Tracks: wildlife stories in the snow

Tracks: wildlife stories in the snow
Tracks in a skiff of snow on a tree stump indicate the arrival and departure of a small bird. Considering the birds most frequently seen in that area, the tracks likely were made by a chickadee or an Oregon junco. (Rich Landers)

WILDLIFE WATCHING -- The weather presented only one brief opportunity for good tracking conditions through fresh snow during the nine-day Washington modern firearms elk hunting season that ended on Sunday.

Fresh snow is to hunters what the pages of a book are to voracious readers. We long for it.

Even though I tried to focus on elk tracks on the one day of snow we had in the Blue Mountains last week, I couldn't help but be sidetracked by other creatures and the stories they left in the snow for me to read.

In this case, my pursuit of wapiti was interrupted by a fling with, perhaps, chickati.


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