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eager beaver
Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 7:10 pm
by yuccahead
I don't know if there are others out there that enjoy the tracks and sign animals leave nearly as much as the animals themselves, but I do and I thought I'd share this one.
Beaver tracks are generally hard to come by since their tails usually wipe away their tracks and if not the tail, then they are carrying a piece of brush or a branch that wipes out everything.
This photo was taken on a sandbar on the Colorado R. and the human foot is about 11" long for reference, but the tracks show a beaver in a full gallop, front tracks behind the larger hind tracks. This guy was in a big hurry. there were several sets just like this one heading straight for the security of the river.
Re: eager beaver
Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 8:39 pm
by Iggy
Neat shots. Tracks are fun to look for and identify, please post more if you have any.
Re: eager beaver
Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 9:12 pm
by Desert Cruiser
Tracks and feces are neat to see and identify. You can tell what's in an area by the two. Nice post.
Don....
Re: eager beaver
Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 10:10 pm
by Desert Cruiser
We've spent a lot of time watching Chuckwallas and Iguanas and in doing so we've come to learn which one is living in an area by the feces we find.
Here's one example of Chuckwalla feces. The white is what's left of the solidified urine; part of which has melted in the sun on the rock into an oily consistency.
Here's what Iguana feces looks like:
Don....
Re: eager beaver
Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 5:11 pm
by yuccahead
Scatology, now we're talkin'.
Raise your hand if you collect scat.
Mines up.
I've got several unknowns and a few I'm quite sure of.
Desert Cruiser wrote:The white is what's left of the solidified urine; part of which has melted in the sun on the rock into an oily consistency.
The white, nitrogenous urine substance is a sure sign of reptiles, birds and amphibians.
Re: eager beaver
Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 6:57 pm
by reptilist
I don't collect it, but I sure can talk it!
Re: eager beaver
Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 8:13 pm
by Iggy
yuccahead:The white, nitrogenous urine substance is a sure sign of reptiles, birds and amphibians.
Does this mean that bird scat has white nitrogenous urine in it also 
Re: eager beaver
Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 8:56 pm
by Desert Cruiser
Mines up too! I showed this once a long time ago on the site and that's when we learned that their urine is solidified. When I posted it the first time, we thought it was laying an egg then either Jerry or Terry told us what it was. Of all the Iguana photos we have this one has always been one of my favorites. How often do you catch something like that? Of course that's what got us interested in the feces so we'd know what was living in an area that we were visiting.
A closer look:
Solidified urine who would have guessed? Sorry about derailing your post!
Don....
Re: eager beaver
Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 1:37 pm
by Apache Devil
The Dzrt Grls caught a perfect pic of a whiptail in the act of raising it's tail and letting out a big one. Amazing shot. ha ha ha. As for the photo at the top of this page, I think a one-legged man and a beaver were making love.
Re: eager beaver
Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 6:25 pm
by Pamela Lee
Ok...my hand is only sorta up.
I've been known to tear apart coyote feces to see what they've been eating.
Also what I think were owl pellets too - aren't they the birds that reguritate undigested bits and pieces?
Several years ago pulled apart an owl pellet and found a small rattlesnake fang.
Very interesting.
Pamela Lee