Mystery

Last week I noticed something strange on the driver's side front door of my car.  A paw-print.  Actually two paw prints.  One was very clear, while the other was smudged as if whatever had made the mark was scrambling or slipping a bit.  It was rather large.  Too large to be a stray cat.  It was large enough to make me think that whatever made the print was looking into my car window. 

But why?

And what was it?

 

 

 

My first thought was feline.  The pads are more round than oval, in particular the centre pad.  There is also no evidence of a claw register.  Now, a claw register likely wouldn't show up on a print left on a car, but the complete absence of one made me think cat.  The reason why the claw register is important is this: a cat retracts its claws when walking, therefore leaving no claw impressions.  A canine doesn't, and the claw registers in a print.

A visit with my granddad confirmed my suspicions.  He believes it was a bobcat, too.

 

Now.  Do I really think a bobcat was roaming around by my house and looking in my car?  I don't know.  There is certainly plenty of bobcat habitat around here - but why would one come so close to our house, and what would it want with my car.

 

But was else could it be?

 

In referencing my tracking book (Tracking and the Art of Seeing: How to Read Animal Tracks & Sign by Paul Rezendes), I concluded that by the size of the prints, it could be one of three things: the aforementioned bobcat, a large fox or a domestic dog.  The prints measured 2 1/4 inches by 2 1/4 inches. 

 

 

 

 

 

We have plenty of fox, and they do come close to the house, so it certainly could be that.  There aren't many dogs around, though, so I'm hesitant to say it was a dog.  There is also the shape of the print to consider.  It is quite round and symmetrical (as evidenced by the measurements!).  Cat prints are typically more rounded than canine, and there is still the issue of no claw register.

 

I suppose I will never know what left the prints on my car that morning, but I will always wonder, and be aware, in particular when I am leaving to go anywhere in the dark!



Book Study - The Curious Naturalist: Spring

This is hard for me to say, but I think that this is my most prized book.

The Curious Naturalist, by John Mitchell & The Massachusetts Audobon Society and illustrated by Gordon Morrison.

It was first published by Prentice-Hall in 1980.

My copy looks like this - and I inherited it sometime in the early 90s from my great Aunt Nora.

This book is fantastic.  It is broken into four sections (one per season) and includes seasonal observations and information, activities and crafts.  Flora, fauna, the night sky, sounds, gardening, the list goes on.  Some of the crafts are somewhat hokey, but still interesting.  I mean, who doesn't  want a twig belt?

The illustrations are beautiful and detailed and the entire book is meticulously hand-lettered.

What I love most about this book are the introductory passages before each season's section.  The writing brings me to that season.  In the dead of winter I can read the summer introduction and be there.  The night sky, the sounds, smells, the heat from the sun.

Want a taste of Spring?

"There is perhaps no other event in the natural world that is as characteristic of a season as a full chorus of spring peepers.  It is not only that the voices of living things are calling once more after the long silence of winter, there is something about the atmosphere in which the chorus takes place that epitomizes the season.  There is a certain moist smell in the air on rainy spring nights, slow mists rise from rafts of ice floating in dark marshes, everywhere on roads through wet areas the small white forms of migrating spring peepers, wood frogs, green frogs, and pickerel frogs will appear, and all around you the air will be filled with a high bell-like ringing, a little like a distant horse-drawn sleigh.  That distant chorus is the voice of the spring peeper, a small tree frog no larger than the end of a little finger.  Throughout history naturalists have referred to it as the voice of spring."

I don't know about you, but that passage absolutely gives me chills.  If you've never heard what the author is referencing, I suggest this be the year you change that.  It's well worth it and it's a sound you will never forget.

Some favourite pages from the spring section -

I hope wherever you are, spring is starting to show itself, and if not, just read a passage from this book - you'll be transported.