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Algonquin Winter Tracking Algonquin Winter Tracking Expedition 2007 | 
    
      | Tuesday (Day 3) | 
    
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					|  | On Tuesday we split into two 
					groups. This page documents one group's day. We parked at 
					the end of the Opeongo Road (at least, what is the end of it 
					in the winter - it's closed just a couple of miles from the 
					highway). Here we examined the myriad of bird tracks that 
					littered the ground.  We ID'd this nice set of tracks as being those of a Crow 
					(not a Blue Jay as we first thought). |  | 
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					|  | Right nearby a Pileated 
					Woodpecker flew out of the bush and away. We went to look 
					and found its freshly chiseled holes, complete with 
					carpenter ant heads! |  | 
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					 | We also examined a nice set of 
					tracks along the road. We decided to follow them to get a 
					positive ID on what they were. This occupied us till after 
					lunch - the following, not the ID! |  | 
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					 | Off they led into the woods! |  | 
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					 | After following the tracks for 
					a while and taking some measurements we determined them to 
					be those of a Fisher. |  | 
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					 | Nice tail drag mark! If you 
					can't see it, it's the mark extending out to the right a 
					little bit, below the person on the right. |  | 
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					 | We followed the tracks all the 
					way to the den where it was holed up. We didn't actually 
					see the fisher, though. But we knew it was in there because 
					no tracks led away from the rock pile. And the tracks 
					leading into it (that we had followed) were fairly fresh. |  | 
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					 | Under the rock we found a pile 
					of porcupine and vole scat. |  | 
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					 | As we headed back to the 
					Opeongo Road, we came upon some moose beds and farther on, 
					some very fresh wolf beds in a thicket of Balsam Fir - eight 
					of them. Quite 
					an exciting discovery! |  | 
| That evening we went back to the Opeongo Road to try our hand (voice) at 
		calling the wolves. But to no avail. Although a Barred Owl and a Sawhet 
		Owl both "answered". A beautiful, clear and cold night! | 
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