3. Tracks and Scats: Animal Signs #1

Species discussed in this post:
White-tailed Deer, Wild Turkey, Grey Squirrel, Raccoon, Coyote, Red Fox

You may find signs of the animals that inhabit an area when you are walking in natural places.  If you are not familiar with the signs of wild animals you may not know what you're looking at, or you may miss the signs altogether.  This post talks about a few of the common animal tracks, scats (feces), and other signs you may encounter in Georgia.  The following photos were all taken within just the last few weeks.  In future posts I'll discuss other animal signs as I encounter them.

White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus)

You commonly see signs of deer all over the landscape.  The White-tailed deer was over-hunted in the southeast and by the mid 20th century it had been virtually extirpated in north Georgia. An archaeologist I know told me his father remembered when they began a program to bring some deer from south Georgia to north Georgia in the 1940's in order to restore the species.  Since then game management practices have led the species to rebound to high population levels.  There are more deer in Georgia today than there were when Europeans first arrived in North America.  This is due to more available habitat for the species.  Deer hide in forests and travel through forests to feeding and watering locations, but most of their food is outside of forests.  Deer are browsers, which means that they primarily eat the leaves from plants.  They find these plants along the edges of forests and in brushy areas like abandoned fields where plants, bushes, and small trees are re-growing.  Humans have removed much of the natural forest in Georgia and replaced it with the types of habitats that feed deer, leading to an expansion of the deer population.  There are also fewer people hunting deer these days, so there is less of a check on their population growth.  The result is an overpopulation of deer that is having a negative effect on some natural environments where deer are eating so many of the native plants that they are extirpating populations of native plants in some areas.

Deer prints are common, with two teardrop-shaped halves to the hoof, which together make the hoof-print look sort of heart-shaped.

Deer hoof prints.

Deer scat (feces) looks like a pile of small, black or brown spheres.  Actually, some of the pellets may be spherical, but some are elongated spheres.  Some are also slightly flattened.  Deer and rabbit pellets can be confused; the difference is that rabbit scat is spherical and not elongated like deer scat.

Three piles of deer pellets.  This place on the deer trail seems to be used as a latrine by the deer.

This close-up shows the elongated shape of the pellets.  Rabbit scat differs in that it is all spherical.

In forests, another indication that deer have been around in the winter is areas where they have scraped back the leaves with their hooves to look for food.  In December of 2012 I found an area in the woods where deer had scraped twenty or more little areas clear of leaves looking for acorns.  Each cleared area was about two feet in diameter.

Area scraped by deer looking for acorns.

Close-up of scraped area showing some acorns left behind.

Nearby I found another common sign of deer in the winter, a small sapling showing scrape marks where a buck had rubbed its antlers on the bark.

Sapling with scraping on bark from deer antlers.

Deer will also create small trails or paths where they habitually walk through areas.  If you are in a natural area, a field, woods, etc., and you see something that looks like a narrow little trail, usually 8 to 10 inches wide, you are probably looking at a deer trail.  Sometimes old, well traveled, well worn trails are clearly visible.  Sometimes trails simply look like an area where the leaves or grass are trampled and packed down.

A deer trail runs straight up this photo in the center.  It is visible as an area where the leaves are trampled down.

Along deer trails you will often find bushes that have been browsed and have the twigs chewed off.  They are very common in the winter.

Bush along deer path browsed by deer.  Notice how all of the twigs have been nipped off at about the same height, about one foot tall.  Up close, it is apparent the twigs have been bitten off.

You can learn more about the natural history of the White-tailed deer at the IUCN website:
http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/42394/0

Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo)

We recently walked about a mile through a forest adjacent to a pasture in which I have seen 2 or 3 dozen Wild Turkeys assembled at a time.  The leaf litter in an extensive area of the forest has been scratched by the turkeys to expose the soil beneath.  The turkeys do this to find seeds, nuts, insects, etc. to eat, especially in the winter.  You can tell that the exposed areas have been created by turkeys, not deer, because they only lightly scratch the soil surface and there aren't any hoof prints.  A flock of turkeys also fluffs up the leaves and leaves bare patches over a large area of leaf litter.

Area where patches of soil have been scratched clear by Wild Turkeys.

Another clue that turkeys have been scratching and not deer is the scat that turkeys leave.  Bird scat typically has white nitrogenous patches in it and turkeys are no exception.  Piles of turkey scat are a few inches long and can be either shapeless piles or little cylindrically shaped cords.

This example of Wild Turkey scat shows both forms, a shapeless pile and cylindrical cords.  It also shows the white nitrogenous matter.

