Who's That Walking 'Round My Back Yard?

Yesterday, it snowed off and on all day.  There wasn't much accumulation, just an inch or so.  Towards evening, it stopped, and, when I got up this morning, I could tell that it hadn't snowed any more over night.  I figured that would be perfect for finding tracks in the snow, and figuring out just who had visited overnight.

The first place I went, when I got outside, was the spot by the garage where, every night, I put out food for the feral cat that lives in the woods.  It's a pretty thing, a black and white tuxedo and as fey and shy as can be.  I see it from the window in my back shed two or three times a week, and I always sigh a little sigh of relief.  Life isn't easy for feral cats, and they don't usually live very long.  You shouldn't feed them, but, I often do things I shouldn't.

So I looked for cat track, and YES! there they were.  So, I knew that the little cat had a good meal last night.

You can tell that they're cat tracks by the fact that the two middle toes aren't the same length, and the pad in back is divided into three parts.  That's true whether it's a domestic cat like this, or a mountain lion.  And, no, I didn't know all of that before I got these pictures, I did some research.

These tracks were also near where the cat food was.  They aren't as clear, but you can see that you can pretty much draw an X through the parts.  That means that they're canine.

They are also bigger than the cat's tracks, but not huge.  I have seen a red fox around here on occasion, and I would guess that this guy is coming after it's dark, and finishing up what the cat leaves behind.

The sun had been up for a couple of hours, before I got outside.  So, I wasn't surprised to see these tracks.  They belong to squirrels, and those of you who have been following my blog for a while know that I have plenty of them around.

An interesting thing here is that the bigger tracks, in front, are actually made by the hind feet, while the smaller tracks behind them are made by the front feet.  That is because of the way that the animal moves, of course.

Not much doubt about these tracks either.  This is a deer track.  You can tell by the two toed appearance.  I wanted to see how many there were in my yard from one night.  There were a lot!

When I get over there after the snow melts, I suspect that I'll see lots of deer droppings, too.

These track were no surprise either.  They belong to mice, and I don't know of any place where humans are, that mice aren't.  And, they're a good many places where humans aren't, as well.

They're so tiny and delicate, when you see them in a line in the snow.

Erm, I wasn't so pleased when I saw where they were coming and going from.  This is the rather beat up corner of the old shed that you often see in my Sunday pictures.  Looks like I'm going to have a clean-up job come Spring, because it sure looks like I have mousies living there.

And, way to the back of my property, I found some more canine tracks.  I followed these along the side of my yard, near the woods, towards the road.  There they doubled back, and then turned off into the woods.  Interestingly, they didn't go anywhere near where the cat food was.  These were much bigger than the fox tracks I found earlier.

We have a leash law here, and people are very good about obeying it.  I never see any stray dogs.  So, I would say that there are coyote living in the woods, even though I never hear them.

I live in the suburbs.  Not a highly developed area, to be sure, and I do have all of those lovely woods in back of my house.  But, there sure are a lot of critters sharing the space I call home territory.  Oh well, no bear or cougar tracks, thank goodness.