![\"track\"](\"http:\/\/pfeiffernaturecenter.org\/nature-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/track-150x95.jpg\")
A brief trip south this past weekend to a place with no snow, plenty of sun, and warmer temperatures has put a\u00a0pause to my enjoyment of winter.\u00a0 It is a bleary day here, ice thick on the river, blowing snow, and cold, cold, bitter cold yet again.\u00a0 One wonders if someone is holding Punxsutawney Phil accountable for this year prediction.<\/p>\n
To lift spirits I am reflecting on my upcoming spring.\u00a0 Little pink flags line the trails around\u00a0the cabin\u00a0marking the various spring ephemerals I will photograph from the point their little green nubs emerge from the thawed ground to the final brown remains of their seedpods.\u00a0 The sugar maples have sap buckets on them and the change\u00a0of their flow will direct my attention upward to the trees budding out on a schedule I have never closely followed but will track in my journal.<\/p>\n
In addition, as if to remind me that I pay so little attention to the critters that I live alongside, the deck and path was littered with the tiniest of tracks.\u00a0 Nature literally at my doorstep!\u00a0 Sure, I have a vase full of twigs, dog-eared identification books,\u00a0a pile of fossils to examine, but right now, I would like something dynamic and alive<\/i><\/strong> to ponder\u00a0on these bleary days.\u00a0 Tracks!<\/p>\n Fresh snow, fresh tracks!\u00a0 Critters are going about their business even in these bitter still days.\u00a0 I have not mastered photographing tracks, so difficult against the white snow, so I have resorted to grabbing my field book and sketching what I see.\u00a0 I have been able to draw and identify some of my neighbors: the red fox, deer, flying squirrels, deer mice, grey squirrel, and porcupine.\u00a0 Some of the tracks are hard to\u00a0identify and wind up in a pile marked “thankful it’s not coyote”.\u00a0 Like pulling a thread to unravel a sweater, finding and identifying the tracks\u00a0has led\u00a0to so many observations and “ah ha” moments.\u00a0<\/p>\n Watching where the tracks lead is like following someone\u2019s route to the grocery store, which aisles they shop, what they stopped to pick up.\u00a0 The red fox normally did not come to this part of the road.\u00a0 This summer, utility crews cleared the side of the road leaving brush piles, which now apparently house a large rodent population.\u00a0 There are abundant mice tracks, fox tracks showing where they leapt after small prey, and even marks from an owl capturing his dinner on the run.\u00a0 I am thankful the fox has found his way to the top of the road.\u00a0 He is doing a good job keeping the outside mice from becoming inside cabin mice!<\/p>\n The tracks are giving\u00a0me not only a sense of what animals live here but also the range of their homestead and\u00a0where they are\u00a0hunting or foraging.\u00a0 I look anew\u00a0at the plants of the woods seeing which ones have\u00a0 provided foodstuffs, shelter, and more.\u00a0 I am amazed at how one observation of a single set of tracks has reminded me to see the whole system that surrounds me.\u00a0 It is truly a “community of life” as David Haskell coins it in his book A Forest Unseen<\/em>.\u00a0 He recommends a type of contemplative practice to connect with the natural environment around you.\u00a0 Although not skilled in this, what I have done on his guidance is peaceful and eye opening.<\/p>\n I live in a busy place.\u00a0 I take up the most amount of space and resources in this neighborhood but I am only one critter in the forested track that houses mostly unseen thousands.\u00a0 It reminds me that when I teach that it’s not just how to identify the track (or the tree, or the flower) but also the animal, and the animals relationships to others, and the animals relationship to us.\u00a0 I must make sure it relates to the big picture, show interconnectedness.\u00a0 It reminds me to be considerate to my neighbors as I plant this spring.\u00a0 I’d love to see forsythia along the bank but now I’m thinking elderberry and little bluestem.\u00a0 The grouse will appreciate it more year-round than I will\u00a0for the few weeks it would have provided a rush of yellow.<\/p>\n Track hunting will be my bridge through the cold days to come.\u00a0 It will be\u00a0the lively thread that will pull me into spring when it will be more difficult to “see” my neighbors.\u00a0 My hope is that by spring I will not only see the camp across the\u00a0road but also can see the range of the fox, see the paths of the deer, see the trees the flying squirrels frequent, see better my world.\u00a0<\/p>\n Here are some books that are helping me “see”\u00a0nature at my doorstep…<\/p>\n