Terri of the Trails: A Walk in the Woods with Silas

A Walk in the Woods with Silas

Home Woods

February 3, 2014

Our cat Silas likes to go on walks with m in our home woods. On this very cold February day, Silas and I roamed the woods, our feet stepping over frozen ground, moving through crackling brush and over sparkling, icy creeks.

Silas helps in a number of ways.

Silas and I went down the slope from the edge of the woods and headed for a spot that I call Cottonwood Pond (for the story of Cottonwood Pond, see my blog at http://www.cottonwoodpond.blogspot.com ).

This was our starting point, and a good place to explore. Silas walked across the icy surface of the pond to do his own exploring.

This is one of the ways he is helpful: he can walk in places where I cannot. That ice was too thin to hold the weight of a human.

We headed back up the slope at an angle to check out one of our favorite, mysterious places – a worn animal trail. I have been watching this trail for a year or so. It meanders gently up the slope, almost to the top, where there is a den.

I should not say “meander”. The animal seems to take a “path of least resistance”, and describes a trail that goes uphill with the least amount of effort. Like other wild animals, this animal gets the job done efficiently. This probably also enables it to get to and from the den quickly when danger is near.

Sometimes I find tracks on this trail, in the mud, in the dust, frozen in, or in snow. Though they are sometimes obscured, I know I am seeing more than one kind of track, including that of a coyote. Either this trail is an easy route for other animals to use, or something is keeping track of our denizen.

We were almost to the top...

… and Silas was picking up the scent.

His olfactory senses and his keen awareness are sharper than mine. That is another way that he is helpful.

The trail headed straight to this hole in the bottom of a young Hackberry tree.

This hole was too small for Raccoon, Opossum or Skunk, and certainly too small for a Coyote. So far, I suspected Squirrel, but time will tell. What I would really like to do is spend time within view of this den, when it is not bitter cold outside, and just sit and watch.

This tree is not far from the edge of the woods, behind the barn. At that place, Richard had piled a lot of debris, mostly limbs from White Pine trees that we had to cut down. Debris has been caught up against and behind this young Hackberry.

This great pile of debris has provided habitat for wildlife. Some deep holes have appeared in the pile, behind the tree. These holes look full of purpose, rather than coincidental.

I wondered if all of the dens are home to the same kind of animal. I also wondered where the hole in the tree leads. Is it connected with the other dens in the debris? Does it have a rear tunnel?

Silas did his own investigation.

Another worn trail led away from the tree in the other direction.

The trail leaving the den area

This trail went under an old wire fence (years ago, this fence divided the woods into where our sheep were allowed to roam and where they weren't allowed to go.)

Where did it go from here, Silas?

Under the fence, and then the trail begins to fade. From here, the animal must have been taking off in various directions, instead of wearing a single path.

The path got very vague at this juncture, but the animal seemed to enjoy being among the trees.

I can be as distracted and as focused as a cat.

My eye caught something that looked like shiny, wrinkled brown glass, the color of root beer. Jelly fungus, when frozen, became translucent.

Animal trails lead you to interesting places. This low, wet area, a little bit swampy, should be full of frogs in the spring.

I found some little pellets nearby, full of plant material. I assumed they came from a rabbit. I wondered if Silas had picked up rabbit scent?

I came upon another den associated with a tree, this time a long dead, fallen tree. An animal had obviously dug well into the dirt caught in the tree's root system. This hole was much larger than any holes in and around the Hackberry. Could it be Groundhog?

There was a frozen track nearby, but it didn't tell me much.

So, of course, Silas investigated.

Another way he is helpful is to get into spaces where I can't fit. But, even if I was small enough, I would not have gone in. Who knows what might be in there? I am curious, but not quite as curious as a cat.

Not knowing who the den belonged to, it would be hard to say who would win in an altercation, Silas or the denizen. Fortunately, he did not go any farther.

This shows another way that Silas helps on a woods walk: he provides a scale of measure for the size of things like animal dens.

Ahead, I saw a huge root mass where a Cottonwood had fallen. I had not noticed this huge root mass before.

By the root mass, I found a deep gorge where a creek had been cutting down through the earth. It must have undercut the Cottonwood a great deal and caused the roots to loosen their hold on what little ground was left below them.

For our woods, this was a deep gorge.

I did not remember seeing such a deep gorge this far into the woods. The storms and heavy rains in recent times must have worked quickly. It was destined to become the Grand Canyon of Our Home Woods.

The root mass and the large hole it left behind.

Once again, Silas helped by providing a scale of size, and went where I cannot reach.

I heard music, and found the babbling creek water singing melodically where it entered the gorge, obscured by debris.

Silas then went to measure the size of a nearby, upright Cottonwood, for comparison.

We reached the edge of this section of woodland. Between it and the edge of the farm field, a grove of saplings has taken over, mostly Sassafras. This area used to be clear, and was grazed by sheep.

Another old fallen giant lay on the ground before the young grove, with one great limb extended.

Silas can provide a scale of measure for the limb's thickness, the length of the limb, the height of the limb from the ground, the angle made by limb and ground, and even the area of the triangular space made by them.

What a smart cat!

We turned back toward the east and walked through the space between the woods' edge and farm edge. At the opposite end was another grove of saplings.

We reached a corner where a fence used to keep sheep out of this part of the woods. Some wire fencing remained. It looked like an agricultural artifact, but to me it did not seem that long ago that we put up the fence. I could still picture sheep here on this stretch of ground.

In time, fences don't matter. Creeks cut deep gorges beneath them that even Whitetail Deer can go through. I would be able to go through this spot, too, if I got close enough to the ground, but I did not try on this day. Silas, of course, would be able to go under with ease.

A fence was here, too, but the fence line became covered with brambles, young Red Cedar trees, and deciduous saplings. Nature takes over very quickly, and provides more food and shelter for wildlife.

Silas walked down an old fallen tree that had once stood at woods' edge. Here, he was in view of some yellow insulators left of a pole from the former electric fence. Another artifact.

We came to a triple-trunked Red Oak tree that seemed to be holding water.

A pool of water had collected in the cup-like space between the three trunks. Frozen within was the water's own collection. Were those scat, or owl pellets? There were also bright red seeds, probably deposited by a bird (and, unfortunately, from an invasive plant specie). This tree seemed to be a favorite resting place.

In folklore, water collected in places such as this is considered magical, or to have special healing power.

This was another place to watch.

We came to a Black Cherry tree with clusters of amber on it. There were also some small holes. It was likely that a Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker (a type of Woodpecker) had been drilling holes in the tree. This caused the sap to exude. The sap provides much needed sugar and energy in the middle of the winter for woodpeckers and other wildlife. On warmer days, it will also collect bugs for them.