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That's me on the 40-Acre Lake Trail at Brazos Bend State Park (12/31/2007). I was waiting for an otter to show up. It didn't. Over the years that I've been keeping these pages,
making new observations and learning new things, I have met some interesting people.  Two of them are Dr. Anthony Martin and Dr. Lisa Buckley.  They study ichnology--
animal traces.  While the term is commonly used in relation to fossils (such as dinosaur tracks), it also applies to living creatures as well (sometimes called "neoichnology"
 with "paleoichnology" for fossils).  One major aspect of this study is that such traces can show animal behavior.  For instance, a single footprint might not say much, except 
what kind of animal made it; but a series them might tell if the animal was running, or jumping etc.   There are three basic factors that help to interpret traces: A) Substrate (the
material that holds the trace) ; B) Anatomy (the part of the animal that affected the substrate) and C) Behavior (what the animal was doing with the anatomy that affected the 
substrate).  (see "The Three Pillars of Ichnologic Wisdom" page 9 in  Life Traces of the Georgia Coast by Anthony J. Martin)  I admit that I am not very good at finding and
interpreting such traces. But, it is still fun to look and try to piece together the mystery of what transpired at that spot before I got there.  I usually capture images of animals
activity.  But every now and then I've taken pictures of traces.  I'll begin collecting them here.  I will eventually arrange them in chronogical order of some kind.  Many, many
thanks to Dr. Martin and Dr. Buckley for many conversations via email and online; and for being supportive of my amateurish efforts. 

One more thing: Although alligator burrows (or dens) and nests would be considered ichnological traces. I've only got one example of an alligator den on this page. I have 
many observations of alligator dens, and have already gathered them onto other pages, starting here.

This page is arranged with the newest entries at the top. 

05/27/2023 I went to Scobee Field to see what the rain a few weeks before might have affected. The area was mostly dry, although there was a little bit of
water in the ditches near the road. I examined the dried ditches to see what sort of burrows were left, and I found another example of an Apple Snail in a burrow! Although
they live in water, Apple Snails can aestivate in mud during dry periods for 10 months! For more about Apple Snails (Pomacea sp.) you can visit my snail page here.
There were a few egg masses on the culvert near the restrooms even though the ditch was dry. So I knew that adult snails had been around. Then I saw this hole that
contained 2 snail shells.
   

I used a metal rod I'd found in the area to measure the depth to the top of the snail shell--about 5 centimeters. When worked the snail out of the hole (it was a tight fit), I
found that the snail was alive. The operculum was sealed across the shell opening and was being held tightly closed.  I was taking pictures with my phone, and in the
bright sunlight it was hard to focus into the hole. But I got a few, that show the bottom was rounded across the width, and pretty smooth. How does an Apple Snail dig,
anyway? Of course, the hole was dug while the bottom was still soft, as the water was evaporating. The snail was about 5cm...long?
   

The hole was about 5-1/2 cm across (of course, snail sized). I used the same rod to measure the depth of the hole--about 9cm! I still can't find any images of Apple Snail
burrows anywhere online (although I can find mention that they do burrow to aestivate). This is my second direct observation of an Apple Snail in a burrow. The first one
was also at Scobee Field, and is shown on my my snail page here , as well as one of my ichnology (animal traces) pages here.
   

On 01/08/2023  I was at BBSP, and it was an interesting day. It had been raining at the park. Many of the trails are covered with a crushed-stone material. When we get
the correct type of rain, water collects on the trails, and the lighter materials in the trail-the tiniest grains-work out and then settle on the low spots. This leaves sections of fine-grained mud that
are good for collecting footprints.  The best time to see footprints on the trails in BBSP is early morning.  There are two reasons for this: 1) When the sun is low, the light makes such traces
easier to see. 2) Most footprints on the trails are obliterated by traffic by the end of the day. There were two sets of alligator tracks that morning. The first set was from a larger gator and shows
the big four-toed rear feet, the smaller front feet, and a good crease made by dragging the tail.
   

Another set was from a smaller gator and shows a fainter trail, but with some scale impressions captured in the footprints.
   

