Winter 2026 Cedar Creek Story of the Day

On January 31, the Minnesota Wildlife Tracking Project (MWTP) hosted our annual winter Cedar Creek Wildlife Survey. We have been running winter tracking surveys at Cedar Creek since 2017. This year, 40 community members and trackers took part, spreading out across the snowy landscape to search for the tracks and sign of canids, mustelids, and other wildlife. Our crew fielded ten teams, each exploring a different area of the reserve and returning with the following rich stories from the field. Our teams' observations are posted to iNaturalist, and embedded within the stories below. You can view all the iNaturalist observations from the day here.

While it had been some time since the last snowfall, tracks were plentiful on the landscape. Temperatures started in the single digits, but warmed to the low twenties by the early afternoon -- a welcome respite from our sub-zero days in late January. 

Coyotes are one of the several target species for the MWTP's Canid Study with Cedar Creek, and the group starting at the south end of Old East Bethel Blvd hit pay dirt right out of the gate! Their aptly described "coyote party" showed evidence of both play and mating behavior, including circles of trampled snow in a field east of the road. This is fantastic, as it establishes a mating time for our local population. Along with more evidence of coyote roaming this road, this crew also reported fisher walking along a log.

Deer are typically abundant in our surveys. While most groups reported evidence of trails or scat, the group exploring around Lindeman Center captured not only the double-trough left by the deer cleave-tips dragging in snow, but also the trail to a preferred bedding spot underneath the pines. This team also documented snow troughs under 1" in width -- evidence of masked shrew, our smallest shrew species in the region -- as well as larger snow tunnels possibly made by voles, mice, or larger shrews. Evidence of eastern cottontail, a common prey animal for the canids of this area, was also found by this team.

Moving north from Lindeman Center, our next crew found significant coyote and fox activity along the Cedar Bog Lake trail to Chickadee Cabin. After identifying shrew bounds and squirrel caches around the cabin, this group proceeded cross-country towards Cedar Creek, finding the trail of a pheasant along the way. At the creek, they found ample evidence of an otter highway through tracks and spraints filled with fish scales and crayfish shell, as well as a raccoon sharing the frozen right-of-way. Their return journey through the frozen bog rewarded them with fisher trails as well as the prize of fisher scat.

In past surveys, the North Unit has been a hotbed of canid activity in the prairie area. One question we've been holding -- and which MWTP facilitators are exploring through the Cedar Creek Canid Study this winter -- is whether coyote and red fox are occupying different spatial territories, or cohabitating in the same space. The teams tracking along the road found both red fox and coyote trails in close proximity through the field. This area is serving as a travel corridor for both species. Once in the forest, these trackers found more evidence of coyote presence, as well as following a fisher trail to find evidence of scent-marking. (Trackers reported that this site smelled "clean", in contrast to the "skunky" odor often reported from red fox urine scent-marking.) The most intense finding reported was the team's discovery of the remnants of an unfortunate cottontail, surrounded by raven tracks.

Just a minute further northeast as the crow flies, our last two tracker teams explored new territory for our survey: the northwest corner of the reserve. Crow tracks greeted the groups on the road just inside the gate, with plentiful coyote trails and scat of various ages crisscrossing the fields. One team continued south along the road and completed a canid hat trick, documenting red fox as well as the elusive gray fox -- a lucky find, given the snow conditions and time elapsed since the last snowfall! They also observed raccoon ambling along near the road, sighted three male pheasants strutting through the field, and picked out a bounding small mustelid trail and buck rub from this fall's rut during their forays into the forest further south. The other team followed coyote trails west into the fields and found ring-necked pheasant wandering through a small copse of evergreens. As they cut southeast to find Cedar Creek, they encountered red squirrel, deer mouse, and meadow vole trails, as well as two sites with mysterious pieces of vole fur and stomach contents scattered on the open landscape -- the second still warm and wet, with coyote tracks in evidence. This team also documented evidence of fisher just inside the forest edge, finding a dramatic drop from a tree branch into the snow. Bounds of the animal up the slope showed only claw marks on the snow crust. Following this trail out confirmed the identification of fisher.

In total, our teams of trackers made 98 observations of the tracks and sign of 17 species of animals. Among these were observations of each of our target species for the survey: fisher, small weasels, gray fox, red fox, and coyote. A huge thank you to everyone who participated in this Cedar Creek Wildlife Survey! Tracking in community supports each person in growing their skills of observation and knowledge of animal behavior, documents the diversity of species on this landscape, and contributes rich information about the resident wildlife that can inform researchers studying the canids and mustelids at this reserve. 

Want to stay involved? 

Join us for our next Tracking Club, exploring Winter Mysteries at Wargo Nature Center.

Want to test your own skills and see what's possible when interpreting track & sign?

 Applications for our next Practice Assessment June 27-28 are now open here.