Who left their tracks in the snow?
A raven! Ravens are perching birds, passerines, and have feet quite well designed to hold on to branches. In this toe arrangement (anisodactyl), three toes face forward and one faces backward. Ravens and crows have middle toes closer to their inner toe than their outer toe, which allows us to tell just looking at their track which foot is which. Ravens generally have tracks over 3.5 inches long, while crows’ tracks are under 3.5 inches long. These tracks were about 4 inches long, helping identify raven as the track-maker.
Ravens are active all winter. Given their large size, they have a slower rate of heat loss than other passerines. Still, they need lots of food to keep themselves warm on cold days. Due to their high energy needs, they often need to feed on large carcasses. They also enjoy rolling in fresh snow and even sledding!