Date: March 14, 2025

Place: Guelph, ON.

References:
– ‘Mammal Tracks & Sign: A Guide to North American Species’, Mark Elbroch, Stackpole Books (1st Ed..), 2003

Quick record of observations:
I made a few miscellaneous observations, including tracks of a small weasel. It was also nice to see chipmunk tracks, since they spend much of the winter in their burrows in a state of torpor.

During the night, a thin layer of snow fell, making conditions ideal for spotting small mammals such as a mouse, which was eating bread scraps I had left on my deck the night before.

The bounding pattern of the mouse is clear. But in the first picture it looks like there might be a 2nd (bigger) small mammal. What happened here? Or is it the same mouse but doing a different gait?

Before leaving for the University of Guelph Arboretum, I observed the tracks of my large male cat, Ash, leaving beautifully clear tracks on my driveway.

Notice the relatively more asymmetric front tracks compared to the hind tracks, and how the leading toe 3 in these tracks.

At the Arboretum, there are always many tracks of the Red Squirrel

and of course the larger Gray Squirrel

Most of the time, but not always, the difference in trail width is enough to tell these two species apart.

Around the edge of a wooden hut by the bird feeders, I found the smaller tracks of an Eastern Chipmunk – the first I have seen since Spring. They have emerged now that it is getting warmer. Again, trail width helps identify them, but also group length and the size of the individual tracks. For example, the group length of the Red Squirrel shown above was over 4 inches, while the group length here is about 2 inches (at the lower end of what is quoted in Elbroch for a bounding chipmunk, which is 2 – 5 in).

Here is a fun sign. For a moment, I wondered what had made this ‘scrape’, but then saw it was due to a branch dragging in the wind.

Finally, just as I was leaving the Arboretum, I noticed the subtle trail of one of the smaller weasels in a 2 x 2 bound. These tracks were difficult to photograph with enough contrast.

These tracks were near the bird feeder, which is perhaps about 200 metres from water. The trail width is about 1 1/4 inches, the stride about 12 inches, and the track width at most 3/4 inch. Based on these measurements and the location, my best guess is that these tracks were made by a Short-tailed Weasel, although I cannot be certain because the measurements overlap with those of the Long-tailed Weasel.