ACTION HUB – NOVEMBER, 2025  

Winter Wildlife SignsWinter Wildlife Signs

Tom Watson

If you think of the outdoors as one big, wonderful natural theatre, then the leaves across that landscape are like a partially-drawn, visibly-impenetrable curtain that hides so much of the overall action going on around you. Fortunately, once colder weather and shorter daylight shed that wall of green drapery, many of the signs of activity hidden throughout summer are in full display once the snows of winter cover the ground.

Enjoying wildlife in winter is not so much watching animals directly, but more from observing the clues or signs of their presence and activities through nests now easily visible in the leafless trees and shrubs throughout their winter habitat, or by the tell-tale tracks left by their movement across the snow-covered landscape.

NESTS:

From the tiny hummingbird’s nest the diameter of a quarter coin to the lofty, thousand-pound mega-platforms of the bald eagles, nests present a diagnostic clue as to the variety of  birds residing throughout summer in a particular area. The openness of the understory and clear view through the crowns of trees enables a wildlife watcher to easily spot bird nests in winter. Many times those intricate and vulnerable structures are within an arm’s reach of a human trail, yet totally hidden from a casual, walk-by view.

There are nine general types of bird nest forms, some closely similar, while others reveal a narrower field of home-builders present during the summer. Here’s an overview of the different types/shapes of bird nests more readily observable in the winter:

• Cup/Bowl – the classic design used by a majority of songbirds (robins).  They vary in size and proportions but all have that basic ‘bowl’ form;
• Platform – Generally built high atop tall trees such as cottonwoods, pine (eagles, osprey, etc.) – basically a strong, built-up base made of sticks, bark and other materials;
• Pendant/Hanging – Typically a woven sac suspended higher up in the outer limbs of a deciduous tree. The nest of the Baltimore oriole is a classic example;
• Scrapes– literally bare, shallow depressions made in the ground in which eggs are laid and hatched (Killdeer, most beach-nesting birds); sometimes these nests are built using scraps of material (metal, plastic, glass) making it easier to spot and identify them;
• Cliff-Nesters – Often built on narrow cliff walls with crude nests or with stick nests in crevices within the face of the cliff (Ravens, falcons);
• Floating Nests – These nests are built on floating matts of lake grasses/reeds on water, or built upland (most ducks), but in the same fashion as those actually built on the water (loons, grebes, etc.);
• Underground Nests/Burrows – Either dug by the bird itself (burrowing owl, bank swallows) or taking over one excavated by a ground hole or other burrowing mammal; 
• Cavity Nests – Excavated holes in trees (woodpeckers), sometimes secondary use by bluebirds, tree swallows. Some of these nest forms can be sub-categorized by shape (bowl) and construction method (woven, stick-staking, etc.), too.

Not all nests are built by birds, either. Squirrels form a globe-shaped, twig and leaf built nest called a “drey”. It’s sometimes used in winter, as a second choice against a tree cavity type of nest. Some tiny field rodents (harvest mouse) make a small, ball-shaped nest of grass and crawl inside through a dime-sized hole in the bottom. 

TRACKS IN THE SNOW: 

It’s nearly impossible to venture outside onto snow-covered ground without seeing the tracks left by animals scurrying or stalking across untrodden snow. While open areas provide a direct, unobscured view of such tracks, snow conditions (thickness, freshness, temperatures) can all affect what kind of an image an animal’s print will leave behind. Couple that with relative similarity in tracks (size, shape, configuration) and identifying the track’s maker becomes quite a challenge.

Initially, a track can be put into a few general categories – or eliminated – by comparing basic characteristics of certain animal groups. Canines (dogs, fox, wolf) and felines (cat  family) are the only animals with four front toes, Additionally, canines within their group have reliable size differences, how pads are positioned on their feet and the general orientation of components of those print tracts (angle of toes, position of paw pads, whether claw marks are made in snow, etc.). 

Felines tracks tend not to reveal claw marks, while canines do. Domestic dogs generally have a wider, looser square-shaped pad print pattern; whereas coyotes have a tighter, oval-shaped track. A small fox may not reveal claw marks while a bobcat struggling up a snowy incline might use its claws for traction. As one becomes more experienced in observing tracks the more these differences help identify its maker.

OTHER SIGNS 

Other wildlife signs that are generally easy to spot in winter as well as summer include the gnawings of a beaver or the large, rectangular excavations in dead trees by the huge pileated woodpecker (and the scattering of wood chips at the base of the tree). In winter, after freeze-up, a river otter’s snow or mud tracks often reveal their  foot’s webbing; their feeding holes in river ice have soiled edges and often a fish carcass lying on the ice.

Another way to tally what animals are active in your area is to compare their scat (poop) piles. Herbivores (deer, rabbit) produce pellet-like scat while omni/carnivores (fox, coyote, many other mammals) will have bone bits and fur in long, tapered stools.

Taking along an animal tracks guide book and tape measure will give you all the tools you’ll need to start discovering what animal activity has been going on all summer long, and what’s happening right under your frost-tipped nose throughout winter all across Mother Nature’s snowy stage.

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