Winter Visitors

I tend not to spend much time outside in the winter time here, I imagine if you lived up here you'd probably spend most of your time inside too. That means I don't really have much opportunity to see which of my animal neighbors have been visiting me. Of course there are signs of life even among the mounds of snow and piles of ice covering just about anything your eyes land on up here.

What signs of life, you ask? Well, while I don't see sprouts from my bulbs popping out of the ground, buds swelling on tree branches, or anything of that sort yet, I do see animal foot prints in the snow. They show me that not everyone headed south for the winter or went into hibernation mode like me. I do not venture into deep snow piles or anything as the snow would probably spill over the tops of my boots and freeze my poor feet. These pictures were taken in the snow that as most recently fell onto our driveway.

The most obvious visitor to the winter garden is the deer.

They have large footprints and sink deeply into the snow. The cloven hooves give them away, not many animals that live around here have prints like these.

Apparently the path Cheesehead had made for me to access the new compost bin he built me this summer for my birthday was quickly discovered by the deer too. It seems they have used the path much more recently than I have. Conveniently, it goes right by my apple trees. I need to remember to get the soap hung in the trees soon or the deer will start nibbling on them soon.

The bin is easily visible from the driveway. I think it looks good, but once the snow levels decrease and before the ground is no longer frozen, Cheesehead seems to think we need to move it. He doesn't like the fact that it can be seen.


Our next biggest guest is our lovely friend, the rabbit. Their foot prints come in groups of four as they hop their way through the snow. They don't sink as far as the deer do, but you can often find which direction they came from as well as where they headed off to. They aren't quite as noticable as far as the footprints go, but they also leave many other signs that they've been here. Our eaten seedpods which are now buried in the snow drifts along with the extra fertilizers they add to my beds. Those two signs make them the most visible visitor to my yard prior to the next new snowfall.


Our last visitor is a little mouse. It has stayed away from the house more this winter than the last time, but if you look closely you can see their barely discernable footprints in the snow near the shed. I had to adjust the exposure and the brightness of this photo to better highlight the prints in this picture. They are so light they seem not to sink at all even in our loosest of snow.

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy