Who walked this way?
Let's see, four long skinny toes indicating these are bird tracks, but let's look closer.
Not two toes in front and two in back (zygodactyl), so not a woodpecker or cuckoo. Not webbed (palmate or totipalmate), so not a duck or goose. What we see is three toes in the front and one in back. This toe pattern is called anisodactyl. It is the most common pattern, and so not that much help. The tracks were about two inches long and quite deep. The tracks are regularly spaced, so the bird was walking, not hopping.
Luckily all I had to do was look across the road into the farm field to clinch the identification. American crows flock together by the hundreds in the winter, and there they were, covering the ground, whirling in groups through the air, and decorating the trees. Crows make a boisterous crowd. They will take off together to mob an owl or a hawk harassing it until it is driven away. Despite their boldness toward predators, they took flight whenever I got near, even when they were in the trees. I enjoy watching their antics now, because in the spring I won't be seeing this gathering any longer. The group will break up as small family groups (including last year's young) go off to nest and care for the hatchlings.
Not two toes in front and two in back (zygodactyl), so not a woodpecker or cuckoo. Not webbed (palmate or totipalmate), so not a duck or goose. What we see is three toes in the front and one in back. This toe pattern is called anisodactyl. It is the most common pattern, and so not that much help. The tracks were about two inches long and quite deep. The tracks are regularly spaced, so the bird was walking, not hopping.
Luckily all I had to do was look across the road into the farm field to clinch the identification. American crows flock together by the hundreds in the winter, and there they were, covering the ground, whirling in groups through the air, and decorating the trees. Crows make a boisterous crowd. They will take off together to mob an owl or a hawk harassing it until it is driven away. Despite their boldness toward predators, they took flight whenever I got near, even when they were in the trees. I enjoy watching their antics now, because in the spring I won't be seeing this gathering any longer. The group will break up as small family groups (including last year's young) go off to nest and care for the hatchlings.
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