There were also these mammal tracks. I always hope see Otter tracks, but I don't think an Otter made these. No traces of claws or webbing, for one thing.  They are too big, and the wrong
shape for a Squirrels or Opossum. They aren't right for Nutria either.  Raccoons have a very clear "hand print" shape, so not that, either. Armadillos might walk the trail, but I usually don't see
traces of them on the Spillway Trail. Also, Armadillos tend to bulldoze through plant matter on the edges of the trails, and I didn't see any evidence of that. Dog prints are more stretched
front-to-back, and  usually show toenails, so I don't think they're from a dog.  The prints have a more "oval" shape, longer side-to-side, with large middle pad. The front feet are slightly more
stretched. I believe these are cat prints...and a pretty large one, since the prints are about 2 inches across.  Maybe a bobcat made them!
   

There were 2 sets of prints at least 20 yards apart.  This is the second set. The prints are the same shape and size as in the first set. If they did come from a Bobcat, then I might have just
missed seeing one walking along the Spillway Trail.
   

From BBSP on 07/03/2022  The water level drop in Pilant Lake has affected all kinds of things. I've been curious about watching Gallinules using their long toes to distribute their weight over
various substrates. On 7/03, I was able to get a close look at Gallinule walking on the mud in Pilant Lake.  The video of this one walking, and the others chasing the Little Blue Heron are in a video
and the video is here(mp4). The images below (and above) are frames from the video.  The video shows how resilient the mud surface was, as it flexed and sprung back as the bird
walked on it.  There were some footprints left, but only faint ones, that probably would fade. Then, the Gallinule stepped into softer mud, and it ran off, using the same technique it would
use to run on water--flapping wings and running. That time it left impressions, but the mud was too soft for them to last. The arrows in the images point to the footprints.

   

   

   

   

 

In Houston on 05/11/2022   At my exercise area, I noticed another mud "cast" on the dirt trail. This time, I thought I knew what it was (because of what I'd seen a week
 ago), so I got the camera before investigating. I pulled up on the "plug" and uncovered another cicada nymph burrow. Click the link for a short film that includes some of these photos
as well as some video clips.
   

About 5 minutes later, a cicada nymph showed its face, and started
 applying a paste to the edges of its hole. As with the previous nymph, this one withdrew, then returned a few minutes later to add more paste to the edge of the hole. I replaced the plug
 and left something near it so I wouldn't step on it, and started my exercises.
   

This is the second time I've seen a cicada nymph produce "paste".  I figure that it's partially-composed of dirt; but what is the moistening agent? The ground was dry, and I don't think there
was "mud" just a few inches down. Do the nymphs secrete liquid?  If they do, what is it--water, mucus...something else? How much can a nymph produce?
   

About 20 minutes later a Great-Tailed Grackle (Quiscalus mexicanus) landed nearby (as they often do while I'm working out), and began foraging. I happened to be looking at it when it
noticed the "cicada plug" and moved towards it. My camera was on the ground near the plug. I moved to the camera as the Grackle moved towards the plug and started to pry it up. I hoped
 to capture this on film but the grackle stopped digging moved away when I picked up the camera . So the most I could do was take pictures of the excavated plug.  I moved around the tree
 to let the Grackle continue, when it found another cicada hole and started digging at it. I got a few pictures some video, but the grackle gave up and walked off.  This is another example
 of Grackles recognizing and exploiting a food source. They (or at least one of them) recognized a small pile of dried mud as a place to dig for food! Exploration of an open hole is also
noteworthy--although I think many animals explore voids or openings in the environment. For the Grackle to recognize that the pile of mud was different and worth investigating seems pretty
 cool.
   
  

From Houston on 05/02/2022.  I was checking my exercise area for stones and poop when I noticed this lump. I didn't want to step on it for many reasons. I could
 already tell that it wasn't poop, but thought it was a burrow casting of some kind.  When I picked up the lump, what I uncovered was so interesting that I put lump back, then delayed my
 exercise to run back to the car and get a camera. Then I lifted the mud lump again.  The hole looked like a cicada burrow (I often see them here). But the fabricated mud cap had
confused me...  
...until the owner of the burrow appeared.
   

 

It was a cicada nymph!  Then it returned to the depths. By the way, the images of the nymph below are from video I filmed then.  You can see the short video here (mp4).
   

