New Hampshire Nature Notes
by Eric Orff

Tracks and scats and what's on the menu this week.

Wednesday 08/18/2010

Poop(scat) can tell you a lot about what is happening locally. And this weeks piles of poop sure show what is on the menu for the local wildlife. Whether it is coyote, fox, raccoon, bear or bird it seems like it is the American cherry that is the meal of choice around here. My daily hikes have been are along a trail scattered with the remains of cherry meals. Cherry pits are piled at 100 yard intervals it seems. Coyotes and foxes prefer to travel the same routes I do along these trails and like to let other know who is occupying this territory by generously leaving the piles very conspicuously.

Thank goodness for the American cherry trees that seem to be producing an abundance of fruit in this drought of a year. Raspberries, blackberries, dewberries and most other natural fruits are just plain non existent in this drought. Most have simple shriveled on the bushes this summer. But the cherry trees seem to have dug down deep into the earth to bring up the moisture to form plump ripe little cherries.

I am seeing turkeys galore as well. They are in the fields picking off the plentiful crickets that fill the night air with their songs. And the grass hoppers seem to be thriving as well adding to the bounty of food available to all manners of critters. But we are still desperate for a decent rainfall. Really we need the remnants of a hurricane to sweep up boat loads of moisture from the Gulf and dribble it over us. Our rivers and streams remain dry or nearly so.