Winter's Best for Animal Tracking

photos by Danielle Quigley

You may be surprised how many animals inhabit Delaware 's parks, woods, open spaces and even your own backyard. A fun way to learn more about these creatures is by searching for their tracks. Winter is the perfect time to try animal tracking, according to Dr. Jake Bowman, assistant professor of wildlife biology at the University of Delaware.

Racoon Tracks , White Clay Park

“Go out 24 hours after a snowfall and you'll see the greatest number of tracks from a diverse selection of animals,” says Bowman. “If there isn't snow, simply take a walk in muddy areas, especially around waterways, and you should be able to find lots of tracks.”

“I took some first-time trackers through White Clay Park and they were able to identify tracks from deer, raccoon, beaver, squirrel, muskrat, opossum and fox,” says Bowman.

You may not find as many different kinds of tracks in your own backyard, but Bowman says you're likely to find at least a few. “Many animals are nocturnal and those that aren't are often shy and elusive,” notes Bowman. “People may have no idea that they have a resident raccoon in their backyard until they learn how to identify its footprints.”

If you aren't lucky enough to go tracking with a wildlife biologist, do the next best thing and invest a few dollars in a field guide. Bowman recommends Animal Tracks in the Peterson Field Guides series. He first began using this low-cost, easy-to-understand guide when he was in the third grade. It features lots of large illustrations to help you settle disputes that arise over whether you're looking at a raccoon print or a skunk print. (If it is a skunk track, you may want to high-tail it out of there!)

Buck antler rub , White Clay Park

Animal tracking isn't just spotting footprints; it's also about looking for other signs of an animal's presence. Bowman says this includes rub marks; gnaws, chews and scratches; and scat. Bucks, for example, rub their antlers against trees to develop their neck muscles and to display dominance, says Bowman. Scratchings can range from signs of a skunk or raccoon scratching in the ground for grubs to a bear sharpening its claws on a tree. However, don't waste your time looking for the latter. Bears have been spotted in nearby parts of Pennsylvania and Maryland but not, as of yet, in Delaware, notes Bowman.

Chew marks may be as subtle as little serrated edges on winter wheat, made by deer, or as obvious as beaver cut marks on trees that are 4 to 6 inches in width. “You can't miss beaver marks; they're huge,” says Bowman. “These marks are usually about 18 to 24 inches up the bark of the tree, which makes it a great tracking activity for small children. The marks are at their eye height, or just below their eye height.”

Beaver gnawed tree stump, White Clay Park

You might even spot a tree that has been felled by beavers. They prefer soft woods, like willows, says Bowman, and can knock down trees that are up to 16 inches in diameter.

Kids may find scat tracking especially appealing. After all, when else are they going to be allowed to talk about poop? Deer scat tends to be small and oblong; fox scat is tubular and tapered, a cross between cat and dog droppings. Rabbits and hares produce small, round pellets. Bowman notes, though, that scat will vary significantly, depending on the animal's food source.

Deer tracks, White Clay Park

Footprints are one of the easiest tracks to spot by the novice, but they're also subject to the most misinterpretation. “I've had people insist that they've seen cougar tracks because the footprints were so big,” says Bowman. “But, footprint size can vary greatly depending on whether the animal was running or walking. The type of surface it's on also determines the size of a print.” For example, a fox running across sand will leave a much larger print than the same fox walking on hard-packed ground.

It's never too early to introduce your kids to the natural world around them. After the first snowfall last month, Bowman bundled up his three-year-old son, Lee, and took him on his first animal tracking expedition. “He was able to spot deer prints in the woods behind our house,” says Bowman. “We had a lot of fun spending time together in nature.”