 |
|||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tracking Challenge Three - The case of the Scattered Feathers.
Clues: Walking through the woods after a fresh snow, we came upon a few feathers on the ground. The more we looked around us, the more we found -- hundreds and hundreds of feathers, scattered all over the snow. Many were in one area, but the wind had carried others far and wide. Most of the feathers were small, downy, and grey colored, sometimes with soft pinkish-red tips. Others were about two or three inches long, with bold black and white patterns. After some searching, we came across these strange tracks in the snow. We've had to apply the 'Track Enhancement Filter' to the photograph in order to make these tracks visible enough to get some clues. The small black long thing near the tree is a feather -- the same kind that was found scattered throughout the area.
There's a lot to see in this picture. Any ideas what story the tracks are telling?
Solution: These tracks tell the story of a very dramatic event. You can see the wing-marks of a very big bird, and the wing-marks near the tree of a much smaller bird. These birds were struggling in the snow. The feathers are the feathers of a woodpecker -- judging by the red-tinged ones that were scattered about and the size of the feathers, we can guess that it was probably a Red-Bellied Woodpecker. The woodpecker had a run-in with a big raptor -- possibly a Red-Tailed Hawk, but more likely an owl. Red-Tailed Hawks prefer to hunt in the open areas, especially in fields along the forest's edge, where it is easiest for them to fly. The woods where the feathers were found were open enough for a hawk to fly and hunt, but it's much more likely that an owl -- probably a Great-Horned Owl -- caught this woodpecker. It then flew up into a tree and stripped the smaller bird of feathers -- that's why we found feathers scattered all over the place, because they had drifted down from a high tree branch and floated on the wind for a little while before they settled to the snowy ground.
|
