While walking yesterday, I came across this kill site on the wooded edge of an apple orchard. I have consistently seen fisher and fox tracks here, but yesterday I could see no clear tracks. What do others think about this? The bloody snow has little bits of white matter. tTe fur has blunt edges where the predator cut it with its teeth (I took some of the fur, if anyone would like that for further identification). The scat up against the rock has a white discharge, along with that green color. So, I'm looking for ideas! And no, I don't know the answers.
David Brown says bobcats really like to hunt in "hillside boulder fields" like your first photo. And the evidence of shearing could also indicate bobcat. The orchard is certainly within Bolton Bob's proven range. So that's my guess. Since little remains of the kill on site, there was obviously a lapse of time during which various scavengers likely paid visits. The scat looks like it came from a bird, but isn't the squirt that usually identifies that of a hawk. Owl, crow? It's hard to find photos of this stuff. I guess we trackers are among the few who have an interest.
ReplyDeleteWas the orchard in fact in Bolton? Were there any scents lurking in the area that might provide a clue?
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering what species the victim was. I'd like to see the fur, if you are in the Bolton area. Too long for squirrel, and probably for rabbit, too, unless this took place where there are snowshoe hares, whose fur might be longer than that of cottontails (although I don't know since I've never seen snowshoe hare fur up close)
ReplyDeleteI wish someone would write a field guide to animal hair.
The whitish yellow debris speckling the bloody area could be stomach contents of an herbivore which had eaten a lot of woody browse as is typical this time of year.
The orchard's location was just an assumption because I mistakely thought Janet had posted this one. Could the fur be that of a raccoon? I recently found a kill site near the golf course which had longish hair which I took to be raccoon.
ReplyDeleteField guide to animal hair? That sounds like a master's project!
ReplyDeleteVivian, you are brilliant.
ReplyDeleteWhat fun! What stands out to me is how long the fur is. Raccoon? I happened to be over in that same area on Saturday. Bowers Brook and extensive beaver wetlands (criss-crossed with tracks) lie at the bottom of two sides the hill/orchard. Nice place for wildlife - old orchard is unfenced - several instances of apple-eating coyote scats (me thought) in the trail. Deer, coyote and fox tracks. A red-tailed hawk rose up from ground in woods at no. edge of orchard, but couldn't find what it was attending to. Since Sue saw bobcat paws here before, and they do bite off fur like that, maybe cat did the deed, left a green biley scat and others cleaned up, maybe with a hawk leaving the white smear...
ReplyDeleteMy husband ties fishing flies and think this is grey fox fur. Hum, did the fisher get the fox?
ReplyDelete