STORIES IN THE SNOW

The snow tells stories.  I love a freshly fallen snow (preferably not TOO deep!).  I consider myself to be lucky to have a dog and that dog needs to be walked fairly early in the morning after my morning ablutions.  Anyway, every morning, usually before sunrise in the winter, I am out walking the dog.  If there is new snow, we are often making the first tracks on our driveway and road.  Sometimes, though, other critters have been there before us and I love trying to figure out their tracks and who was doing what.  I am NOT a good tracker, I know only a very little, but I enjoy trying.  Here are some basic hints so that if you've never tried it, you can learn to read the snow.  (If we're going to have this much snow, you might as well get out there and enjoy it!)

Deer Footprint

deer hoof

A deer print is a relatively easy one to figure out around here as we don't have a lot of different wild critters with the cloven hoof.  What is a cloven hoof?  A hoof that is split in two parts, the toes (see picture on the right). 

Notice in the picture above that there is a space between the marks of the two toes. The part that looks connected is the back of the hoof and the weight of the animal as she places her foot in the snow, makes it look like it connects.

Deer Tracks, Going From Right to Left

One morning we went out to MANY deer tracks in the driveway!  It looked like they had a party!  Upon closer examination, my supposition was that they were walking down the drive (3 or 4 of them?), hoping to find a place to cut through the yard (not a chance!  Our banks are too high!).  Upon not finding any cut-through, turned around and went back out.  I wondered if they were being chased, but the exiting footprints looked as relaxed as the goes-into prints.



Deer really struggle in deep snow; their feet are small and their legs skinny and they sink.  They can get stuck in the deep snow, so just after a big snowfall, you aren't likely to see their tracks.  We had four dining on our yew bush (which needs pruning anyway) and below is the entrance track of one of them.

Deer Walked in Deep Snow

In deep snow, sometimes you'll see a series of large holes where the deer jumped from one place to the next.  Sometimes, it is possible to identify deer tracks by the small holes that go way down (see below).

Deep Deer Track

And of course, a pile of scat is always a good indication the deer were there!  This pile was under our feeder -- probably the deer was feasting on the cracked corn that we put out for the jays and mourning doves.

Deer Scat

The dog, fox, coyote, and wolf tracks are all similar in that canine tracks show four toes and a pad behind the toes.  The toes include claw marks.  Size, the shape of the pads, the distance between the marks, and how the back feet land near or on the spot where the front feet landed, indicate the type of canine.  

If you see four toes and a pad, but no claw marks, it could be a feline animal because they retract their claws when they walk.

Below are Blake's trotting tracks.  The top one is clear.  When he walks or trots, his tracks are in a straight line and his back feet land almost exactly on top of where the front one was.  When he runs, his back feet are close and move together, as if they were connected by a short rod, but his front feet are a bit wider, so his running track looks different than the one below.

Blake's Trotting Tracks

Squirrels are interesting!  They show large feet in the back and smaller feet in the front.  If the track is clear, you can see the toes with claws and the imprint of the back part of the foot.  The squirrel below was standing still here, or had jumped and landed in this spot.

Squirrel

Squirrels can also be assumed if the track starts or ends at a tree with a little space between the tree and the first track - the squirrel jumped to or from the tree. In the picture below, the black spot near the top is the trunk of a tree and this squirrel was headed toward our bird feeders.

Squirrel from the Tree, top left

Birds tracks are cute!  The ones below were under my truck.  The birds seem to congregate under the vehicles; I'm not sure why (anyone know??).  We have many overgrown bushes for better roosting places and we don't put food under the vehicles, although I suppose it makes a decent resting place out of the wind and snow.  Each bird type has a different foot pattern.  Most are three toes in the front and a fourth behind. (Woodpeckers have a two and two arrangement to better cling to the tree, but you aren't likely to find them on the ground.)

Bird Tracks

So here is a quiz.  (But be aware, the following story in the snow is happier for one participant than the other.)  Look at the picture below and see if you can piece together what happened and who was involved.  The story begins in the top left corner of the picture.

 
Yes, that is blood in the center of the picture; the dark spots are grey fur.  Notice the tracks leading to the disruption in the snow from the upper left corner?  The squirrel jumped off the tree (it was heading toward the bird feeders for breakfast) and was intercepted by a red-tailed hawk looking for her breakfast.  If you look carefully around the center hole, you can see feather marks:  to the left of the bloody hole are flat & pointed marks made by her spread tail, perhaps as the hawk landed to capture the squirrel.  To the right are wing tip marks - looking a lot like fingers.  I am guessing that those were made as I disrupted breakfast by coming to fill the feeders; at that moment, the hawk lifted up out of the snow, carrying her meal to some place safer for dining, thus the wingtip prints in the snow. 

Below, the tracks on the pond tell more benign stories, most of which we can't see clearly from the bank.  One of my suppositions, though, is that the dark spot, right center, with a well worn path next to it and footsteps coming closer to it at this end, show the watering hole.  Whose tracks?  Hard to tell without being close, but it is obviously a busy thoroughfare.  The pond has been frozen for several weeks, so parts are very solid.  The hole could very well be made by the muskrats coming up and then used by the land animals.  Suzanne saw a large coyote on the pond several days ago (and we saw a coyote chasing deer last year), the fishers use the pond road, and we frequently see fox (although our local fox has been very sick with mange.  It was looking better this fall, but did not have the usual thick and shiny fur.  We have not seen it all winter; it may not have survived this cold weather.)  Deer likely drink from closer to shore (there are several open holes there), as their feet are so small and bodies so heavy, they know they would likely break through the ice.  Some tracks could also be squirrels or birds or other smaller critters.  

