01/20/2026
Happy Tree Tuesday! In honour of this snowy time of year, we’re trying something a little different—a mini primer on identifying trees in winter! While leaves may mostly be gone, trees still have plenty of clues to help you tell them apart if you know where to look!
Key features to look for include:
🌱Bark – notice the colour, texture, and any peeling or patterns
🌱Leaves or needles (or their absence!) – look for leaves lingering on deciduous trees, or the needle forms of coniferous trees
🌱Twigs and buds – their shape, colour, and arrangement
🌱Nuts, fruits, or seed pods – often found on the ground nearby or still clinging to branches
🌱Silhouette – the overall shape of the tree against the winter sky
There are lots of great tools to help you sharpen your winter tree-ID skills, including ACER’s Trees in Winter ID cards, which you can find here:https://www.acer-acre.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Trees-in-Winter-ID-9-species.pdf and ACER’s Winter Discovery Walk found here: https://www.acer-acre.ca/winter-discovery-walk
So next time you’re out in nature this winter, take a closer look at the trees around you—you might be surprised how many trees you can identify!
Other helpful online resources include:
https://forestscanada.ca/en/resource/winter-tree-key
https://cvc.ca/conversations/winter-tree-identification/
https://ontariotrees.com/id/wintertreeidfeb2001.php
