Posted by Melanie Christenson on February 7, 2008

Q: We found these tracks near a large river in our area. They weren't very far apart and seem 3-toed so I put them in the bird category but don't really know for sure what they could be. The seemed to end at the base of a tree - at first it seemed like they were leading into the tree but if they were a bird track I wasn't sure why the tracks would end up at a tree with a hollow in it. Can you give me some idea what this might be?

Habitat: stream/river

State: Wisconsin

Habitat: stream/river

A: Oh Melanie, you've got me at a real disadvantage. The photos really help but I have no way to determine what size they are! Yes, these are definitely bird tracks but without a size, it's really difficult to tell what it might be.

There are three possibilities that immediately come to mind however - American Crow, Wild Turkey, Ruffed Grouse. I'm unsure whether the snow has melted a bit causing the tracks to widen or not as this would be an ID factor too.

If these were from a crow, there would probably be a bit of foot/toe dragging lines between each step so I'm more inclined to think they're either turkey or grouse. The Wild Turkey is a rather large bird with feet that are from 3.5 to 4.5 inches long and 3.75 to 4.25 wide. I couldn't find any size reference to grouse tracks but they'd be smaller than the turkey.

Your photo of the single foot has me thinking that since each toe seems rather wide, it may well be the Ruffed Grouse with "winter feet". Grouse grow tiny scales on their toes in winter and this helps keep them on top of the snow. Check out our archived unit for the week of March 8, 2004 and you'll see what I'm referring to.

Sorry I can't nail this for you but I hope this helps. Thanks for sharing.

John Wiessinger ( February 10, 2008)