What leaves a print like this in snow? Photo prompts debate in New Hampshire

Footprints in snow typically have a beginning and an end, but not in the case of a puzzling print discovered by New Hampshire Fish and Game.

One of the department’s biologists found a single snow imprint in the middle of nowhere, appearing as if the maker had vanished in mid step.

“What wildlife made this imprint and what were they doing?” the department asked in a Feb. 13 Facebook post.

A photo shared with the post included contradictory clues, with the imprint appearing to be part hole and part bulge. Striations are also visible to each side.

The image has racked up several hundred reactions and guesses on social media, most of them sensible. Maybe a squirrel fell out of a tree, one person said, or possibly a grouse burst from a tunnel, another suggested.

Then there were the less sensible ideas, referring to the abominable snowman and chupacabra, a mythical vampire dog.

“What you’re seeing is a Bigfoot poop covered in snow. The outside pattern is just where his fur rested,” one man wrote.

So what was it? None of the above, it turns out.

“This imprint was made by an owl trying to catch a small mammal in the snow,” the state concluded.

“The deep depression is from its talons trying to grab its prey. The top is the owl’s head and then the wings on either side. Based on the wingspan (-20 inches) plus absence of ear tufts, we surmise it was made by a northern saw-whet owl.”

The northern saw-whet is “a tiny owl with a catlike face, over sized head, and bright yellow eyes,” Cornell University’s All About Birds website reports. The owls have great hearing and hunt mostly at night “waiting on low perches and then swooping down on prey,” Audubon.org reports. They often feed on mice, shrews or squirrels, the site says.

This story was originally published February 17, 2021 at 9:51 AM with the headline "What leaves a print like this in snow? Photo prompts debate in New Hampshire."