Fisher Tracking
If you ever think you work hard for the food you eat, try tracking a fisher! I would estimate that I followed a fisher’s tracks for at least three miles today and other than stopping to mark its territory once, and investigate a log or two, there was not a sign of its finding a thing to eat. Fishers travel widely in search of prey — one was recorded travelling 56 miles in three days. The fisher I followed traveled through prime snowshoe hare (their most common prey item) habitat, as well as areas where porcupines have been known to den. A fisher’s food requirements are about one snowshoe hare per week, a squirrel or two per week, or 2 – 22 mice per day. A porcupine will feed a fisher for a month or so. (Note snowshoe hare tracks on bottom left of photograph, and fisher tracks running diagonally across the image, where the fisher left its mark.)
I love tracking fishers. Ever since I saw fisher tracks on the porch of my house (luckily they did not seem interested in the ducks and chickens who overnight in the basement), I have been fascinated by their habits. Plus their tracks are so easy to identify.
Just to clarify, though – is there a typo in the “2-22 mice per day”? That seems like quite a range!
January 30, 2012 at 11:30 pm
No typo, Kellyann, though I thought it was strange, too. My resource for those figures is Whitaker and Hamilton’s Mammals of the Eastern United States.
January 30, 2012 at 11:38 pm
Thanks for clarifying. Wow!
January 31, 2012 at 1:19 am
I wonder if that range is informative though. What amount would keep it barely alive verses fat and happy.
Great blog. Thank you! I look forward to getting your book.
January 31, 2012 at 12:49 pm