Being that we're more than halfway through summer, we're packing in the field work as much as possible. Unfortunately I have some projects that require quite a bit of office time, and this year's field work hasn't been that exciting. But I'll take what I can get and enjoy the subtleties of this wild place. (If you're riding ATVs in a large group, subtleties are about all you get.)
That said, I have some more lovely pictures to share:
These were taken on a trip near Denali National Park and Preserve. We stopped to scout our way through a muddy mess, and I happened to glance down at my tire at the first set of tracks. No one I was with could be sure of their origin: too small for a wolf, too big for a fox, not the right area for a coyote because of the presence of wolves. I placed my finger next to the tracks for scale to ID back at the office. It turns out they could be wolverine tracks. This is the only set I've seen that weren't in snow, and these are very fresh. The claw marks are sharply defined, and this mud fills in fast. I'm guessing, based on the water in the prints, that the tracks are 15-30 minutes old. Based on the size, it was probably a female. No way we would have seen this snarly, elusive, powerful weasel with all of the noise we were making. But very exciting all the same!
Of note, the mystery tracks are quite the source of debate down in Healy. I've heard everything from lynx to domestic dog. I still think wolverine is a possibility, as they leave a variety of prints. Maybe we'll never know.
The second picture was taken on the eastern bank of the Savage River. The bear track is that of a grizzly, probably a yearling or two-year-old according to size. Next to it is a wolf track. These scavengers were probably searching the shore for washed up carcasses. We placed a stem of fireweed in the picture for scale.
Finally, dwarf fireweed growing right in the Savage River. This is a species found in areas of disturbance, but not disturbance of this magnitude! The water levels were obviously quite high- just below record levels in the area. The mighty Savage prevented us from heading west to the Teklanika on this trip. The water levels seem to be changing fast.
Alaska will talk to you in subtle ways if you listen.
Mystery
Grizzly and wolf tracks
Dwarf fireweed