On the Cape Native blog, I saw a post about a couple missing ducks and some evidence or crime scene pictures. I tried to leave a comment on the post itself, but it was kicking me out to a wordpress.com login which I don’t have, so below the quote is my reply.
We lost a darling duo of ducks Sunday evening, but their disappearance was not without a trace – and not without forewarning. We’ve been on alert for the last couple of weeks. First, I discovered a young fisher scrambling away from the upper duck house two weeks ago. The low furry creature was illuminated by my headlights late at night and I was momentarily frozen in amazement as it sort of bounded and sort of undulated across the driveway…
With nothing else to do about the duck disappearance, I searched for clues and found a few. The fact that both disappeared so completely makes me think there may have been multiple assailants. I submit for your perusal evidence photos from the crime scene.
Its hard to tell whether you have a fox or a coyote print there in the top photo because there is nothing to scale the tracks, but they are definitely canine tracks. Not a fisher. The prints from both the coyote and the fox tend to look the same except for a few differences in the shapes of the toes and coyote tracks are larger than fox tracks.
The last pic is definitely a raccoon track. I have seen both fox and raccoons respond at the same time to animal distress sounds at night. Either one could have responded to the sound of the other getting a duck, leading to a copycat killing.
All feathered and furred predators are either feeding their young or getting ready to at this time of year, so keep a close eye on your pets and livestock.
Wow, I love this blog! The only pic I thought might be a fisher is the first one in the post, which isn’t seen here, next to the blood. I don’t know though, because a coyote or fox puts down a different track when it is not “on the move.” Maybe a standing canine leaves a rounder print when standing still? By the way, that print up top here was approx. 3in long.
Looking forward to reading more of your posts!
I saw that first pic there and I’m sure that the track the black arrow is pointing to is the suspect canine, either a coyote or fox. The track looks wider because the animal was “getting” the duck and the track spread due to the animal shifting its weight and exerting force in the sand.
Also, a fisher cat has five toes which would be easy to see in that sand.