Who's the Top Tom?

 Turned the corner on the way home last week and stopped for the show. 


I didn't have a good camera with me, but pulled out my phone to get these shots.  Three big toms were keeping ladies on both sides of the road entranced with their beautiful tails and dance.  At first the ladies were on both sides of the road, but as the car came down the hill, most moved to the right and away -- still watching the toms.  Once I had my phone camera in place, I began inching down the road, taking a couple of photos.  That's when it became clear who the top tom was.  

Two of the toms hesitated, tails diminishing, while the third turned slowly to face "me" off (me being a big black sedan).  As I approached closer, the other two toms slid off the road -- the winner of this contest never backing down his bluff manner, but wisely backing to the side of the road, ultimately following the hens as I passed by.  There was no question in any of our minds as to who placed first in the TOP TOM contest!

Wondering... Fisher or Marten?

Sunday Surprise

Today we came home to find that a mystery visitor had come to call, probably attracted by the "sweet scent" from the pick-up load of mulch dropped yesterday.

Black, mulchy tracks led from the wet mulch to a pool of red, muddy water. From there, they became the color of the red clay. Plus, we got the extra dividend of the tail print -- seems s/he sat for a moment or two fishing in another red puddle.

The prints seemed large for a racoon, but... we decided to check it out.

In the neighborhood we've seen: skunk, fox, raccoon, ringtails, mink (we think), mountain lion, bear... This doesn't really look like any of these, but. We checked it out.

Racoon? would have heel marks.

Fox? would have four toes.

Skunk? tracks not paired, heel showing.

Bobcat? four toes.

Weasel? usually only shows four toes.

Mink? would be smaller.

Ringtail? would be smaller.

Fisher? Ahhh... Maybe.

Martin? Also.... Maybe.

Fishers and martens are similar members of the weasel family. Fishers are darker and bigger. Track patterns are similar to martens, but larger. This can be confusing, because Fisher females are half the size of the male. Two essential differences:

Fisher

* width of single print >2.5"

* width of side/side prints>4.5"

Martin

* width of single print <2.5"

* width of side/side prints<4.5

Judging from the distance across the two prints, this is the track of a small fisher.

Did you notice the tail print this fisher made after taking a muddy dip? Because it's a print of the underside of the tail, it's uncertain the full length, but the underside is a minimum of 9 inches. Hmmm... large marten? (fisher tail length tail length 13-17")

Guess we'd better do a bit more research.

Your thoughts?


PS: tracks appeared during church (between 9:30am and 1:30pm), so it is not a strictly nocturnal creature.