Mystery continues

ORRINGTON – As you may remember, last time two experienced naturalists were hot on the trail of an animal that had left tracks in Fields Pond Audubon Center territory. After following the well-trod trail to a den site, the evidence, quills and scat, were unequivocal that a porcupine lived there. However, the tracks hadn’t quite looked like porcupine tracks!

We were puzzled, and wanted to unravel this mystery. The well-trod trail continued past the porcupine den.

Deeper into the forest we went. We came upon an old fence line where, once upon a time, cows had grazed. This Audubon property was once part of the Curran Farm and cows used to graze in a field where now the forest grows.

So we followed the well-traveled animal trail along this fence line. The fence was still intact but the trail indicated that the animal(s) had little difficulty going from one side to another. We, on the other hand, had a bit of a scramble to follow the trail as it crossed the fence and back again.

Another den

Eventually we came to what looked like another den tree. Only this den tree was a big hollow stump, not a live tree like the ash tree and den that we had first encountered.

Looking around the base of the snag, we didn’t see quills or scat either. Hmmm. We pondered, what is the porcupine doing at this site? No feeding sign (porcupines eat bark and twigs from live trees) and no scat or other signs indicated that a porcupine lived here.

When we looked into the dark hole at the base of the stump, what to our wondering eyes should appear, but a tail with rings on it! A raccoon was living here!

So whose tracks had we been following? The trail was well packed and distinct tracks were hard to come by, but it now made sense why in one place we thought we were following a porcupine and in another we thought we were following a raccoon. We had both! But it brought up more questions for us to ponder. Do these animals often share trails? They were living fairly close together. Do these two species interact and how do they get along?

They wouldn’t compete for the same food supply, so maybe they make good neighbors – as long as there are enough den trees! In any case, a den site is always fun to find. Two dens connected by the same trail, made by two different animals who stepped in each other’s footprints, was quite a surprise! No wonder we were a little confused at first!

Muddy raccoon tracks in the springtime are common, but raccoons tend to sleep away much of the winter. We don’t usually find raccoon tracks in snow at the Fields Pond Audubon Center.

Send sightings, comments, or questions to fieldspond@maineaudubon.org