Various Animal Tracks and Footage from Winter + Telephone Pole Tapping & Rocket Stove Thawing - Back Acres

I keep hearing more sounds of spring. The sounds of feisty Raccoons growling, Woodpeckers tapping on trees, and Canadian Geese loudly returning to the lake. Each day I hear and see more varieties of birds and signs of life after winter.

Telephone Pole Tapping Woodpecker

Each school day we walk the little one a mile to the school bus stop. The animals seem to use the road more than humans do, there are usually fresh tracks in the snow, mud, ice, or frozen ground. Raccoon, skunk, deer, and wild turkey are common. Waiting for the school bus the other morning, we heard a tapping from above. We were amused to look up and see a little wood pecker tapping away at the top of the telephone pole - watch the video below.

In a previous post, I investigate woodpecker tree holes (Check out the Holes this Woodpecker Created). Below is a video with the sounds of a woodpecker tapping on the other side of our valley.

Thawing the Rocket Stove

The other evening it was still sunny, had been above 0'C for a few days. I decided to fire up the outdoor rocket stove boiler that is dug into the side of the hill. Plenty of ice had settled in the bottom, so I laid down a scrap piece of plywood to prevent the hot coals from sinking into the melting ice. The top boiler part of the rocket stove is in shambles - I had removed the stock pot boiler for use inside the cabin this winter. I do have a much larger stainless steel stock pot boiler that I will be installing when I rebuild the top part of the rocket stove boiler - soon.

Watch the video below of the Highly Efficient Rocket Stove in draft mode.

Animal Tracks and Footage

I was going through my photos and videos of animals and their tracks from this passing winter. The following tracks, short videos, and previous post links include the bulk of my favorites from this past winter. Below is an animal track identification guide to help you compare with the pictures on this post and with the tracks you find when out in the field or woods.

Downloadable and Printable "Animal Track Identification Guide" .PDF

• https://www.oyccweb.com/uploads/2/6/4/4/26442920/animal_track_id_guide.pdf
• Would be an excellent guide for the field
• 28 Wild and Domestic Animals

The Sounds of Angry Raccoons

In warmer weather - our resident wild raccoon named Rocky would predictably show up on our cabin patio at sun down. We haven't see him since the cold weather blew in, but I heard him across the valley angrily growling and fighting with something. I like believe that he's always fighting other raccoons to keep them off this property - It's a fact that I have yet to see another raccoon.

Watch the video below to hear the sounds of an angry raccoon.

One time @mraggaj came up to the cabin for a visit. He left his jar of peanuts on the patio table. He came out of the cabin in the middle of the night to find Rocky the Raccoon leaning back in a storage tote - as if he was leaning back in a lazy boy chair. He had the lid of the peanut jar twisted off, reaching into the jar to grab and eat each peanut one at a time - while calmly eye-balling @mraggj - He had to make a move towards Rocky for him to rise up and get out of there - Fearless and Crafty Raccoon.

You can see the raccoon's long fingers and thumb in the tracks in the sand below.

Return of the Quiet Rabbit

This is most likely the same rabbit that I posted about a few weeks ago (Caught on Video: Mountain Cottontail Rabbit). My wife always used to see him down by the camper in the early morning - this past summer. He made a reappearance yesterday, my wife called me over to see.

Watch the short video below of me slowly approaching the rabbit before it quickly hops away.

Below is the capture of a rabbit foot print - frozen in the mud.

Hauling Butt - Skunk Tracks

Skunk tracks are similar to raccoons, with the four fingers and thumb, but much smaller. Skunk foot prints are half of the size of raccoon's. They are relatively harmless as long as you don't corner them or act aggressively. Each of my cats have learned the hard way not to play with skunks (Cat Sprayed by a Skunk - This is how we got the Stink Out).

These track pictures in the sand are from an early morning skunk hauling butt down the hill on the side of the road

The skunk was running toward a bag of - not yet picked up by the truck - garbage and didn't see us walking up the road. I would have video recorded it - very hilarious - but I thought for sure he would see me and was in disbelief that he hadn't already. Soon enough he spotted us and hid in the culvert of the driveway.

Timid Deer Tracks

The deer around here are timid. If we are lucky enough to see them, it's from a distance - crossing a field one by one. They're not always hanging around like the scavengers, the second they hear us in the morning - they're gone.

In the picture below you can see two deer tracks coming up the valley to join.

Which Way Did they Go?

Deer tracks lead in the direction of the most open side. The deer that left the tracks in the two pictures below were starting on the left side and moving to the right.

There are places in the valley where the tall grass is matted down in an almost circle - this is where they sleep sometimes. Below is a picture of fresh deer prints in the sand.

Canadian Geese Sunset Fly Over

With the above 0'C weather, they loud Canadian Geese were the first to make their presence known. Watch the video of them swarming back to the lake - a few weeks ago.

I will make a point of going down to the lake this spring time to record some footage of the hordes of Canadian Geese and their goslings. Below is a quick video of a flock of Canadian Geese performing a cabin fly-by during sunset.

Wandering Flocks of Wild Turkeys - Year Round

Below is a video of a large flock of turkeys in the corn field.

Below is a picture of wild turkey tracks in the snow. Many weeks ago I posted about sneaking up on a flock of wild turkeys (Wild Turkey Sneak).

One day my wife and I were walking up to the school bus stop, there was a flock of wild turkeys crossing the road. When they saw us they all flew straight up in the air, eventually making it over to the side of the road that they were headed for. One turkey went to the wrong side, but he eventually made it over with the rest of them too. As we walked by where they were, we noticed that we had literally scared the crap out of them - sorry turkeys!

Turkeys getting some much needed rest and warmth from the setting sun - roosting high in the trees - in the picture below. A chilly -20'C that day.

What's Missing ?

As the weather warms, I'll be sure to capture footage of Rocky the Raccoon, the multiple - born wild - house cats, low circling hawks, some other surprises I'm sure, and hopefully not the skunk.

Have a great day!