Nature Journal Notes

​We often associate winter with a lack of animal activity and although many critters will cope by hibernating or migrating, there are some animals that stay active during even the coldest days. If animals are able to find sources of food and water and have adaptations that keep them warm, there’s no reason for them to follow their food elsewhere or go into a deep sleep!

​Animals that are able to regulate and maintain the same temperature all year round are called endothermic. All birds and mammals are endothermic animals. Reptiles, fish, amphibians and invertebrates are ectothermic, which means their body temperature is the same as the temperature of the air around them. During the coldest months of the year, these animals physically cannot keep their bodies warm and have to go into a state of inactivity. This is why birds and mammals are the only animals we see that are consistently active throughout the winter.

​Adaptation: Something that an animal has or does that makes it better able to survive in its environment
Hibernation: A state of deep sleep that lasts for the entire winter season
Migration: The movement of animals from one area to another area while following a food source

Geese flying in a "V" formation as they are migrating

A fun winter journaling activity to keep track of who is active near you is documenting tracks and scat! With winter comes (hopefully) a snowy canvas covering the landscape. The soft, white snow becomes the perfect place for animal footprints to be embedded and scat to contrast with the light backdrop. By knowing how to identify tracks and scat of local animals, you can learn a whole lot about the winter wanderers of your area! Before starting your animal tracks and scat investigation, it may be helpful to get a tracks and scat guide for the area where you live. If you are MA resident, here is a great online track ID guide from mass wildlife!

​Tracks: trails of animal footprints often present in snow or soft ground.

Scat: Animal poop!

Animal tracks present in fresh snow

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In your journal, practice sketching the different tracks and scat you are seeing. If there isn’t snow covering the ground, yet, you can begin to look for tracks in mud or areas where the ground is soft. Animal tracks come in all sorts of different shapes and sizes, so keep your eyes peeled for any kind of indents in the ground that look out of the ordinary. Usually, if you are able to find at least one animal track, there will be other tracks nearby!

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Try to identify what direction the animal is headed. If the tracks you are observing have toes, the animal is moving in the direction that their toes are pointing. If you are looking at tracks with hooves, like a deer, the pointed part of the hoof is the front and will indicate where the animal was headed. Once you know the direction that your animal is headed in, you can wander that way to see if there are any more signs of the animal like more tracks or even scat!

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Although it might seem gross at first, animal scat is awesome! It’s a super useful tool for knowing who is wandering through your area and what kind of food is available to the animals around. When sketching scat, take note of the shape, color and if you can see anything identifiable like fur, feathers, or berries!

 
While journaling, you can challenge yourself to make an animal tracks and scat guide of your area to share with friends and family members! You can then ask people to go out and try to find signs of these animals while they are walking around the same places!