Nature Notes from Winter Expedition to Baxter State Park

Nature Notes from our winter expedition into Baxter State Park, February, 2015
by Lisa Pengel, Maine Master Naturalist 2013 graduate, and AMC Volunteer Naturalist

Winter in Maine can be a wonderland, a great time to learn about our wildlife. How do they travel in deep snow, and what do their tracks look like?

Baxter State Park, February 2015

Baxter State Park is a wonderful place to visit in winter, and Jeff and I have been fortunate to be able to visit and camp in the park for 10 winter expeditions, since 2004. We prefer the South Branch Pond campground in winter. It is the northern most remote area in the park that has a cabin available for winter camping.

Our February, 2015 expedition was exciting for many reasons. Due to the snow depth and fresh snow, we saw many animal tracks. Here are some excerpts from my journal on the tracks we identified:

Short tail Weasel mustela erminea – Weasel prints may be double-paired or fall in closely-bunched groups of 4. Alternating long & short leaps. Usually a bounder. We were able to get a definitive print when the weasel went under a fallen tree, where the snow was less deep, leaving measurable tracks.

Red Fox vulpes fulva – We keyed these out based on size, pattern, and straddle. There was too much snow to notice the transverse pad. The Red Fox is a perfect walker, direct register, walking in nearly a straight line. Straddle was approx 8 cm. Front print is larger than hind.

Animal Track Identification

Snowshoe Hare lepus americanus – The Snowshoe Hare is a hopper. It moves forward on hind legs. It lands on its front paws first, then swings its hind paws out, around & forward. This is one of the easiest tracks to identify. Long heeled, 4 toes on front and back.

Bobcat lynx rufus – We saw these tracks while we were xc-skiing along the road. The tracks were visible in the center of the deep, snow covered road for at least a mile. With about an inch of new snow cover, these tracks were easy to spot. The Bobcat is a perfect walker, straddle is about 8 cm, stride about 42-44 cm. A domestic cat print is about half the size of a bobcat’s.

Red Squirrel tamiasciuras budsonicus – The Red Squirrel (a rodent – long toed, 4 on front, 5 on back) is another very common and easy mammal to identify. We saw dozens of these throughout the park. One of the squirrels was particularly pesky, and frequented the porch of our cabin. Unfortunately for a friend of ours who left their zippered snowshoe bag outside during the night, we found that squirrels can chew through zippers. Our friend yelled at the squirrel when spotted later, and the squirrel yelled right back at him.

• Hoppers – Two larger prints wider apart in conjunction with two smaller prints closer together. Hoppers move forward on powerful hind legs. Shrew, rodents and snowshoe hare are hoppers.
• Perfect Walkers – Hind foot lands in print of front foot (direct register). Deer, Moose, Vole, Fox, Coyote, Bobcat are perfect walkers.
• Imperfect Walkers – Hind foot does not land in print of front foot. Skunk, Woodchuck, Raccoon, Beaver, Porcupine are imperfect walkers.
• Bounders – Often paired two by two, with the hind foot landing in print of front foot. Weasel, Mink, Marten, Fisher, Otter are bounders.

South Branch Pond Campground, Baxter State Park

Deep snow can change the appearance of many animal tracks, making it pretty challenging at times. Bring your ruler along and measure the straddle and stride. There are many free reference guides on the internet on identifying mammal tracks in snow. Have fun!