The first sign of wildlife I encountered was a set of deer tracks in the snow. As I followed them, I noticed some broken twigs as further evidence of their activity.
I followed them backwards to see where the deer had come from, and traced them back to the brook. As it turns out, they came from the other side, and had made their way through the water to reach my site.
I also came across what I believe to be mink tracks. I had a little bit of trouble identifying them, as they seemed to go from one tree to another, leading me to believe that they were from a squirrel, however there were 5 toes instead of 4, so I ruled out the grey squirrel. By comparing the tracks with the visuals in my tracking guide, I determined that my best guess was a mink, and upon further inspection I realized that the tracks did not originate at the tree, but came from behind it, so mink made more sense.
I also encountered lots of winter twigs, and identified boxelder, basswood, eastern white pine, paper birch, and beech trees making up the forest. These are the same trees that have always been there, but the foot or so of snow on the ground made the place feel very different than it had in the fall. The brook seemed smaller, and yet more treacherous, and though I had seen the evidence of life, it was hard to believe that there really were any animals there. I did not hear any birds chirping or squirrels squawking like they did earlier in the year, and no chipmunks scampered across the banks. Nonetheless, it still felt peaceful there, as it always seems to.
These are some close-ups of twigs I saw as well as a sketch of one:
