Could be colder...

So last Thursday morning I ventured out into the balmy 6 degree morning air in an attempt to find some fresh tracks after the dusting of snow that we got in Ipswich/Rowley area last Wednesday evening. I was fairly optimistic about my chances of finding so good looking tracks...and I was right. I was able to find a fair amount of fisher tracks(right).What was interesting was how the fisher tracks seemed just wonder around. I followed the tracks to see if I could follow his/her movement but they just went around in circles, stopping at random, only to double back on its self. So I thought maybe it was mating season and a male was chasing a female around, but male and female apparently don't come into contact with each other until late March early April when they start breeding. What is pretty cool is that the female delays fertilization for 10 months. This could mean that there shall be some fisher kits around, cute and vicious what a great combo. I also saw fox, rabbit, racoon, and mouse tracks. What was strange was the absence of deer tracks, normally they are everywhere but after that snow fall not a track was to be seen. Perhaps the extremely low temps forced them to stay huddled up. I am also curious to know how all these little critters manage to keep there feet warm... So I am pretty sure the owl that heard was the barred owl. They have incredibly creep call, that can alternate between the normal hooting and then this crazy laughing.