Winter Walking: Tracks and Birds

Last week, driving home from a walk at a winter-frosted marsh, we saw this:

See it? Right smack dab in the middle, screened by branches? It’s an eagle!

We stopped the car, got out, strove for a better view — all to no avail. Then, it took off and wheeled above us, seemingly mocking us earthbound creatures.

We’ve gone back a few times and parked across the river to watch it. Last time, I got a picture.

It’s about a quarter of a mile away; the river is wide at that point. My camera doesn’t capture a very sharp image. But I followed it through the zoom lens as it flew even farther upriver — and landed in a tree with its mate!

We were excited! We hadn’t seen the second eagle. Some sunny day, I hope to get a good picture. But sunny days are in short supply this time of year.

When they do come, the girls and I capitalize on them. Here are a few things we’ve seen in January.

My father confirmed for us that these are fisher tracks, and the more I read about fishers, the more dismayed I am. They apparently like to eat squirrels, of which there are many among the walnut trees bordering this pond. I also read that they like habitats with lots of dead wood, and there are plenty of decaying trees in this marshy place. Though they’re called fishers, they don’t really fish. Supposedly their name is derived from a Dutch word, “visse;” in French their pelts were called “fiche.” “Visse” means “nasty.”

We know this was a muskrat trail because we surprised the muskrat. He was sitting stock still when we first saw him, at which point he scurried in terror across the trail in front of us and vanished into his hole. We gaped in astonishment.

I think he’s this guy, whom I saw a few days earlier. He’s not very wary. I hope he and his mate know there’s a fisher about. Fishers even eat porcupines; I’m sure they wouldn’t hesitate to eat a muskrat.

More tracks:

I think those might be grouse tracks. I saw one this morning on my walk in the woods, quietly eying me before walking deliberately away into the brush.

This morning, I saw several of these little wood mouse tunnels/trails across the main path.

I couldn’t help but think of Wendell Berry’s description of a wood mouse’s home in Whitefoot: A Story from the Center of the World, which the girls and I reread recently:

Her native country was about an acre of ground overhung by about an acre of sky crisscrossed by grassblades, weedstems, the stems of twigs of low bushes, and the limbs of trees.

I tried to fit my perspective into these little tunnels when I saw them, and once I saw a lightning-fast dark bolt shoot along one of them. It always amazes me to be looking at just the right place at just the right moment to catch something so fleeting.

We’ve seen birds too. Most are common winter birds.

We’ve seen lots of hawks too, but I’ve already posted those images under my hawks tag. The only other image I’d like to post is of a bird that winters here, but that I’ve never seen in winter before this year: the Carolina wren. This little fellow was really belting it out in the chilly sunshine this morning during my walk. It’s still hard for me to believe that such a big sound was coming from such a little bird. I’m not sure who he was trying to impress, but he impressed me!

I know this post is really image-heavy, but I like to keep track of our walks and sightings. Still, I’m going to forego some of the botanical beauties we’ve seen — mosses, lichens, winterberries, a porcupine tree, frost-encrusted ferns (which my daughter called “sugar-coated ferns.”) Instead I’ll close with a few samples from our journals.

(I wrote about this here.)

Whew! What a looong post. If you’ve made it this far, thank you for joining us on our winter rambles!