At a larger park like Oxbow, larger animals are able to live as well, including this cougar: 

It’s pretty amazing all the animal activity that takes place in the city!
At the risk of sounding cheesy, I’m also going to say that tracking is a great COVID activity because it can be done near your house by yourself, and it can also be something to motivate you to get outside.  

So, we want to give you a challenge for the next couple weeks – go out and try to find tracks! Any tracks. Even if you don’t know who or what made them. Send them to us with any questions you have, and at the end of three weeks, we will give special kudos to the person who found the most unusual tracks and the person who found the clearest tracks. We hope this will inspire you to get out, and provide an opportunity where we can all learn from each other, while still staying safe and healthy.  Happy hunting!