This summer’s drought likely created problems for mice and voles, the “meat-loaves” of foxes, fishers, owls, etc. The poor seed crop and lack of surface water didn’t bode well for predators’ winter survival. But last week, before the big snowstorm, a couple inches of snow fell, then several clear nights, and the first good tracks of the winter accumulated. Out I went to see what had been stirring. No mouse tracks! But short-tailed, grass-eating voles seemed to be doing OK! And in this case, I’m happy to have been wrong!