Master Naturalist Class

This week I have been involved with the Utah Master Naturalist Class focusing on mountains. This is the third of three modules the UMN Program offers. The first two were Aquatic Systems and Deserts. This current one may be my favorite so far - possibly because we have spent so much time out in the field.

I do have a few pics, which I'll share in another post. But right now I just wanted to report that during yesterday's class, we were lucky enough to find marmot scat and a den site, coyote scat, and a large gathering of porcupine scat. We weren't sure what the porcupine scat was to begin with, but after collecting one piece and studying it at home, I have come to that conclusion.

At the time we found the scat, my camera had run out of battery power, otherwise I would share that wonderful scat discovery with you.

We also saw and identified lots and lots of wildflowers and several evergreen trees.

Checking out the wildlife

It's always fun to see wildlife while out and about. But when that doesn't happen (which is usually the case) seeing signs of wildlife is just as fun. 

I get mocked often for my fascination with scat...but here you go anyway.

Moose scat

About an inch long

And in another location, some tracks. These aren't as big as other moose tracks I've seen. I suppose they could have been elk.

Turkeys in the Park

A week or two ago I posted a picture of a snow-covered landscape. All that snow is now gone again. It goes like this for several weeks, usually until mid- to late December; snow, melt, snow, melt. This weekend I am doing a program at the park about Wild Turkeys, and I'm hoping for good weather.

Great Wild Turkey habitat

Looking for turkey signs

We have quite the rafter (a grouping of turkeys) here and it's fun to teach the kids about them, and then go out and try to find where they are hanging out, while attempting to call them using our homemade turkey calls. Last year they were on the golf course, the year before in an open field. I haven't seen much of them this year, but I'm confident they will turn up. I've seen them out in the fields on my drive in to work. So they are here.

Wild Turkey Tracks in the snow

Wild Turkey Feather

It's always fun to find they turkeys themselves, but if for some reason we don't, we do find their tracks, feathers and droppings. Did you know male droppings look distinctly different from female droppings?

Female Dropping (cork screw shaped)

Male Dropping ("J" shaped)

I'll let you know if we see any this year.

Leaving its mark

Mystery animal leaves his calling card on the trail, alerting all who pass by this way to its solitary presence. Very dark, and full of berries and seeds, I have a guess who left it.

Not too far along the trail, another reminder that this particular someone has passed here before me, probably within the hour, as the scat was still quite moist once I examined it further with a little stick.

And then another discovery was made. All around the scat were tiny, its-bitsy, little black springtails (otherwise known as snow fleas, as that is when they are generally seen, against the white backdrop of snow). They had begun their job of decomposing this fantastic feast. I tried to get a picture of them, but dang that lighting and the angle. I kept casting a shadow over my subject.

Do you have a guess about who passed by here, marking territory as it went?

Just one of those things

I took what is probably my last snowshoe tour group today. And the route we followed could easily be renamed Moose Dropping Loop. I am not exaggerating when I say there were no fewer than 30+ piles of moose scat along this trail. And the last half contained a pile at least every 10 feet, less in some cases.

One of the ladies on the tour was excited with the first few piles, and happily took pictures. She said the scat was almost as good as seeing the moose itself. But after about the 20th pile, I quit pointing them out for her. I guess she'd seen her fill of moose droppings.