Improve your Identification Skills
During the winter months, it’s easier to spot the signs of animals big and small running around gathering food, looking for shelter and interacting with each other throughout the city. Once there is snow on the ground, it can be a fun activity to examine and try to identify what made the tracks in the snow, getting a glimpse into the wonderful world of urban wildlife.
If you spot a set of tracks that go from a tree to a bird feeder, you probably have something other than birds enjoying your birdseed. If all four footprints are bunched together with the larger ones out front, you probably have a squirrel; but if those prints have an alternating pattern (like human prints), you may have a raccoon visiting while you are sleeping.
The shape of the track provides a lot of information about the animal who left it. A pair of prints in the shape of a teardrop could indicate deer have been by, whereas birds leave tracks that resemble peace signs. Four toe prints and a heal pad indicate a canine or feline. If you see toenail marks, you’ll know it’s a canine.
Dog tracks are common along trails or in parks, but how do you know if it is a domestic dog or a coyote? Observing the path the tracks take is the easiest way to distinguish the two: coyotes are efficient and move in straight lines, whereas domestic dogs tend to travel erratically.
Some small rodents, like voles, spend a lot of time under the snow and leave evidence of their visit with long winding tunnels that are visible from above. If you follow a trail and it abruptly ends at a large messy hole edged with markings from wing tips, there is a good chance a hawk or owl found a snack.
Footprints in the snow aren’t the only signs left by wildlife; scat, middens and plant damage can provide evidence of where an animal has been and what it has been up to. You will be surprised at how many different animals call your neighbourhood home.
Main photo is an image of squirrel tracks.