Turkeys are another species that was hunted until there weren't many left in many areas of the southeast.  Reintroduction and game management has led to a rebound in their numbers.  You can learn more about the natural history of turkeys at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/wild_turkey/lifehistory

Grey Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis)

Grey Squirrels are common wherever there are trees and nuts.  You usually know that you're in a squirrel's territory when you're in the woods because you'll hear it scolding you from the trees above.  You may also notice some other signs of squirrels.  If you see mysterious small holes dug into the leaf litter in the winter, you're seeing places where squirrels have looked for nuts.

Holes in leaf litter where squirrels have been searching for food.  For size comparison, the knife is 4 3/8 inches.

Squirrels also like to perch on top of logs, tree stumps, rocks, etc., when they forage on the ground and eat.  This gives them a vantage point to watch for predators while they eat.  If you see a pile of nut shells cracked open on one of these objects while in the woods, chances are that you are looking at a squirrel's picnic table.

This stump in the forest is a likely spot to find a squirrel's feeding place.

Sure enough, the top is covered with acorn shells from this past Fall's and Winter's meals.

For more information about the natural history of the Grey Squirrel, visit this link at the IUCN website: http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/42462/0

Northern Raccoon (Procyon lotor)

The same day we saw the signs of Wild Turkeys, I hopped across a creek and landed right next to some fresh raccoon prints left behind in the sand.  The raccoon had obviously hopped onto the same place.  I knew this because their prints are usually strung out in the normal walking pattern, but these prints showed all four feet in a line where it landed.  The prints provide a nice comparison of the fore and hind paws.  The forepaws look like hand prints, and if you look close the "fingers" have bulbous tips.  The hind paws are larger.  Raccoon prints are distinctive and once you know what they look like you can often find them around creeks, rivers, streams, and lakes.

Raccoon prints.  The larger hind paws are the two prints in the center, the forepaws are the smaller "hand" prints on the top and bottom.

The smaller hand print at top and larger hind paw print at bottom.

Close-up of forepaw "handprint" with bulbous finger pads.

Learn more about the natural history of raccoons at IUCN: http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/41686/0

Coyote (Canis latrans)

Coyotes are newcomers to Georgia, having migrated in over the last few decades to fill the niche that used to be occupied by wolves before they were killed off.  I saw my first coyote in Cherokee County in the mid 1990's but now they are common.  I have seen four along the highway as roadkill in the last three months.  I now hear them howling during the long winter nights in my area, and in January they congregate to mate and at night we can hear a number of them yipping like big puppies as they get together.  Genetic studies have revealed that coyotes did not migrate from the Great Plains into the southeast, instead they migrated into eastern Canada and had some limited interbreeding with wolves, then migrated southward in the eastern United States into the southeast.  Coyotes are solitary most of the time.  I will post a photo of their paw print at a later time when I get one.  It is distinguishable from a dog's.  Their scat is also distinguishable.  Domestic dog scat usually looks like digested dog food.  It is homogeneously brown, is in a pile, and has thick cylindrical cords.  Coyote scat differs in that it is comprised of digested meat and the color of the cords is dark, even black.  Sometimes it is comprised of hair.  Pieces of bone may also be apparent.  Most notably, the tips are thin, tapered, and look twisted.

I found this coyote scat deposited along our driveway in late February, about 70 feet from our house.  It is distinguishable since it is comprised entirely of animal hair, and more importantly has thin, tapered, twisted ends.

For more about the natural history of coyotes see the IUCN website: http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/3745/0

For more about coyotes in Georgia see the Georgia DNR's Coyote fact sheet: http://georgiawildlife.com/node/1391

Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes)

This last identification is tentative on my part.  I found this strange looking scat and consulted my field identification resources to try to identify it.  It seems to match the descriptions of Red Fox scat.  Part of it has the appearance of scat typical of much of the dog family; long cords with constrictions and a tapered tail.  Fox scat can have fur, bones, or meat in it, but it can also have fruit, berries, or insect remains.  This scat has the constricted cords and tail  indicative of a fox, but the shapeless pile has fruit and seed remains.  It appears to be from a predator that also eats fruit, therefore it would seem to be a fox.  I know we have foxes in this area since a neighbor photographed one in his yard just a month ago.  However, I've never seen fox scat before, so this is a tentative identification on my part.  If anyone reading this can positively identify this scat, I'd like to hear from you.

Possible Red Fox scat, comprised of fruit and seed with constricted cord and tapered tail.

If you would like to learn more about the natural history of the Red Fox see IUCN's website: http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/23062/0

An iPhone app I have found handy to help with track and scat identification in the field is Scats and Tracks of North America by Falcon Guides.  I'll post more animal sign identification tips in future posts.

-Wayne