I've been in a bit of a slump lately in getting outside. Probably due to our low temps lately. So this Saturday I was eager to get some park time in -and indeed I did. I spent a total of 4 hours at the park and never once used the trails! With snowshoes I was able to make my way around the inner part of the park and took some quite unusual routes through places you'd never be able to get to in other seasons.
Not too long after heading west I noticed an uncommon shape and movement toward the center of the park. It was a Coyote! As I watched him through my binoculars I thought he might have been injured as he appeared to drag his hind legs behind him. However, I think that he was simply falling through the deep snow and pulling his hind end up and out with every step. Later I made my way to the middle and found his fresh tracks. It's unbelievably hard to get close to Coyotes at the park so I've been kind of obsessed with them lately. There was very little wildlife out today though I did spot lots and lots of signs. Almost everywhere were Vole tracks in the snow. You could see exactly where they popped out from a thicket of Cattails or even just a straight hole in the snow. The tiny footprints would sometimes go for hundreds of feet, but twice I saw evidence of capture by an Owl or Hawk.
It was pretty obvious because you could exactly where the bird landed and pressed it's wings and tail feathers into the snow, and leaving just a trace of blood and sometimes lots of fur. I enhanced the contrast of this photo so you can see what I saw. Otherwise the photo just looks like plain white snow. With the lack of activity today I settled for less animate objects such as these Shelf Mushrooms. I've never seen so many growing on one log before -and this was just a small section of them.
Not too long after heading west I noticed an uncommon shape and movement toward the center of the park. It was a Coyote! As I watched him through my binoculars I thought he might have been injured as he appeared to drag his hind legs behind him. However, I think that he was simply falling through the deep snow and pulling his hind end up and out with every step. Later I made my way to the middle and found his fresh tracks. It's unbelievably hard to get close to Coyotes at the park so I've been kind of obsessed with them lately. There was very little wildlife out today though I did spot lots and lots of signs. Almost everywhere were Vole tracks in the snow. You could see exactly where they popped out from a thicket of Cattails or even just a straight hole in the snow. The tiny footprints would sometimes go for hundreds of feet, but twice I saw evidence of capture by an Owl or Hawk. 
It was pretty obvious because you could exactly where the bird landed and pressed it's wings and tail feathers into the snow, and leaving just a trace of blood and sometimes lots of fur. I enhanced the contrast of this photo so you can see what I saw. Otherwise the photo just looks like plain white snow. With the lack of activity today I settled for less animate objects such as these Shelf Mushrooms. I've never seen so many growing on one log before -and this was just a small section of them.
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