Animal tracks in the snow

We've had lots of tracks in the snow this winter - birds, squirrels, fishers, coyote, and deer just to name a few. Last year the turkey tracks were enormous and fun to follow but they seem to have ignored us this year. That may be a result of the fisher and coyote tracks that were so prevalent in early winter.

The deer trails are well established and we follow them sometimes. It's hard to duck under the brush that they move through so easily, but worth it when you find a bedding site. They're never around when we find these as they've been up and moving long before we arrive, but we'll still stop for the spring just in case they've left babies tucked away. Don't want to scare them.

Yesterday's walk was exciting because we came across some new tracks - bear. Here are some pictures we took for comparison:

Cooper prints - smallish and a distinctive grouping

Coyote - bigger and more distinct

Bear - oh my

Slightly bigger than my hand, 5 toes

We found the tracks on our morning walk and they were very clear in the crisp snow. By the time we got back with the camera they had blurred a bit as the sun hit them. This is probably the same bear we  saw sign of back in the early winter, hopefully he'll move along and we won't have to worry about him.