I found a roadkilled mink yesterday. It's sad to see a rare animal perish on the highway like that. The mink has been making a comeback in my local area for the past three years. When one animal is removed from the population, if has a big effect, especially since they are so rare. I will take photos and casts of the feet to be used for educational purposes, then bury the critter. So sad to see a female animal die like that. She had the potential to add more mink to the local population, now that chance it gone. Slow down, drivers! Share the road with wildlife!

Salmon Arrive for 2009!

The salmon have begun their run up the river. I was at the river today and counted over 40 of them making their way past the riffle. We had just enough rain to raise the river and allow them to begin migrating. They are not spawning below the riffle yet, but that will happen soon. Right now, they seem very intent on getting upstream. More rain is forecast Monday, and that will only help them by raising the water level.

 

I think this was the best photo I got. The sunlight caught the side of the fish just right. It seems to glow golden in the sunlight. It's always awesome to watch this natural cycle continue.

Was out tracking on the river bar yesterday afternoon. I had to hack through blackberry brambles to get to the river because they've begun growing again. I should have cut them back from the trail in the winter when it was easier. I flailed away with the machete and made a rough path. Still managed to get my legs cut with thorns though. :( When I got to the river, I took a minute to breathe. Then I started hiking south. I was thinking, "I am going to find a mountain lion track." I must have seen it but it only registered subconsciously because I DID find it! I found an old trail that had been rained on. It last rained about two weeks ago, so the trail was pretty much gone. I managed to find about a dozen tracks altogether. The rest had been washed away. Piecing together the trail, I found that the cougar had walked south and then had walked up a small sandy dune. It had then found that there was no place to jump to on the other side. It was a wall of brambles. So the animal jumped down onto the river bar again and turned around and headed north. The rest of the trail had been obliterated by the rain. It was such a neat experience to have that thought and then, less than 20 seconds later, have it actually happen! I guess tracking becomes second nature after a while.

Cool Tracking links:

Beartracker's Animal Tracks Den
www.bear-tracker.com

Tracker's Tracking and Nature Store
www.dirt-time.com

For those who love tracking, come to the annual ISPT conference in October this year. It will be in Washington State and is going to be a great event. Check the ISPT web site for more details and to register for this event.

Found a nice cougar track in silty soil the other day. It's got all the details and the photos came out great. Will post it later.

Kim

Here's a link to some animal tracking information. posted by Unknown @ 21:52   0 Comments