Tuesday, snow fell in a wonderful fashion. Large, light flakes covered the ground like sequins. By the next morning’s sunrise, an inch and a quarter of snow lay on the homestead so lightly, it seemed as if we’d been inundated with dust bunnies.
When I went out to measure the snow and look at the sky, I found an interesting track way on the path.
I think it’s a shrew track, but a different one than I’ve ever seen before. Instead of a tiny line of footprints on top of the snow (I’ve seen these tiny creatures run around on top of rhubarb leaves without weighing them down much) this animal appeared to push his way through what for it was shoulder-deep snow!
The shrew track way, seen as a diagonal line across this photograph (Photo: Mark A. Zeiger).
This particular shrew obviously had an agenda that could not accommodate a snow day. He or she had things to do, places to go, things to see!
We have a lot of shrews around here. They often do surprising things (see Shrews Like Popcorn?k). This little trail of a very determined shrew struck me as charming.
One half of the track way . . . (Photo: Mark A. Zeiger).
. . . and, the other half (Photo: Mark A. Zeiger).
Detail of the track way (Photo: Mark A. Zeiger).