Winter
is a great time to enjoy family fun outdoors in Wisconsin. A little preparation
and imagination can fill winter days with lasting memories and exciting, new
family traditions.Bundle up and hunt for signs of
wildlife in local green spaces as near as your own backyard! Afresh snowfall on the trails reveals - almost instantly -
the abundance of life that exists even in the dead of winter in Wisconsin.
Think about all the places you go during the
week - to school, to the store, to the park - all of these places are important
to you. In fact, every animal species needs a certain amount of space to
survive and be successful, and animals are moving around for a variety of
reasons all the time. They move for food, shelter, and to escape predators. All
animals move around on a daily basis. The main area an animal uses to meet its
daily needs is called its habitat. Exploring winter habitats can lead to wonder and
excitement about the natural world. It’s kind of a fun mystery to solve…
figuring out where an animal came from or where it was going and imagining what
it might have been doing. Looking carefully at an animal track, you can learn a
great deal about the critter’s activities and routines. Follow the tracks and a story is revealed!
A host of clues reveal the activities of wildlife all around us
in the winter. Pick a day right after a snowfall
and see how many different types of tracks you can find. Here are some hints for your next animal track treasure hunt!
1.
It's very common to find
squirrel, bird, and maybe rabbit tracks if you're looking in your own backyard.
2.
Four toes on each of the
front and hind feet indicates the track was left by a member of the dog or cat
family – a fox, wolf, coyote, bobcat, lynx, or neighborhood dog or cat.
3.
Four toes on the front
feet with five toes on the hind feet indicates the track was left by a rodent -
mouse, vole, chipmunk, squirrel, woodchuck, muskrat, or even a porcupine.
4.
Tracks that have five
toes each on the front and hind feet indicates it's from a raccoon or a member
of the weasel family - weasel, badger, mink, skunk, otter. It could also mean a bear, beaver, or
opossum.
5.
If you find a two-toe
track on a trail in Wisconsin, it is likely a deer. Moose and elk also leave
two-toe tracks, but they are relatively rare in Wisconsin.
So get out and make your own tracks! Create your own story! Get the kids unplugged, off the couch, and
out on the trail. That itself is no
small feat (pun intended), but just getting the kids out
and noticing the tracks, not even necessarily identifying the animals that made
the tracks, can inspire wonder and delight.
While exploring animal tracking, give the Wisconsin DNR Tricky Tracks Quiz for
Beginners a try. Good luck
& get tracking!
