The MyNature Animal Track app was just chosen to be 1 of 6 of the apps in featured on Apples home page in the category of “Apps for the Great Outdoors”
Posts Tagged ‘nature’
The Best Animal Track Guide Available
Thursday, June 10th, 2010Animal Tracking Tips
Saturday, April 24th, 2010One of the best places to spend some time outdoors looking for tracks is a Beaver pond. Actually an old beaver pond which the dam has broke and left a flow is even better. Dams represent the edge in the forest, an edge is where two different ecosystems meet. Wildlife are naturally drawn to the edge of an ecosystem and spend time feeding, bedding and hunting these areas. These edges are where the majority of animal sign can be found if you take the time to look. Elevated areas like rocks and logs in or near the waters edge are great places to find scat left by Mink, Muskrat and Otters.
This scat left by a Muskrat is a territorial marker. You can see that there is both new and old scat where he constanly freshens this scent post. You might also find a latrine area where there are piles of different aged scat, these are usually found near their core area where they spend the majority of their time.
Sign left on the trails leading to an Edge area like a Beaver Pond are also good indicators of what animals are using the area.
This Bobcat scat on the left was found just a few feet away from the dam itself. 
This scat on the right was left on one of the trails leading to the pond by a Black Bear.
One of the best spots to look for tracks on a active beaver pond is right on the dam itself. Dams serve as a kind of natural bridge for animals to cross on. Many times the top of the dam consists of mud placed there by beavers to reinforce the structure. Bears, Deer, Coyotes, Fox will all utilize the top of the dam to get from one side of the pond to the other and leave their tracks there for your identification.
Next time your on an outing try to find the Edge whether a beaver pond, mountain meadow, stream or agricultural field and you should have no problem finding animal sign.
Happy Tracking !!
Spring Tracks
Friday, April 9th, 2010
The last of the winter snows have disappeared and along with them went the perfect canvas for animal tracks. As I bummed as I am to lose the good tracking snow I’m very happy Spring has arrived. Along with Spring comes mud season which not as plentiful as snow still has the ability to capture a perfect crisp outline of the animal that passed through it. I recently scouted a farm field not far from here. The great thing about the agricultural fields south of here is that they consist primarily of clay and the next best thing to Spring mud is Spring clay. I’ll probably return there tomorrow if I get a chance and do a little plaster casting of some of the tracks if the rain holds off. The best way to approach finding tracks in farm fields is to just walk the edge, there really is no need to venture any further than 10 feet from the sides of the field to find tracks. In fact most animals will be doing the same thing, just cruising the edges. Any animal that ventures out of the bordering brush will definitely leave evidence of it’s passing as long as the clay or dirt is wet. Take for instance the Weasel Tracks I found, weighing in at just under a pound this one left a very distinct track. 
Weasels have a heel pad that is easy to recognize once you know what your looking for. The size of the track and placement of the feet also give it away.
Farm fields really offer one of the best places to find and identify tracks. Prey animals are attracted to the crops and the carnivorous animals follow the prey so there is an abundance of sign as long as you keep your eyes to the ground.
If you don’t personally know a farmer then just stop and ask for permission if you can walk the edges of their field to do some tracking, most won’t mind as long as your respectful of the property. It’s a great way to spend some time outdoors especially with the kids and what kid wouldn’t love traipsing through the mud? Happy Tracking !!
The last of the winter snows have disappeared and along with them went the perfect canvas for animal tracks. As I bummed as I am to lose the good tracking snow I’m very happy Spring has arrived. Along with Spring comes mud season which not as plentiful as snow still has the ability to capture a perfect crisp outline of the animal that passed through it. I recently scouted a farm field not far from here. The great thing about the agricultural fields south of here is that they consist primarily of clay and the next best thing to Spring mud is Spring clay. I’ll probably return there tomorrow if I get a chance and do a little plaster casting of some of the tracks if the rain holds off. The best way to approach finding tracks in farm fields is to just walk the edge, there really is no need to venture any further than 10 feet from the sides of the field to find tracks. In fact most animals will be doing the same thing, just cruising the edges. Any animal that ventures out of the bordering brush will definitely leave evidence of it’s passing as long as the clay or dirt is wet. Take for instance the Weasel Tracks I found, weighing in at just under a pound this one left a very distinct track. 
Weasels have a heel pad that is easy to recognize once you know what your looking for. The size of the track and placement of the feet also give it away.
Farm fields really offer one of the best places to find and identify tracks. Prey animals are attracted to the crops and the carnivorous animals follow the prey so there is an abundance of sign as long as you keep your eyes to the ground.
