LIVE from the Camino Animal tracks in snow - can someone identify?

[Bradypus]

This morning I walked from O Cebreiro to Triacastela. The first couple of km on snow mostly through woodland. After that I chickened out and walked down the road For a few hundred metres I was following these tracks. Not very fresh - probably the previous day and a little misshaped by temperature changes and light snow overnight. Not easy to see but they seemed to be wider than typical dog prints and to have the impression of five pads rather than four. Can anyone identify these marks?

 

[Ronald H]

How about some pictures of the trail!!!

 

[VNwalking]

Dog or wolf. Here are tips to tell the difference.

How to distinguish tracks of wolves and dogs

Sometimes, it may be hard to differentiate tracks of the wolf and large domestic dog. Usually wolf footprints are bigger than those of dogs. Footprints left by wolves on a thin snow cover or loose …

sidorovich.blog

 

[Bradypus]

How about some pictures of the trail!!!

 

[Ronald H]

Wow, thank you so much!!! Beautiful

 

[donalomahony]

Lovely pics of the trail...

 

[kelleymac]

This morning I walked from O Cebreiro to Triacastela. The first couple of km on snow mostly through woodland. After that I chickened out and walked down the road For a few hundred metres I was following these tracks. Not very fresh - probably the previous day and a little misshaped by temperature changes and light snow overnight. Not easy to see but they seemed to be wider than typical dog prints and to have the impression of five pads rather than four. Can anyone identify these marks?

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I'm thinking fox because you can see the nails at the top and the outer toes are off the side a bit. Dog prints are usually rounder. I would say they're not big enough for a wolf. If the prints are going in a straight line, they are probably not a dog's. Dogs tend to sniff here and there, while foxes are on an errand. So.. from the photo fox or dog.

 

[henrythedog]

Big dog or (possibly) wolf. You’re in the centre of the Iberian Wolf territory.

The print on the left of your glove has a hind paw print over and slightly to the right of the front paw print indicating that the animal was trotting and is heavily-built at the front.

Fox prints, even big ones, are very similar to a large domestic cat print and more elongated.

 

[williamlittig]

This morning I walked from O Cebreiro to Triacastela. The first couple of km on snow mostly through woodland. After that I chickened out and walked down the road For a few hundred metres I was following these tracks. Not very fresh - probably the previous day and a little misshaped by temperature changes and light snow overnight. Not easy to see but they seemed to be wider than typical dog prints and to have the impression of five pads rather than four. Can anyone identify these marks?

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Dogs can’t retract their claws.

 

[frank rawley]

This morning I walked from O Cebreiro to Triacastela. The first couple of km on snow mostly through woodland. After that I chickened out and walked down the road For a few hundred metres I was following these tracks. Not very fresh - probably the previous day and a little misshaped by temperature changes and light snow overnight. Not easy to see but they seemed to be wider than typical dog prints and to have the impression of five pads rather than four. Can anyone identify these marks?

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Big foot!

 

[Perambulating Griffin]

Big dog or (possibly) wolf. You’re in the centre of the Iberian Wolf territory.

The print on the left of your glove has a hind paw print over and slightly to the right of the front paw print indicating that the animal was trotting and is heavily-built at the front.

Fox prints, even big ones, are very similar to a large domestic cat print and more elongated.

I'd have said much the same. I live in wolf territory, with red foxes as well and bobcats... otters, mink, weasels, moose and deer, etc. They all walk up and down my 1200 foot driveway. So does the neighbour's Newfie-Lab cross and these are the prints I always see after the dog has been bounding down the road. (Wish I had a photo collection of the others). I do have a collection of poop photos... planning a children's book "Who Pooped here?" ... if I never get around to it, no matter. Someone will and that's fine.

 

[Tickbush]

I'd have said much the same. I live in wolf territory, with red foxes as well and bobcats... otters, mink, weasels, moose and deer, etc. They wall walk up and down my 1200 foot driveway. So does the neighbour's Newfie-Lab cross and these are the prints I always see after the dog has been bounding down the road. (Wish I had a photo collection of the others). I do have a collection of poop photos... planning a children's book "Who Pooped here?" ... if I never get around to it, no matter. Someone will and that's fine.

There are already lots if kids’ books on the subject. You might want to check them out first.

 

[Perambulating Griffin]

There are already lots if kids’ books on the subject. You might want to check them out first.