I waited a while, and it made another trip.  I've seen many cicada burrows-here, and at other places. But this behavior was new to me, so I did research after I got back home. Cicada
 nymphs  sometimes make a chimney, turret or a cap over their burrow while waiting to emerge!  I saw pictures online of some turrets that resembled small versions of crawfish chimneys.
Type "cicada chimneys" or "cicada turrets" into your favorite image search and you'll see what I mean.  This really surprised me. I'd just assumed that the nymphs came out of the ground
when they are ready to do their final molt, climbed up, and did their final "pop". But apparently sometimes they "wake up early", hit a snooze button and go back underground for a while.
I was also reminded by many references to how Copperheads like to hunt for emerging cicadas--and possible increase in numbers of Copperheads during Cicada emergent times.  
   

This is the underside of the cap that I removed. It was hollow on the bottom. I put the cap back over the hole. Note how dry the dirt is--the cap had not been"glued" to the loose dirt .  
 I put my tripod over the hole so I wouldn't disturb it further when I resumed my exercises.
   

From BBSP on 04/10/2022. I was leading the Creekfield Hike when we got to the small bridge. The lake has been very, very shallow lately. When I looked over the
bridge rail while interpreting for the hike, I was a bit saddened by seeing the expanse of mud on the West side. But then I noticed all of the footprints and marks in the mud near the bridge,
and became very excited. I gave the hike members a brief description of Ichnology--the study of animal traces. Then we spent few minutes looking at the animal traces in the mud, and
trying to figure out what had gone by. The Creekfield hike isn't normally defined by strict time limit, but I had signed up for another task in an hour, so I had to move the hike along.  But we
had some fun anyway...and we encountered more tracks by the pier--and I forgot to take pictures of those.  I now have a page dedicated to Ichnology, but I'll summarize here: While observing
animals as they act, we can learn about their behavior. But as animals move through the environment, they can effect it--by leaving footprints, scrapes, burrows, poop, etc. These traces can
also be clues to animal behavior.  One footprint by itself can give some hints about what made it; but a series of footprints can show if the animal was running, hopping, or where it went.
Following a track in either direction lead to a burrow, or to remains of what it left, etc.   So, here are a couple sets of photos from the bridge.

The first set is actually 3 zoomed views of the same spot. In the first, the big, curved track is obvious. Theres a set of tracks crossing that one.  But in the closest view, we can see a lot of
traffic and activity.  I can try and guess what made some of the tracks. Although the thick track was pretty big (maybe 5 inches across at least), I know it wasn't an alligator, because the feet are
round (no prominant toes)  and the steps are too close together; and there's no tail drag mark.  That looks like a big turtle walked out and moved "up" in the picture. Turtles take very short steps,
have short toes, and  I think the bottom of its shell dragged across the mud because its feet sunk into the mud.  The large bird that crossed from left to right was not a duck (no webbing),  
or a coot (narrow toes); but probably a heron or egret, or ibis; because 1 long thin toe pointing backwards.  I think the "splattery" marks were just made by stones tossed into the mud.
   

Then I took these pictures just a bit too the left of the first one. The left end of that stick show in them. I noticed all the small holes around the tracks. And I think that those are marks made by the birds
beaks as they probed the mud. I could not get closer to the tracks to place anything for scale, and the lighting wasn't good enough for better zoom shots.  Still, the marks seem to be arragned in pairs,
probably from upper and lower beak being pushed into the mud. Also, this added observation may help identify at least on of the trackmakers as an Ibis.  Ibises spend most of their foraging time
stabbing their downward-bent beaks into water and mud. Other birds also probe, but I suspect this was an Ibis. There are also at least 3 other "tractor-style" traces. One is large, like the in the photos
above, but two are smaller (maybe 3 inches across).  The prints are also close together, and I suspect they were smaller turtles.  Look at the pictures, and imagine how those traces came to be in
the mud. Birds walking (not hopping-by the way-another clue), probing the mud; while turtles waddle through.  Figuring out such signs can be very interesting and entertaining.
  

Here's something that appeared on 40-Acre Lake trail on 10/10/2021. Yes, it's feces, poop, scat, or stool.  At first thought, it is just evidence that an animal left a "sculpture" on the trail.
But, this sculpture was left by an alligator.  Since most people aren't lucky enough to move around in alligator habitat; most people don't get to see this.  Usually, I have to identify
the scat by size, color, texture, etc..  But this sculpture was signed by the "artist"!  That squiggle on the trail leading to it(or from it) is a drag mark left by the alligator's tail. 
   

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