While almost all plants had died or gone into dormancy when I was last at my spot in November, a solid foot or so of snow now covers most of the ground. Centennial Brook is almost completely frozen over and the woods are much more quiet then before. Most of the squirrels are dormant with just a few red and grey squirrels squeaking in the distance and the vast majority of birds I had heard that day were chickadees. However, there were signs that the forest was still very much alive.
Whitewash is a term for streaks of owl droppings on the sides of trees. They usually mean that an owl has recently been in that tree and if a lot of whitewash is found on or around a tree, that means it is likely a favorite roosting spot which makes it a useful tool for finding owls.
I also found some tracks and scat in the woods. I knew the tracks were canine, but I couldn’t tell if they were from a coyote or a domestic dog. I looked it up when I got back from my dorm and confirmed that both the tracks and scat are from a coyote passing through.
coyote scat 
coyote track