I decided to greet the day by maximizing my last opportunity to snowshoe in snow the texture of sorbet, before the rain washes it all away. There’s lots of wildlife activity in the woods behind my current home. The most interesting tracks were the elusive red fox, who mostly walked in the existing snowshoe tracks. [...]

Finally, a moment to catalog my various scat photos. Some seem obvious, but I’m still trying to figure out others. I’m going to upload the best of them and spend some time with my field guides before I commit myself. Any comments are welcome. My blue notebook is 5.5 inches (14 cm) long and 3.5 [...]

The official snowfall measurement for the blizzard that raged through this part of the Hudson Valley was 25 inches. That does not count the amazing snow drifts caused by the gale force winds. Since none of the hiker parking lots were cleared, I took my cross country skis to the Heritage Trail, the only trail [...]

Images from the trail reveal the first autumn maple leaf, a black racer and mystery scat.

Animal behavior can be deciphered from their droppings as well as their footprints.

Shallow snow reveals details of tracks. Repeat visits provide opportunities to study track aging.

Understanding how the earth moves is another aid to reading tracks.

Thinking out loud preparing for an engaging presentation on winter wildlife tracking.

Snow reveals more tracks of active winter wildlife.

Photographs of animal tracks on a hiking trail covered in packed powder snow.