Hello Geoffrey. I am certainly no expert, but until one comes along
I'll offer the following. I'm sure you're right about the Malleefowl
tracks - they're always very much one-in-front-of-the-other, like a
pigeon, but bigger of course. It looks as though he's dug out the
egg chamber and started to fill it; she should be laying in the next
couple of weeks or so.
The dog/fox tracks aren't so clear. What we want to see is the
fifth, rear pad, and I can't readily make that out. In a fox it is
substantially behind the two outer pads; in a dog or dingo it is up
between them. The gap between the four front pads in your photo
appears quite large, and on the basis of that I'd go for a fox.
over to an expert now!
cheers
Ian
On 4/09/2010 13:15, Geoffrey Dabb wrote:
Time for another wet-weather story
perhaps. At Turlee Station last week the location of a
malleefowl nest was indicated to me. Despite a few early
morning sorties to the spot I never actually sighted the
bird. However, the mound had all the appearance of being
currently worked. One morning nearby I found fresh tracks
that seemed to me could only have been made by a malleefowl.
Just a couple of metres away were other tracks that seemed to
me rather foxlike. If so, the prospects for a successful
breeding might not be good. Perhaps a track expert out there
can confirm my suspicions, or otherwise.
--
Ian Fraser, m("pcug.org.au","ianf");">
Environment Tours; Vertego Environmental Consultancy
GPO Box 3268, Canberra, ACT 2601
ph: 61 2 6249 1560
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