Track of the Week 9

Setting:
November 16, 2008 at Bob Heirman park along the Snohomish river in Washington. The river had recently flooded.

This week's questions aren't so much tracks, but are important things for a well rounded tracker to know. If there are other features you would like to see for any of these questions, you can ask and I may have a picture that shows them from a different angle.

1. Who am I?

Ably identified by the commenter, this is a shrew-mole. In addition to what the commenter said, note that the nose is naked and the fur is uniform in color around the whole body. Shrew-moles are the smallest North American moles.

2. Who am I?

Also ably identified by the commenter, this is a shrew. I am not experienced enough to identify it to species. From what I can tell, the long tail, bi-coloration, size, and shape of the nose are useful in identifying shrews. I hadn't realized that shrew eyes were so tiny. One interesting thing I learned is that some species of shrews use echo location.

Bonus 1. Who am I?

I don't have the proper resources to identify this, but a friend who is a knowledgable naturalist tells me it is a bull frog. This seems quite reasonable to me considering the size of it. I was surprised to find tadpoles this time of year, but apparently it can take up to 3 years for bullfrogs to grow from eggs to adults.

Bonus 2. What evidence of the flooding can you see? (Definitely would be a good idea to view the enlarged image.)

The main clue is a bit difficult to see, but the bottom of the trees are all grey from silt picked up during the flood. There is a line at the same height on all of the trees where it shifts from grey to green. This line was also visible along the side of the valley.

Previous Track of the Week
Next Track of the Week