12 weeks of winter: Wildlife tracking
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu
Once the ground is covered by snow it's a great time to brush up on your tracking skills. Dress warmly, bring your binoculars and head out to find some animals!
The best time to watch for wildlife is at dawn and dusk, but a patient tracker can find wildlife at any time of day. An easy place to start is near open water. Birds and other animals are often found nearby because of access to food and drink. Watch for geese, ducks, swans and bald eagles. Otters are often seen playing in the snow—they like sliding as much as human children do! Muskrats do not hibernate and can still be seen on the ice in the winter.
Ready to test your tracking skills? Move as slowly and quietly as you can, and look for animal tracks along the edges of woods, fields, grasslands and ponds. Some mammal tracks that can commonly be seen in the snow are white-tailed deer, red fox, coyotes, rabbits, fishers and wolves. Once you find some tracks, follow them and think about what the critter may have been doing. Were they eating, looking for food, running away from something? Take pictures so you can spend more time inside looking at them in the warmth of your home.
You can find tracks anywhere, but parks and wildlife management areas are great places to start. The website wildlifeviewingareas.com can help you find places that are well known for wildlife viewing in your area.
