The recent snow makes for an interesting stroll down our quarter-mile driveway.All sorts of wildlife leave their tracks, and it's fun to try to sort out what and where they were headed.
It's easy to spot the tracks from deer hooves (photo), and with a little examination you can tell where they crossed the creek because the hooves are much deeper when they jump. Rabbit tracks are also easy to identify with their small but elongated mark.
Squirrels, coons, groundhogs and skunks are a different matter. Their tracks are small and inconsistent. Incidentally, we smelled our first skunk in Deerfield last night. We have never seen one around here although we have an idea that the skunks are responsible for raiding the many yellow jacket hives in Deerfield.
I'm always fascinated by the reports of mammalian wildlife in the gardens of North America and Europe. Australia even. Here in New Zealand, hedgehogs are about the only creatures we see in urban gardens (introduced from the UK many years ago). Rabbits are plentiful to the extent of being a major pest in some farming areas, but we seldom see them in the towns. Likewise, several species of deer are common in the mountains but I've never heard of them being a problem to gardeners, even in rural areas.
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