Date: Sept 14/15, 2024

Place: Wasaga Beach, Area 6 (see the map below)

Times: various, but mainly around midday

Main references:

https://inaturalist.ca/check_lists/1159446-Wasaga-Beach-Provincial-Park-Check-List

‘Scats and Tracks of North America’, James C. Halfpenny, A Falcon Guide (2008)

‘Identifying Animal Tracks: Mammals, Birds and Other Animals of the Eastern United States’, Richard Headstrom, Dover Publications (1971)

‘The Tracker’s Field Guide: A Comprehensive Manual for Animal Tracking’, James C. Lowery, Second Edit., Falcon Guide

Weather: Glorious sunshine, up to 26-27 C

Discussion: After my recent tracking post about the tracks I found at Southampton I was interested to see what I could find at the nearby beach of Wasaga. The environment was very similar with sand dunes dominated by marram grass communities (see my post from Aug 14/14). A map is provided below. There were few signs that Fall is approaching. The sunshine was glorious, but the water temperature was a little cool (at least in the morning). This didn’t stop us swimming.

The categories of tracks I found are given below:

Toad tracks:

I know I reported toad tracks on my Southampton post, but I got a real kick out of seeing them again. I also think I can narrow down the species this time by referencing the Wasaga Beach check list at inaturalist.ca. My best guess is American Toad (Anaxyrus americanus), shown below:

Here are some drawings of toad tracks (Woodhouse’s Toad) from the book by James Halfpenny – I think toad tracks are all reasonably similar, but differences being mainly due to the substrate that the tracks were made in:

And here is the drawing of toad tracks that I showed on my Southampton post from bear-tracker.com:

I must admit that I’m having a little trouble reconciling these two different drawings as in the 2nd drawing I would have thought the direction of travel to be reversed?

Here is another drawing from the book by Headstrom, which is closer to the last photo in this series below:

Here are the tracks I photographed this time:

In the seconds photograph you can see the toes of the webbed feet really well.

Invertebrates:

I’m not sure what I’m seeing in photos 1, 2 4 and 5. I see no indication of legs, so could these have been made by earth worms? In the first photo why does the trail end/begin? Did it emerge/disappear under ground? The tracks appear to be too narrow to be made from a snake. The 3rd photograph is clearly an ants nest, and the 6th photo is possibly from a caterpillar. I recall seeing very similar tracks being made by a Woolly Bear Caterpillar on a tracking trip in this area a couple of years ago with Alexis.

Gulls:

Apparently the Ring-billed Gull is the most common gull found along Wasaga Beach and is often seen in groups of 100 or more. This is my best guess for the gull tracks shown below. Unfortunately I don’t have time to check measurements in the ‘Bird Tracks & Sign’ book by Elbroch. I also had difficulty in the past telling different gulls apart that I saw.

Miscellaneous:

This next set of tracks looks like a rodent to me, but which one? The gait seems to be a diagonal walk which is more unusual. The trail width is about 2 inches, which makes me think this are the tracks of a Chipmunk. But the tracks themselves seem a little on the large side? (See Lowery). Edit: Byron suggested Skunk because of the long claws.

The next set of tracks is also a little confusing to me. However, the size, the shape of the heel pad, and the overall roundness of the tracks suggests domestic cat:

Finally, I decided to include a picture of my tracks. We must not forget the observer in all of this:

Final thoughts:

What stands out to me is the diversity of tracks I found in such a short time. The animals here seem to thrive in the narrow strip of sand dunes between the barren beach and the human world of roads and beach houses. They appear to be mostly nocturnal. It would be incredible to visit the beach at night with a strong flashlight—imagine what we might discover.