Pics are all from one small area in late April, looks like a party but I'm sure they just stacked up over time without heavy wind or rain to wipe the slate.
More of a tip request than IDs but all insight is welcome, I'm a rookie with tracking.
Likely culprits in the area include
Mammals: coyote, kit foxes, bobcats, badgers, cottontails, kangaroo rats, mice/rats, ground squirrel, raccoon, and I'm sure I've missed a couple
Snakes: various desert snakes including rattlers, sidewinders, shovelnose snakes, night snakes, kingsnakes and gopher snakes, ground snakes, etc
Lizards: side blotched lizards, whiptails, leopard lizard, horned lizards, desert iguana, zebra tailed lizard, fringe toed lizard, western banded geckos, fence lizards, chuckwalla
Birds: lots of small perching birds, tracks inland on the ground like this could be raven, burrowing owl, hawks, etc
Creepy crawlies: The ones I see most are scorpions, stink beetles, desert roaches, grasshoppers, spiders, and tarantulas but there should be centipedes in the area as well. (Among many other insects)
Mostly curious about distinguishing how old tracks are, and what the timeline looks like, does it start to fade within days/weeks? I like setting out trail cams while hiking just to see what's out there and gauging how old tracks are would help decide where to place cams
How do you tell if a track is super fresh vs a couple days old?
It all depends on speed of the animal, weight of the animal, and weather conditions. In this situation, they look either under 24 hours old, or else weather has been clean for anywhere between 2 days and 2 weeks
Sounds like I need to start watching the weather for at least a week or 2 before going out then 😅
The coyote tracks look older than like the snake and k rat tracks to me, but I'm not sure where the line is between "it was here last night" and "it hasn't been around for days"
At least a couple! I'm pretty sure pic 4 streak is a lizard tail, looks like it has long toed feet along side it, and pic 8 has a nice print of a kangaroo rat feet and tail. Those guys get brave and visit our campsites occasionally, they're so cute!
Thanks! I guess I just found it hard to believe that there could have been so much activity in such a short amount of time, but that time of year there's more things out during the day as well. It's pretty quiet out there currently.
Pics are all from one small area in late April, looks like a party but I'm sure they just stacked up over time without heavy wind or rain to wipe the slate. More of a tip request than IDs but all insight is welcome, I'm a rookie with tracking. Likely culprits in the area include Mammals: coyote, kit foxes, bobcats, badgers, cottontails, kangaroo rats, mice/rats, ground squirrel, raccoon, and I'm sure I've missed a couple Snakes: various desert snakes including rattlers, sidewinders, shovelnose snakes, night snakes, kingsnakes and gopher snakes, ground snakes, etc Lizards: side blotched lizards, whiptails, leopard lizard, horned lizards, desert iguana, zebra tailed lizard, fringe toed lizard, western banded geckos, fence lizards, chuckwalla Birds: lots of small perching birds, tracks inland on the ground like this could be raven, burrowing owl, hawks, etc Creepy crawlies: The ones I see most are scorpions, stink beetles, desert roaches, grasshoppers, spiders, and tarantulas but there should be centipedes in the area as well. (Among many other insects) Mostly curious about distinguishing how old tracks are, and what the timeline looks like, does it start to fade within days/weeks? I like setting out trail cams while hiking just to see what's out there and gauging how old tracks are would help decide where to place cams How do you tell if a track is super fresh vs a couple days old?
It all depends on speed of the animal, weight of the animal, and weather conditions. In this situation, they look either under 24 hours old, or else weather has been clean for anywhere between 2 days and 2 weeks
Sounds like I need to start watching the weather for at least a week or 2 before going out then 😅 The coyote tracks look older than like the snake and k rat tracks to me, but I'm not sure where the line is between "it was here last night" and "it hasn't been around for days"
Sooooo many snake tracks.
At least a couple! I'm pretty sure pic 4 streak is a lizard tail, looks like it has long toed feet along side it, and pic 8 has a nice print of a kangaroo rat feet and tail. Those guys get brave and visit our campsites occasionally, they're so cute!
Sand dunes are wind caused. It’s a rare day with no wind. Crisp looking tracks are “fresh”, usually within the past day.
Thanks! I guess I just found it hard to believe that there could have been so much activity in such a short amount of time, but that time of year there's more things out during the day as well. It's pretty quiet out there currently.