If you don’t personally know a farmer then just stop and ask for permission if you can walk the edges of their field to do some tracking, most won’t mind as long as your respectful of the property. It’s a great way to spend some time outdoors especially with the kids and what kid wouldn’t love traipsing through the mud? Happy Tracking !!
Otter Tracks
Tuesday, December 29th, 2009Here’s a link to some great pics of Otter tracks.
Pine Cone Meals
Sunday, December 13th, 2009
I spent a few hours yesterday looking for tracks. Although, I did find Bobcat tracks (a first for me), I spent a good deal of time looking for other animal signs. You may not see a lot of tracks or animals around this time of year but they do leave signs of their presence if you pay attention. The photo above really looks like nothing more than some debris covering the snow and in all actuallity that’s what it is, but what does it tell you?
What it’s telling me is that this tree is one of the favorite perches for a Red Squirrel. The sheer amount of scales located at the base means he frequents this tree on a regular basis to fill up on cones. It’s not just the tree itself he frequents it is one specific branch on that tree. We can tell that by the cone debris being localized to one spot at the base. You would think that the cones are from the same tree but actually they aren’t , this particular tree where he favors to have his meals is a Hemlock and the cones he has been enjoying are from a White Pine. Red Squirrels start in the late summer storing food in large caches for their winter supply of food. So why is he carrying cones from his cache to another tree? He does that because that one tree is a perfect vantage point for observing any danger while he’s feeding and he eats a lot. One Red Squirrel can consume the seeds of up to 40 cones or more per day! So there ya go, there are a lot more animal signs to discover other than just tracks and scat. Keep an eye out next time your cruising the woods for the more subtle signs of what animal are around.
Happy Hiking! www.mynaturesite.com
Animal Tracks for Christmas
Saturday, December 5th, 2009Here’s the perfect Christmas gift for that special someone that enjoys being outdoors. If their into hiking, camping, hunting or even fishing the MyNature Animal Track App makes the perfect gift at just $4.99!! Stop by the App Store today and pick up a gift certificate for MyNature Animal Tracks a truly unique gift idea. www.mynaturesite.com
Holiday Special on MyNature Animal Tracks APP
Saturday, December 5th, 2009The folks at MyNature are in the holiday spirit and have a special discounted rate on the new MyNature Animal Track app for the Christmas season. Stop by the app store today and pick up a gift certificate for the Animal Track App for $4.99 for that special outdoors person on your list. Hurry this offer won’t last long!! www.mynaturesite.com
Mynature Animal Tracks
Thursday, November 26th, 2009You can find our new app at the Apple Store. Just search for MyNature Animal Tracks or just type in animal tracks in the search bar. I know you will find it useful on your next outing
Turkeys and Rain
Saturday, July 25th, 2009Seems I remember years ago reading an article on the mortality rate being high on turkey poults when it was a wet spring. Well, this is the wettest spring as well as summer that I can ever remember and I have seen more poults than I have ever. In fact I nearly ran off the road trying to avoid running over about a dozen crossing the pavement the other day. I have been doing a little schooling the past week and drove the same 3 hour route every morning. Granted they were most likely the same turkeys I was seeing everyday but I was seeing nearly up to 75 poults of varying sizes in the same locations. Most were fairly developed in size and there were a couple groups that hadn’t hatched all that long ago. That would to me shoot down the theory of to much rain attributing to low turkey survival rates.
The other wildlife viewings on my long drives were the usual deer crossings and much to my dismay about a half dozen Porcupines that weren’t to lucky with road crossings. Most people would love to kill all the Porcupines out there since they are destructive to trees but since I rarely see them in my hikes I rather let them live to see another day. I also saw quite a few Loons canoeing last weekend. I love to paddle in Garnett Lake a nice spot up here and there usually from my experience in the past is one pair of Loons but this time there were atleast three pairs that I noticed and two of them had young chicks with them. You’ve probably read it a million times but there really is nothing like the sound of a loon calling on a misty morning. If anyone out there has any pics of tracks or animals they would want to send in and possibly be put on an I-phone app I have coming out drop me an email and we may consider usiong it if the quality is good. Happy Hiking and enjoy the weekend!!!!
Animal Tracks
Wednesday, June 17th, 2009Here’s a few tracks I found in the woods behind the house. I took some time and did a casting of each for my collection. If your interested in finding tracks to cast or just photograph then pay attention to the wet area you come across, especially beaver dams and under old crab apple trees. It’s usually muddy in the two spots and leaves a good clear imprint.