Everyone's a critic
1) I was kidding
2) there are also lots of children's books about fairies and goblins and favourite pets and teddy bears and mean witches and missing mothers
3) I guess we need no more bildungsroman either, what with Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, The Brontes and Louisa May Alcott having locked that down.
4) There is plenty of room for someone to write a "who pooped here" sort of book and have fun doing it. I hope they will.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

5) Camino books/memoirs galore are available, but there is still always room for one more.

 

[Bradypus]

4) There is plenty of room for someone to write a "who pooped here" sort of book and have fun doing it. I hope they will.

Though perhaps not in the style of "Russell Kenny - English guitarist" whose graffiti I've been spotting now and again for weeks. This morning's was a particularly scatological example.

 

[Perambulating Griffin]

5) Camino books/memoirs galore are available, but there is still always room for one more.

Nah! We can just rely on the Codex.

(Honestly. sometimes I wish that people would. I've seen reproductions and would LOVE to see some anti-tech purist carting that doorstopper around. I'd also love some kind of mandatory grounding in the purposes and methods for achieving it as described therein).

Back to fauna: I would love to have an app that could identify all the birds along different caminos in different seasons. And I really wish I'd had a way to immediately identify the *gerbils* I saw between Leon and Villadanga one year.

 

[Perambulating Griffin]

Though perhaps not in the style of "Russell Kenny - English guitarist" whose graffiti I've been spotting now and again for weeks. This morning's was a particularly scatological example.View attachment 140511

Indeed, not like that at all.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

Though perhaps not in the style of "Russell Kenny - English guitarist" whose graffiti I've been spotting now and again for weeks. This morning's was a particularly scatological example.

More like I am than I did.
See the graffiti -> View attachment 140511

 

[JerryStroebele]

I am a wildlife biologist living in Alaska. That is not a particularly large pawprint for a wolf. However, last September, while resting at the pass of Alto de San Roque, a hunting car passed me by on the road. A dead wolf was on top of the dog hauling trailer. Buen Camino

 

[peregrina2000]

Loving your posts, @Bradypus, especially since I’ve never walked in winter. Buen camino!

Have you run into Álvaro Lazaga?

He was in Hospital da Condesa last night.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Though perhaps not in the style of "Russell Kenny - English guitarist" whose graffiti I've been spotting now and again for weeks. This morning's was a particularly scatological example.View attachment 140511

Since you are on the "subject", here is a picture I snapped along the Rota Vicentina in Portugal.

 

[Tickbush]

Everyone's a critic
1) I was kidding
2) there are also lots of children's books about fairies and goblins and favourite pets and teddy bears and mean witches and missing mothers
3) I guess we need no more bildungsroman either, what with Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, The Brontes and Luisa May Alcott having locked that down.
4) There is plenty of room for someone to write a "who pooped here" sort of book and have fun doing it. I hope they will.

I didn’t mean to offend. It was just an FYI, as I had seen some of those books at one of the National Parks.

 

[Bradypus]

Have you run into Álvaro Lazaga?

I don't think so. If he was at Hospital last night then he is probably a day or so behind me. I'm quite surprised at the numbers walking just now. More than I'd expected.

 

[peregrina2000]

I don't think so. If he was at Hospital last night then he is probably a day or so behind me. I'm quite surprised at the numbers walking just now. More than I'd expected.

Keep an eye out for a guy walking with an umbrella and in shorts and trainers. Pretty hard to miss. He is kind of a camino “celebrity,” at least in Spain, now on camino number 51.

 

[Bradypus]

Keep an eye out for a guy walking with an umbrella and in shorts and trainers. Pretty hard to miss.

Then I've definitely not met him yet!

 

[henrythedog]

I'd have said much the same. I live in wolf territory, with red foxes as well and bobcats... otters, mink, weasels, moose and deer, etc. They all walk up and down my 1200 foot driveway. So does the neighbour's Newfie-Lab cross and these are the prints I always see after the dog has been bounding down the road. (Wish I had a photo collection of the others). I do have a collection of poop photos... planning a children's book "Who Pooped here?" ... if I never get around to it, no matter. Someone will and that's fine.

Excellent!

Somewhere in my eclectic library I’ve got an illustrated book (by a Swede I think) of the poop of most European wildlife.

 

[tpmchugh]

This morning I walked from O Cebreiro to Triacastela. The first couple of km on snow mostly through woodland. After that I chickened out and walked down the road For a few hundred metres I was following these tracks. Not very fresh - probably the previous day and a little misshaped by temperature changes and light snow overnight. Not easy to see but they seemed to be wider than typical dog prints and to have the impression of five pads rather than four. Can anyone identify these marks?

