Nature Watch: Traces Without Tracks

About the author: Steve Ellis is a naturalist and Land Trust member who enjoys sharing his love of the natural world. His blog series, “Nature Watch,” will appear each month in “Habitchat,” chronicling native plants and wildlife you can expect to see during that particular time of year. We thank Steve for sharing his passion, illustrating the importance of island conservation.

Overview

Tracking a wild creature in the snow can give you insights into its behavior. Backtracking details what an animal’s activities have been, while fore-tracking shows the direction of travel and offers clues as to what resource it’s looking for.

December and January are statistically our snowiest months. If the snow doesn’t come, there are still plenty of animal traces without tracks.

Black-tailed deer by Martha Ellis.

Twigs growing on a bush that have been cleanly snipped off are the result of the sharp incisors of an eastern cottontail rabbit. If the branch or twig ends look shredded, then a deer has grasped and jerked the vegetation.

Thin trees or shrubs might show the bark having been girdled near the base. A possible culprit is a Townsend’s vole, which chews its way around bushes and young trees.

Berry canes, especially those of salmonberry, reveal the bark was stripped higher up the stem. The pith or pulpy mass under the thin bark was eaten by a chipmunk last summer when the cane was juiciest.

Woodpecker feeding holes are quite easily found in any forest or woodlot. Pileated Woodpeckers make rectangular-shaped holes, while those of the Northern Flicker are round and about the diameter of a permanent marker cap. Pencil-sized holes are the result of a Hairy Woodpecker’s. A horizontal row of small holes was created by a Red-breasted Sapsucker. The diminutive Downy Woodpecker merely flakes away small sections of bark while seeding prey.

Mushrooms may show signs of feeding, too. A halfmoon-shaped bite in the cap was done by a browsing deer, little nibble marks on the edges were performed by a vole or deer mouse. Douglas squirrels will chew through a mushroom’s base and carry it up a tree to a forked branch to dry for later consumption. Please note that rodents and deer have immunity to poisons that adversely affect humans. Usage by a squirrel does not mean a fungus is safe for human consumption!

The remains of a fish may point to the creature that dined on it. A messy skeleton under tree branches is the work of a Bald Eagle. If all that remains is a tail, then a river otter has eaten the fish.  Sometimes only the fish head is present, indicating the rest was eaten by a raccoon.

Feeding isn’t the only activity that leaves traces behind. Deer bed down to rest and to digest their food. Look for areas where grass, forbs or ferns are matted down. Deer beds are approximately three feet long and two feet wide and are often situated next to a hedge, fallen tree, fence or some other obstruction. This allows a deer to reduce the number of directions that a predator might use to stalk them.

Rabbits create forms, beds that are shaped by their bodies. These are usually placed under a bush or fern and can be difficult to find.

Small holes in the ground in dead grass or under arching low vegetation are the burrows of voles.

Very small ground holes surrounded by precisely clipped grass were made by wasps that have underground colonies. I’ve come across evidence of these holes having been made wider, along with scattered remains of the papery nests, most likely the nocturnal work of a raccoon that dug up the nest to eat the occupants. Check the surrounding area – raccoons tend to fling the dirt a fair distance from the hole they are widening.

Careful observation will increase your understanding of our wild neighbors. There are many other traces without tracks that can reveal the activities of local creatures, and some of these will be featured in future blogs.

Cones pictured left to right: Douglas-fir, Sitka spruce, western hemlock, western redcedar. Photo by Martha Ellis.

Flora: Tree cones

Conifer means cone-bearing, and it’s the designation of many of our local trees. Seeds in cones are protected by overlapping woody scales until ripened.

The identity of a tree can be puzzled out by examining the size and shape of its cones.

Grand fir cones are not often seen close at hand. They grow at the tops of the seeds and come apart as the seeds ripen. Douglas squirrels only rarely cut them down because of their stickiness. A very strong wind may bring down a branch with unripe cones still intact.

To confuse matters, red alders – a widespread tree on our islands – bear their seeds in cone-like structures. Western yews have needles like conifers, but their seeds are found in berry-like fruits called drupes.

While walking through a forest, you may come across a pile of cone scales and empty cores. A Douglas squirrel has created this midden by shelling the seeds from cones in order to eat them. More widely scattered cone scales tell a different story – Red Crossbills have been at work high overhead feeding on the nutritious seeds from cones still on the branches, so the scales drift down over a wider area.

Red Crossbills are members of the finch family and rely heavily on conifer seeds.

Fauna: Red Crossbill (Loxia curvirostra)

The chip-chip call of Red Crossbills is heard more often than these elusive birds are seen.

Red Crossbills are 5 to 6 inches in length. Both sexes have heavy bills that cross near the tip. Males are reddish with dark wings and tails, while females are yellowish underneath and olive-green above.

This member of the finch family relies heavily on conifer seeds. To access the seeds, a crossbill inserts its bill into a cone and then levers the top mandible upwards. With the cone scale lifted, the bird deftly removes the seed with its tongue.

Sometimes crossbills snip off the cones and carry them to a convenient branch or attack the cones where they lay. More often, though, I’ve seen the birds hanging downwards on the cones to retrieve the seeds rather than taking them away.

There are multiple races of Red Crossbill that are separated by flight calls and the size of their beaks. Crossbill beaks are adapted to a handful of tree species. Our area has races #3 and #4, which utilize western hemlock and Douglas-fir cones. It’s possible that someday these particular races will be recognized by ornithologists as two different species.

A diet of conifer seeds lacks certain nutrients, so insects, buds and berries are eaten as well. Crossbills have been noted licking salt from beaches and ash or minerals located on the ground.

Flocks of crossbills lead a nomadic life, flying from one forest to another. When a large crop of seeds is evident, they’ll stop to breed. I’ve heard crossbills in many of the Whidbey Camano Land Trust properties.

When feeding heavily in trees over a forest path, it can seem as though it’s raining cone scales. Experiencing a “crossbill shower” should be on everyone’s bucket list!

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