Sunday, January 20, 2019

Tracks in the Snow

Something left these tracks in the snow near my house. Round prints over an inch across with five toes. Too big for squirrels. Not dogs or cats. What made them?
I searched the Internet and found pictures of opossum tracks like this, round with five toes like a sunburst. But what sent me back outside to look again were the descriptions of the opossum's rear tracks. "Like the footprint of a human infant" they said. "With opposable thumb like a human thumb" they said.
I found this. Click to enlarge. I've outlined what I think is a lone rear possum print at the edge of where the snow was melting into a puddle. Like a human infant footprint? Yep. Like a human thumb sticking out on the lower left? Yep.
I pronounce them opossum tracks and will be on the lookout for nocturnal visits. The handsome fellow above is an opossum ambassador I met this summer at a nature center event. I'm glad to have such an interesting creature in the neighborhood.

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