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Definitely the Yeti , but sorry, haven't a clue

 

[SeaHorse]

Checked with a certified hunter: dog prints. Wolf has 2 leading toes, foot narrow. Dog feet are wider.

 

[wisepilgrim]

For a minute there I thought you managed to spot evidence of the bears. I should have know that they are smarter than to leave prints out in the open.

 

[VNwalking]

Back to fauna: I would love to have an app that could identify all the birds along different caminos in different seasons.

Merlin.

 

[Robo]

And there I was convinced it would turn out to be a large Wombat......
They can be surprisingly large! (36kg)
Though not frequently seen in Galicia...... yet......

 

[Cicada]

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No idea what the tracks are! But the photos are great!!
Buen Camino

 

[Bradypus]

Have you run into Álvaro Lazaga?

Just missed him! I was having lunch in Portomarin when an Irish pilgrim arrived and told me that Álvaro had just passed straight through the village at a brisk trot. I doubt I'll catch up with him now!

 

[Bradypus]

I doubt I'll catch up with him now!

Spoke too soon. Just bumped into Álvaro very briefly in a cafe in Boente. No time for chat as he was obviously champing at the bit to get moving again but good to meet the legend at last!

 

[wayfarer]

The one on the left is a dog or wolf, the one on the right is the communis peregrinus which are found all along this route.

 

[Rebekah Scott]

I think it's the track of a Mastin, or Leonese Mastiff, the local herd-guarding dogs. They are very heavily built, and are known for having extra toes and dewclaws on their paws.
There are lots of wolfish dogs around up there in cattle country. My dog Judy comes from La Laguna, just before O Cebreiro. She's a big sweetie, but people scream and run when they see her, assuming she's a wolf. The other day a farmer stopped his tractor and was taking a video of her loping across the fields... he seemed a bit disappointed when I told him she was my DOG!

 

[dick bird]

Nah! We can just rely on the Codex.

(Honestly. sometimes I wish that people would. I've seen reproductions and would LOVE to see some anti-tech purist carting that doorstopper around. I'd also love some kind of mandatory grounding in the purposes and methods for achieving it as described therein).

Back to fauna: I would love to have an app that could identify all the birds along different caminos in different seasons. And I really wish I'd had a way to immediately identify the *gerbils* I saw between Leon and Villadanga one year.

Did it look like this? I posted this photo on the forum some while ago, I spotted it cowering on a shelf in a little chapel on the Salvador. Apparently, it is an edible dormouse (which is probably why it is looking so nervous).

 

[Perambulating Griffin]

Did it look like this? I posted this photo on the forum some while ago, I spotted it cowering on a shelf in a little chapel on the Salvador. Apparently, it is an edible dormouse (which is probably why it is looking so nervous).

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Nope! My guys were reddish-brown without white bellies, long tails and scurrying in and out of the redd-ish dirt in the time just around sun-up...
Your dormouse is adorbz though!! I would take him him.... and listen to what he said (Alice in Wonderland).

 

[MickMac]

Did it look like this? I posted this photo on the forum some while ago, I spotted it cowering on a shelf in a little chapel on the Salvador. Apparently, it is an edible dormouse (which is probably why it is looking so nervous).

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What did it taste like ? Chicken ?

 

[Katykay]

Though perhaps not in the style of "Russell Kenny - English guitarist" whose graffiti I've been spotting now and again for weeks. This morning's was a particularly scatological example.View attachment 140511

I remember seeing that message in October last year.

 

[TerryB]

This morning I walked from O Cebreiro to Triacastela. The first couple of km on snow mostly through woodland. After that I chickened out and walked down the road For a few hundred metres I was following these tracks. Not very fresh - probably the previous day and a little misshaped by temperature changes and light snow overnight. Not easy to see but they seemed to be wider than typical dog prints and to have the impression of five pads rather than four. Can anyone identify these marks?

I took this photo years ago on the 'Roman Road' after San Roman on the Primitivo. There is a clue to the culprit in the photo if you have good eyesight! A hunter identified it for me.

Tio Tel

 

[dick bird]

What did it taste like ? Chicken ?

You’ll have to ask an ancient Roman about that, but if it is anything like Guinea pig, yes but more like rabbit.

 

[David61]

Werewolf obviously. Very common in Spain but they do not talk about it

 

[Amigos caminando]

Any idea on these prints on the Via de la Plata just before entering Galicia? It's a ladies size boot, not large.

 

[Bill905]

Perhaps La Bête du Gévaudan has changed territory ...