On January 11, 2022 at approximately 10:35am MST, I visited the Nose Hill Natural Environment Park located in the City of Calgary (approx. GPS coordinates indicated in field notes). The weather at the time of the visit was 5℃ and sunny – best described as winter conditions during a chinook. It was the second day of the first warming after a 3 week deep freeze. Snow in the area ranged from approximately 4 to 14 inches in depth.
Nose Hill Park is considered an urban park, covering approximately 1,130 hectares of land and features 60km of designated trails and paths, a large multi-use Zone and provides valuable habitat for many native animals, including deer, coyotes, hawks and grassland birds. Portions of Nose Hill Park are also home to Foothills fescue grasslands, which are considered a threatened ecosystem.
The general topography observed in my study area would be undulating, with primarily grass and shrub vegetation, and some large areas covered by primarily deciduous trees. Rabbit, deer, and dog/coyote tracks and scat were observed, however, due to the presence of human activities and the off-leash dog park located not too far off, it was difficult to determine the difference between a dog and coyote track.
In areas with taller grass and typically some shrubs, small round snow compaction was evident, potentially resting spots for rabbits (appeared too small for deer). In the level treed area located approximately 50m east-southeast of the coordinates, there was definite evidence of deer bedding. I also observed some potential vole/mouse tracks (see photo).
Questions:
- How do animal tracks vary across a gradient in both species and abundance? Additionally, does the presence of human activity (i.e. in the form of compacted trails) influence the abundance and type of animal tracks?
- Does deer bedding and browsing intensity correlate?
- Does vegetative structure influence the evidence (abundance and species) of wildlife (via scat, tracks, browsing, etc.)
Two photos above have the same area, just the first one has 3D features and the second photo is in 2D.
I used to live in Calgary and loved going to Nose Hill. Great first post, very detailed and your questions all have potential and could be feasible for this project.