Starting with impressive early-season snow, our Midwest climate this winter has been memorable for sure. Whether a lake-effect blast on the Lake Michigan shore or a whiteout along Interstate 80, our tolerance has already been tested.
I’ve done my share of shivering and shoveling, but the cold and snow also bring one of my favorite pastimes. For that, I owe thanks to the many creatures that populate Midwestern landscapes — specifically the 100 acres of timber on our farm not far from the Mississippi River.
While a few animals such as woodchucks and bats are true hibernators, many others remain active in both rural and urban areas throughout the winter. So there’s nothing I’d rather do on a bright winter day than climb into my Carhartts and head out through the snow.
What makes this winter wandering so fascinating is not necessarily the wildlife you see. Rather it’s the evidence of their presence left behind — footprints, droppings, scrapes, beds and myriad other indicators of the daily activities that sustain these winter residents from one day to the next.
I have no idea what I’m going to discover on any given day, but since white-tailed deer are the most abundant large animal in the Midwest, it would be unusual not to see evidence of their presence.
Deer have well-established runs especially obvious in the winter landscape. One morning after several inches of fresh snow, I followed a trail of cloven-hoofed prints that ran along the edge of a wood to where a small herd had bedded down some hours earlier. Each animal left a distinct bean-shaped imprint — their heavy winter coats insulating them from the cold.
The tracks of Eastern cottontail are also a common sight — especially near thickets of chokecherry, elderberry and other bushes that provide safe shelter. Though the cottontail’s feet are completely covered with fur, the four toes visible on each foot and the bounding pattern of their gait are easily recognizable.
Cottontails are strict vegetarians, but unfortunately for them, that’s not the case for the coyotes, bobcats, foxes and raptors that share their surroundings. Rabbits are most certainly on the menu every day for these hungry hunters.
One morning, I came upon a scene that looked to be an encounter between a cottontail and a coyote — the coyote’s tracks with four large toes and sharp claws obvious in the snow. All that was left was a scattering of blood and a few tufts of fur. It was not a pretty sight.
Unlike coyotes, which often range even in daytime as pairs or small family groups, bobcats and foxes spend the winter roaming their territory in solitude. They stalk their prey — rabbits, mice and voles as well as pheasants and turkeys — mostly in the elusive hours before sunrise or the soft light of dusk.
Though I have yet to identify bobcat tracks this winter, a strategically placed trail camera recently recorded a photo of a beautiful male prowling across a stubble field, its tawny spotted coat and tufted ears standing out clearly against the snow. With more precipitation in the forecast, I’m looking forward to finding clues to his activities, including tracks and scratching posts, in the coming weeks.
Since I’m the stranger in their midst, I don’t often find tracks with the animal still in them. But once as I walked across a pasture covered with a dusting of snow, I came face to face with a beautiful red fox. It promptly dashed away into the woods — leaving behind elegant straight-line footprints and a smile on my face.
Fortunately for anyone interested in exploring in the winter landscape, the backyard or a neighborhood playground is a good place to start. There are also numerous parks and preserves in the Chicago area including the Morton Arboretum and the Heller Nature Center — ideal habitat for many species.
The Animal Tracker app enables your phone to help identify tracks on the spot. “Animals Don’t Cover Their Tracks” is a Facebook group that shares photos of tracks and other signs and offers advice on how to identify them. And for the armchair explorer, numerous online groups share wildlife trail camera photos — some of which are quite spectacular.
In his winter monologue “Snow,” Robert Frost wrote: “You can’t get too much winter in the winter.” Given the snowy tracks and trails yet to be explored in our 100-acre wood and elsewhere, I enthusiastically embrace that point of view.
But I reserve the right to change my mind — maybe around the first of April.
Susan Koch is a retired chancellor of the University of Illinois Springfield. She lives in Iowa City, where she and her husband farm and raise purebred Angus cattle.
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