The Foraging Techniques of Downy Woodpeckers
10 hours ago
We (formerly Nashaway Trackers) are a group of loosely connected nature lovers who enjoy sharing our observations and discoveries about the fauna and flora of the northeastern US. Most of us are especially interested in mammal tracks and sign, but we also post about birds, insects, plants, etc.
Nice tracks...although of course I have to question if that otter is really a fisher.
ReplyDeleteMink seem to use the 3-4 gait more often than the smaller weasels do, which seem to prefer the 2-2 bound (that is, in my not so vast experience). And it often seems to have a boxy, discrete grouping, just like we see with otters.
That boxy 3-4 pattern might be less efficient in snow than a direct registering 2-2, and slower than the fisher's more spread out, aerodynamic 3-4. I wonder if this means that, in evolving to a more aquatic lifestyle, mink and otter have lost some efficiency for moving on land, as compared to their more terrestrial cousins. Just rambling....
No doubt this was otter; as I only included the best print pics & left out 3 belly slides, due to upload limits...
ReplyDeleteHere's a shot--
http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/1091/february2010039.jpg
Nice to see an otter moving so deliberately. You are right, must be a wise old dude (or getting old like me.) I have followed fisher tracks that end in a sort of slide into the snow, but usually there are two fishers about and I figure the sliding has to do with mating or male posturing
ReplyDelete