🌀The Void Raccoon is back to welcome you to the week between Christmas & New Year’s🌀 This is a week lost in time. You eat cookies & cheese for breakfast. You exist in your fuzziest clothing, sleeping at odd hours of the day. Where is your motivation? Can't be found. 📸USFWS

Who's up for a little ice fishing? This mallard was spotted chowing down on a nice catch. Her friend wasn't so impressed. Jealous perhaps? 📷 Mike Budd/USFWS

Ring in the new year with a candlelight walk, snowshoe or ski along lighted trails. This winter, 19 candlelight events at 17 different locations are planned between Jan. 3 and Feb. 22. Check it out: mndnr.gov/candlelight

Hey, college students! Love the outdoors? We just posted more than 200 paid summer internships available throughout the state. Apply by Jan. 31. For more information, including how to apply, go to: mndnr.gov/careers/intern…

Neat footage of the Cranberry Bay Pack, a pack of 8 wolves at the time, crossing a beaver lodge and dam in late fall a few years ago. This pack was a large pack for our area where pack size typically averages 4-4.5 wolves. The pack didn’t stay this big for long. About 1 month

Coyotes eat a little more than 1 pound each day. While they prefer meat, they'll also eat insects, fruit and other plant material. 📷 courtesy of Gordon Garcia

Minnesotans are feeling the impacts of climate change. The state is updating Minnesota’s Climate Action Framework in 2025 with a stronger focus on collaboration and community benefits. Share your input on the actions you’d like included here: ow.ly/oWHf50UFGQv

Female ruby-throated hummingbirds build cup-shaped nests out of plants, spider silk, and lichens. The nests are often camouflaged and placed on tree branches or in shrubs. These nests are stretchy, allowing them to expand as chicks grow. 🐥 📸Courtney Celley/USFWS

The 2025 Minnesota Fish Art Contest is accepting submissions from all Minnesota students. 🎨 Do you have what it takes to create a reel-y great piece of art? Submit original artwork of a fish species of your choice by Feb 28! tinyurl.com/FishArtContest 📷: Wildlife Forever

Want to see a bobcat? Don't forget to look up! Bobcats are great at climbing and will often use trees to wait for prey or even escape larger predators. While they typically hunt at dawn and dusk, they're more active during the day in the winter. 📷 courtesy of Nicholas Shaw

The polyphemus moth was named after the giant cyclops from Greek mythology👁️ The eye spots on its wings help ward off potential predators. The faux eyes look like the eyes of the predator’s own predators, which makes them unlikely to attack the moth. 📸Dan Magneson/USFWS

Have you ever wondered how birds keep warm in the winter? Birds of all shapes and sizes have special adaptations for living in cold climates: fws.gov/story/how-do-b…

Jessie Diggins dishes on joy, pain, healing, and her Minnesota roots. MCVmag Q@A: Nordic Revolutionary: tinyurl.com/y8rj6vmv

During the cold winter, bison develop thick, woolly coats that help protect them from freezing temperatures and harsh winds. This gives them the fortitude to use their large head and massive neck and shoulder muscles as snowplows to forage in deep snow! 🦬 Photo by NPS

🎶 Just another marten Monday 🎶 Even though they're considerably larger than squirrels, American martens are still very agile and can even catch red squirrels in the trees! Their sharp, curved, semi-retractable claws help them climb and grip on the go. 📷 Courtney Celley/USFWS

Insects, both aquatic and terrestrial,🐜🦗 are an active and thriving component of certain winter ecosystems in Minnesota and elsewhere. New research is turning up clues about their adaptations for life in chilly conditions. MCVmag tinyurl.com/ms43xbsa

Have you seen Minnesota’s most abundant and prolific furbearer—the muskrat? Look for these mammals near water year-round but you may not see as many as you used to as North American muskrat populations are in decline.😭 MCVmag tinyurl.com/3bj2653e 📷: Photo by Bill Marchel

Winter is a great time to spot birds that normally spend their time far away. Redpolls spend summers in Alaska and northern Canada. In the winter, they may travel as far as northern Texas! Have you seen any? 📷 Courtney Celley/USFWS

Backyard beauties! Northern flickers are attracted to suet feeders in winter, and besides being pretty, the woodpeckers are also a welcome guest because they love to eat insects like ants and beetles. Video: Dan Streiffert

It might surprise you to learn that insects, both aquatic and terrestrial, are an active and thriving component of certain winter ecosystems in Minnesota. Check out "Snow Crawlers" in MCVmag tinyurl.com/ms43xbsa 📸: Krista Styler, Bugs Below Zero and Alyssa M. Anderson