Springs in my tail

'Time to estivate' I wrote back in December, when my critters began to disappear. Today, as I do almost every day, I spotted tracks in the snow. It seems as if both the raccoons and the fishers have awoken from estivation and actively hanging about. Rocky Raccoon, or is it Butch? have been on the deck dumping the peanut feeder...

The photo shows the raccoon track as it came out from under the muddy cottage.

fisher

fisher

The fisher tracks go around the edge of the lake, cruisin' for brekkie. They are a bit smudged, as the snow is deeper than the fisher likes, and it was loping. You can differentiate the fishers, forest carnivores, their claws show in the footprint (felines don't show claws if they are walking), but the fisher has 5 toes.  The fifth toe is mushed in the snow!

Here is Oliver's paw print.  He was running to join me down lakeside. (My buddy!)

 

cat track

Cats have that hidden 'thumb' or dew clawthat you or your vet must trim to prevent it growing in. Sady just had that happy event occur. Happy, because *I* didn't have to do it! She's the cat that treed the fisher. Need I say more?!

Back to my story...  Like the rest of the weasel family, fishers are larger, about 3" tracks. They don't like deep snow, either. Here is the fisher, in 2007-ish, after the Sady treed it. Honestly!

Fisher: This member of the weasel family is the size of a large house cat, with a long body, a long bushy tail, and short legs (hence their lack of love of the snow).  The egg is fertilized at the time of mating, then the embryo stops developing and remains in a dormant state until the female is in good physical condition during late winter, the embryo then implants and develops.  The actual gestation lasts approximately 30 days with parturition (birth) occurring in March and April. They typically breed again within 10 days of parturition.  Females breed at one year and have their first litter of about 3 kits at age 2 years. 

I also spotted something strange in my footprints. 

Wishing I'd asked Santa for that macro lens...I looked closer! Can you see them?! In the toe-part of my boot print.

They have a purpose: they eat decaying organics as well as bacteria, fungi, algae, pollen, round worms and rotifers.

In spring they mate, females lay eggs, the nymphs molt a few times and by winter they are adults.

Predators of Snow Fleas, and other springtails, include: beetles, ants, mites, centipedes, chiggers, salamanders, and other small insect-eaters. (Didn't notice any on my walkabout!)

I did notice them congregating in a puddle of water. I'd dug in the ice to see how thick it was. Can you see the dark cloud of them? They were 'blowin' in the wind'.

According to Wikipedia:
Research at Queen's University Canada have sequenced and synthesised the anti-freeze-like protein^[1], and found its[snow flees']  sequence to be glycine-rich, and unlike any previously known protein. There are hopes that similar proteins may be useful for storing transplant organs and for producing better ice cream.^[2] By preventing the formation of ice crystals in tissues, organs could be stored at lower temperatures, increasing their lifespan outside a living body. Unlike proteins with similar functions in other species, the protein found in snow fleas breaks down easily at higher temperatures.^[3]