Much goes on near our houses that we never see, and can only be surmised by the stories in the snow.

Stearns Mill Pond

IT'S ALL ABOUT THE STRIPES

What is that little brown stripey bird??  

How many times have you asked that question?!  (We often call them an "LBJ" - "Little Brown Job".)  Frequently identifying these birds is all about the stripes.  Start with, are there any stripes?  For example, you may recognize the winter goldfinches at your feeder, small, greenish-brown, dull, but striking black wings - with white wing bars (stripes)!  (See picture below - the goldfinch is on the left, be aware that some of the goldfinch is behind the black bar.)

American Goldfinch and Pine Siskin

But if you are looking carefully at that flock of goldfinches at your feeder, you might notice a stripey bird that is the same size (see bird on the right in above picture).  In this picture, that is a Pine Siskin.  They are not always around here, but sometimes will show up in the winter.  Let's zero in on the siskin.  (Sorry about the fuzziness of the pictures - they were taken through a window from about 70' away)

Pine Siskin

First, we notice - STRIPES!  The bird is on the nyjer (thistle) feeder, but isn't a goldfinch!  OK, is it a pine siskin or a house finch or a sparrow or...  Well, it is hanging out with the goldfinch, it is winter, so let's check for siskin markings.  Lots of stripes and some yellow highlights near the tail and under the wings.  (Just to make the ID more difficult, though, there is a lot of variation in the siskins' coloration.)  Look for the yellow; if you see that, look at the tail shape - forked.  Now note the bold black or dark brown streaking on the wings, edged with buff or white and sometimes yellow (not in the bird above).  The stripes on the back/shoulder area are more muted and less distinct than the wings. If you see the belly, it too will be striped.  Now, check the beak - small and sharply pointed!

The beak can be a good distinguishing field mark.  Notice the beak of the bird below and compare it to the siskin.  Don't be confused by the white thing - that is a safflower seed, not his beak or tongue.  But notice that his beak is chunkier.

House Finch with seed in his mouth

This gent is easy to ID with his chunky beak and the red on his head and breast.  He is a house finch.  (Now it is often quite difficult to tell a house finch from a purple finch, but we aren't going into that here today!)  Be aware that the amount and placement of the red varies from bird to bird, but there is usually some on the head, breast and rump. (See picture below with the red showing between the wings as they lie on his rump.  This bird also has some reddish tinge on his back.)  The wings are boldly striped in black or dark brown with white trim.  The male house finch does have stripes on his body, but they are muted.  Notice in the picture above, you can kind of see the stripes on his breast and in the picture below, the muted stripes are visible on his back and in the shoulder region.

Male House Finch

Let's go to the female house finch (below).  Definitely an LBJ...  although, the house finch is a bit larger than the sparrows, goldfinch and pine siskin.

Female House Finch

This is the bird with which we started this post - but now you can almost see her head and beak.  If you could see her beak, it would be much easier to ID her as a house finch.  Both male and female have the blurry streaking - you can see it well in the picture above. Tail is slightly notched, but may appear squared (look at the picture of the male above this one to see the notched effect).  The female house finch is one of the most common unknown feeder birds.  Oddly enough, the most distinguishing feature (other than the beak) is the blurry, indistinct stripes.


Then there are the sparrows.  Arggg...  We have three around here in the winter that I can usually ID correctly, the White-throated Sparrow, the American Tree Sparrow, and the Song Sparrow.  The bird on top of the feeder in the picture below is an American Tree Sparrow.  A distinguishing feature of the tree sparrow is the grey head with chestnut colored cap and eye stripe.  It has a buff breast with a faint breast spot (not visible in the picture). Check the bill, too, as the American Tree Sparrow has a bi-colored bill (dark top mandible and yellow bottom mandible.  The tree sparrow is easily confused with both the field sparrow and the chipping sparrow, as all three have a chestnut cap, but only the tree sparrow has a breast spot.  

Beware, though, you can't go by breast spot alone.  A Song Sparrow has a breast spot (darker and more obvious), but it has an obviously stripey breast -- no stripes on the tree sparrow's breast.  The song sparrow also has chestnut or brown on its head, but frequently shows a buff stripe through the cap.  

Can you ID the bird on the bottom part of the feeder?

American Tree Sparrow on top and a Male House Finch with his head in the feeder

Last one for today is the White-throated Sparrow (see below)

White-throated Sparrow

The White-throated sparrow has a stripey back and some faint spots or stripes on the sides, but the belly is white or buff, sometimes with very indistinct spots or stripes.  Yes, it has a white throat, trimmed in black (not visible on the bird above), but one of the real distinguishing features is the yellow lore (the area between the bill and the eye).  If you see that on an LBJ around here, with a white throat and black head stripes, you can be pretty sure it is a White-throated Sparrow.  The WTSP also comes in a less obvious tan stripe version, where the white throat, stripes and belly you see on the bird above are less obvious because they are tan.  

(Uh, oh!  I forgot about the house sparrow - an invasive species, introduced in 1850, that actually is a finch, not a sparrow.  They are usually the only sparrow in urban areas.  We don't have any here in the woods at our house (thankfully!), so it didn't cross my mind.  Wing stripes & bars, but no belly stripes. Black under the beak and in breeding season, the black extends into the breast on the male.  Grey cap.) 

So, don't overlook all of those stripey LBJs on your feeder - look more closely, grab your field guide and start with the stripey birds in this post.

Left feeder, American Goldfinch & Pine Siskin.
Right feeder top, Black-capped Chickadee, bottom two are male House Finch