Sunday, March 8, 2009

Cat Tracks

Cat tracks in the snow on Porter's Island, an island in Copper Harbor
A bobcat?

As promised, here are the first set of cat tracks: the illusive bobcat. At least, I think so: they seem to fit the shape and size for a bobcat, and bobcats are at least somewhat common in the UP. We found these tracks on the inland side of Porter's Island, out beyond the end of Hunter's Point at Copper Harbor. The tracks extended for quite a way along the shoreline, but we never found any signs that it had been hunting -- at least successfully.

Any of my friends who are more familiar with tracks than I am -- feel free to correct me about the identity! I'm certain that these are not wolf tracks -- too close to town, and wolves are pretty uncommon on the mainland. But if there's something else I haven't though of, let me know.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Something tells me I would have gotten a little nervous while taking this shot.

Nice work.

DC said...

Heh, thanks very much. The prints were pretty fresh, but they were also out of the wind and it hadn't snowed recently -- so they could have been a day or two old.

But really, there wasn't much to worry about. We ere two big, tall, noisy humans, and it was broad daylight -- not likely to run into *anything* much less something nasty.

But I think in the end, the real answer is... up here in da UP, we get used to wildlife. If you're smart about it, it's not a problem.

Anyhow, thanks for stopping by!

Anonymous said...

It must be a trick of the light, but several of those tracks looked "raised" to me, as opposed to being depressions in the snow.

DC said...

Anon -- some of the tracks are doubled, I think because the bobcat stutter-stepped or slid. That may account for it.

Summer said...

Cool :) Maybe it's just a trick of the photo, but it looks like kitty was booking it. Did you find any tracks of whatever it may have been chasing?

DC said...

Summer -- I'm not sure about the speed really (I can't remember how it looked in person...), but I know we never found any signs that it had caught anything -- no spray of fur or feathers, or a big disturbed area. Maybe it was stalking something and then it ran or flew off.