As you start up the George Lewis Memorial Trail, look behind you to your left, and you'll see sycamore trees. You also see Winter Brook, an intermittent stream that flows alongside the trail. The wooded area around the stream is a riparian buffer and is a great place to look for animal tracks in the winter.
If you look behind you to your left, you will see a smattering of large sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) trees along Winter Brook. Sycamore trees are easily identifiable by their rough, brown, peeling bark that reveals a smooth inner, white layer.
These trees are often found by stream beds in moist soil and are known for being the largest indigenous tree in the northeast. Female flowers create a fuzzy, spherical ball fruit. In fall and early winter, the wind blows the tufts away from the fruit ball, effectively spreading its seeds.
Photo: Sycamore tree, photographed by Robert Pease.
A riparian buffer, or corridor, refers to the vegetation surrounding a stream or river, in this case Winter Brook. Riparian buffers are hotspots for vegetative growth as well as for animal activity.
Additionally, these buffers have significant ecological importance due to their ability to filter out pollutants such as fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and heavy metals that could contaminate aquatic ecosystems. Other functions of riparian buffers include sediment filtration from runoff and erosion control by the roots of trees and shrubs that hold river bank soil together.
Riparian buffers also provide ample resources for animals who use stream banks as travel corridors. Along the banks and within the buffer, animals have access to fresh water, shelter, and food.
​During the winter, this area offers good opportunities to spot animals' tracks as they travel along the bank of Winter Brook looking for food or shelter. The best times to look for tracks are right after a fresh snowfall and right after a heavy rain. Look for them during the early morning or late afternoon, as the midday, overhead sun can visually flatten tracks.
To successfully identify most tracks, you should use a track guide and measurement tool. Then, ask yourself some questions about the broad features of the track and gradually work your way down to more specific descriptions until you have identified a species.
A good place to start is by determining the general size of the track--is it large, medium, or small? That will significantly narrow down the possible options. Next, identify whether the track is classified as a hopper, bounder, waddler, or walker. These are the four main categories that animal tracks are classified into and describe the gait or walking pattern of the animal. Other important details that help people identify tracks is whether or not it is a hoof or paw, if it has webbing, or if the track shows nails.
Photo: Raccoon tracks, photographed by Christa Collins.
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