December 17, 2023: Cat and Mouse

Snow squalls this week dropped enough fresh snow to reveal the cat and mouse games that constantly take place in the forest.  I say cat and mouse, but the antagonist was just as likely to be a canine as a feline.  

For a good mile, both sides of the path I was following through a hardwood forest in the Rumney area were peppered with the trails of mice.  Maybe.  They could also have been voles, moles, or even shrews - I don't know.  

The trail of some small rodent out searching for food. 
Note the larger predator tracks coming in from the upper left.

But they sure were busy gathering up the bounty of this fall's mast.

These larger tracks look like squirrel.

And then there were the tracks of the animals hunting for all those high-protein meals.

This track may be a bobcat.  Bobcat often drag their feet in snow, and fox usually trot with their feet landing in a perfectly straight line.

The snow cover isn't deep enough to provide the hunted much protection from the hunters, and often they took just a small excursion out from a safe hideaway and back again.

Other trips were more extensive, but all trails still had ready access to multiple safe hiding spots.

Tail-drag is quite evident here which makes me think this is a mouse
because they have the longest tails.

The hunters knew they were down there; they circled around, smelling that savory treat like one would a hot turkey roasting in the oven on Thanksgiving Day. 

Somewhere under that small spruce tree a mouse was surely hiding.

This hunter I don't know.  It left large prints - maybe a coyote?  Probably not a bobcat as they prefer to lie patiently in ambush, waiting for lunch to walk by, and then pounce.

Back at the lake, the progress we had been making towards ice-in had a set back this week when a warm, windy day took out the ice from most of the lake.  

Not much ice on the lake as of yesterday.

Our protected cove managed to hold firm as it had a thicker covering.  

After a couple of cold nights mid-week I ventured out a few feet to cut a hole and found three inches of solid black ice - not enough for safe use, and by today I wouldn't even dare step out to check the thickness.  It was one of those short squalls that put that trace of snow on the ice.  

There were some pretty days this week.

Blue skies and bright maple branches.

I'll close with a late afternoon picture of the White Mountains as seen from Wicwood Shores Road.  Mt. Tecumseh is on the left, Osceola in the middle, and Sandwich Dome on the right. That half circle of white is snow on the ski trails at Waterville Valley.

Looking north from Wicwood Shores Road.

Will everything be white by Christmas?