The Best Hikes for Spotting Winter Wildlife

These ten routes will show you that nature never stops bustling, no matter how much snow is on the trail.

- KRISTIN SMITH

1 Savannah Trail Glacier Ridge Metro Park, OH

Info bit.do/glacierridge Trailhead 40.1559, -83.1887

The 5-mile Savannah Trail through decidious forest is the perfect winter spot to catch Cooper's hawks, and great blue herons. Plus, it's doubly fun to birdwatch on cross-country skis when the snow comes in.

2 Mesa View Trail Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, NM

Info fws.gov/refuge/sevilleta Trailhead 34.3513, -106.8823

After climbing to the mesa top for views of the Ladrone Mountains, this 3.8-mile trail wanders the edge of the escarpment before dropping back into the valley. Black-throated sparrows are the most frequent winter visitors, but there are plenty of other animals here, including coyotes and pronghorn; mountain and desert ecosystems meet at the refuge.

3 Barbour Hill Trail False Cape State Park, VA

Info bit.do/falsecape Trailhead 36.6725, -759153

Take the East Dike Trail to the Barbour Hill Trail to look for swans, geese, and ducks as you stroll from freshwater marsh to maritime forest and then over coastal sand dunes. The swans are tundra swans from the Arctic that migrate south every winter.