Curious About…tracking rabbits and squirrels?

The Wenatchee Valley has been blanketed in snow this week, creating fresh opportunities for tracking wildlife in our neighborhoods. The edges of town are home to many small mammals, including Nuttall’s cottontail rabbits. Where trees dominate, we have both native and non-native squirrels. On your next walk, keep an eye on the non-human footprints in the snow that likely crisscross your route. You can read my earlier post about tracking dogs and cats to expand your tracking repertoire.

The practice of tracking animals has long been a part of human culture, but it was the field journaling work of acclaimed biologist, Olaus J. Murie, who created the first modern field guide to Animal Tracks.

In the introduction, Olaus invites the reader to become familiar with mammals. “They are furtive, usually silent, and very often go about at night. You don’t find them readily with field glasses, and you don’t total up a long list on a “mammal walk.” Nevertheless, their very aloofness is a challenge and your sleuthing instinct is aroused. Once alerted to this fascinating game, you can never again pass a muddy margin of a stream without instinctively looking to see what has passed by there. You will speculate about every trail in the snow, big or small.” (page 1-2, see reference pictured above). I have well-worn copies of the three tracking guides shown in this blog.

Let’s get started with identifying the tracks! Purchasing one of the excellent field guides shown will provide critical guidance and tips. Or, print this handy guide to fold and keep in your pocket. Tracking books include precise measurements. Carry a small ruler so you can measure the length and width of a print and the distance between sets of prints. Take lots of photos so you can do research at home.

Here are steps to use as launch your sleuthing adventure in your urban neighborhood.

1. Consider where you are, and what type of habitat you are in. This helps to narrow down which species might have made the tracks you see.
2. Explore the area and follow the tracks. The pattern of movement will tell you a story about the animal’s behavior.
3. You will find a lot of variation so try to look at quite a few prints before you select one or two to study closely.
4. Count the number of toes, check for toenail marks, and look at the shape of each element. Look at the perimeter outline shape of the large lower palm pad (also called heel pad).
5. Take a close-up photograph of several tracks, and be sure to add an item that will help determine scale, such as a glove, pocket knife, or ski pole. This will help you continue your study back at home.
6. Try to see if you can distinguish between front and rear paws.
7. Measure straddle- the side-to-side total width of the tracks- as this will tell you how far apart the shoulders are. Measure from the outer edges of both left and right prints.
8. You can roughly estimate the body size by encircling the set of 4 prints (but this doesn’t work if the animal moves by bounding).

Tree Squirrels

When you are out in an east-side Cascade forest, you will likely see and hear a native tree squirrel. They do not hibernate and are active in the daytime, often making chattering or alarm calls, announcing your arrival and telling predators to bug off!

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Douglas and Red squirrels are two native species that are closely related, similar in size, and can hybridize where their ranges overlap. Douglas Squirrels are found in Chelan County and Red Squirrels farther north in Okanogan County, across Canada, and eastward to the Rocky Mountains. Both are about 10-14 inches long, including the tail. For tracking, both species have the same prints.

A Caveat: If you live in a town or city, it is likely you often see the Eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis). This species was introduced in Washington in the early 1900s and are now the most common tree squirrels in urban areas. The upper parts of the Eastern gray squirrel are gray with a reddish wash in summer; its underparts are whitish. It’s about 20 inches long, half of which is its prominent, bushy tail. This is almost twice the size of Douglas or Red squirrels, with much bushier tales. By watching these urban-adapted squirrels, you can learn a lot about how our western U.S> native tree squirrels behavior.

Tree squirrels have sharp claws on both front and hind feet. The toes are long and thin. Can you see the bulbous pads on the right side of the photo below? A front foot has 4 toes, and the hind foot has 5 toes.

When squirrels “run” they use a bounding pattern, allowing them to cover a lot of ground very quickly, and lowering their chance of becoming food for a predator. In the snow, this creates a characteristic pattern seen below. There is often a “drag” mark, in and out of the track. Image this squirrel bounding along, and it’s hind feet land slightly in front of where the front feet landed.

Tree squirrels have a small home range, and you will find many tracks going back and forth between small groups of trees. From a high conifer branch, they chew off a cone, allowing it to drop to the ground, where the squirrel later carries it to an underground cache. Or a hungry squirrel will take a snack break on the spot, leaving a telltale scattering of partially eaten cones.

Sometimes, one foot will be slightly more forward than it’s partner, and generally, the hind feet will appear in front.

Nuttall’s Cottontail Rabbit

Eastern Washington has one native cottontail that lives throughout the shrub-steppe ecosystem. Their range does not over lap with forest dwelling snowshoe hare. If you walk in the foothills or along a local river, keep an eye out for their distinctive tracks.

Nuttall’s cottontail are 14-inches long (similar to tree squirrels in size). They are active mornings and evenings, and are rarely far from safe cover. They are solitary, and have a small range, so once you find tracks, you can expect to see more in the future. In the photo below, compare the human footprints on the left to the cottontail prints on the right.

Cotttontail feet are completely furred, so it may be hard to see much detail in a print. The claws usually show. The front feet are smaller than the hind, but not by much. They are bounders, with the hind feet landing in front of the front feet. The photo above was taken on a gravel road, with shrubby cover on both sides where this rabbit was likely crouched as I walked by during mid-day. I could have stopped and looked for fresh teeth marks on shrub stems, as cottontails subsist on the inner living cambium under the bark woody branches of shrubs.

As you are out and about, keep your eyes on the snowy ground, seeking clues about what other wildlife has been exploring your neighborhood. I invite you to explore this website to learn more about native mammals , and view a slide show featuring Wenatchee River watershed species. The Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife “Living with Wildlife” series is a terrific resource to use.