Nature Connection: Yard Bunnies, Robins, And Little Snow Tunnels

 The last few weeks have been brutal for wildlife. Cold is one thing, but heavy wind is another. Add a whole lot of rain and intermittent ice and snow, and it just gets tougher and tougher for survival out there. Oh, and avian (bird) flu is here, which certainly isn’t helping, especially waterfowl such as ducks, geese, swans and ducks. Even predators that feast on dead or ailing birds such as hawks, snowy owls and bald eagles are succumbing to it.

 Snow cover is difficult for many birds and animals because it covers their natural food sources. This is especially true for those that eat seeds and small critters from the ground.

 If the snow isn’t too deep, they can scratch and dig for food, but if the snow is deep, they will turn to buds and new growth on shrubs. If you’ve left flowers that went to seed, you may be seeing lots of goldfinches and other seed-eating birds visiting your gardens after a snowfall. Rabbits will eat rose hips, but if they can’t find those, they may turn to chomping on the ends of branches for meager sustenance.

 Soft snow is easier for most animals to deal with than crusted over hard snow or snow that has melted and refrozen into a sheet of ice. If you walk in the woods in winter, you know how icy paths can become. This is not only treacherous footing for humans but for wildlife such as deer. Iced-over ponds can be difficult to traverse, though some wildlife seem to use the ice to make some shortcuts. If they’re lucky, the pond will be frozen hard. If you watch the news, you know not all make it across without falling in due to thin ice in some areas.

 Although snow and cold are tough, it’s the wind and wet that can be the most difficult to deal with, especially for small animals and birds. Gale force winds can be deadly for birds, and if it’s very cold and birds need to eat all day to stay warm, this can be a real problem. Even winds that are not so high can be tough to navigate for small birds, and if you add driving rain it can quickly become life-threatening.

 Birds have feathers that are somewhat water-resistant, but few are actually waterproof. This is true of most mammals as well. Their guard hairs help keep them dry, but persistent rain can be dangerous for them as well. An animal or bird that gets soaked and cold may have a hard time recovering and may die of hypothermia if they cannot find good, warm shelter.

 Over the last week the snow, rain, sleet, and ice have come and gone. So have the wind and the freezing temperatures. The thaws have been helpful, and we have watched many birds forage in the underbrush in our yard. The light coating of snow shows us it isn’t just birds that use our little yard. We have at least one rabbit, a raccoon, an opossum and a neighbor’s cat that cut across our front and back lawns each night. On occasion we catch sight of them, especially the rabbit, which I now call yard bunny.

 Yard bunny seems to spend some time each night huddled up by the foundation of our house, keeping warm, I would guess. It has figured out the best parts of the fence to scramble through or underneath, and it feeds often in the underbrush along with the birds.

 We no longer put out birdseed, and these days the berry-bearing trees and bushes are looking pretty sparse, so I worry about all my little yard friends. When no one is looking I throw out some old berries and dried up raisins for our yard robin. While other robins are flocking and traveling the Cape from holly tree to holly tree, stripping them of berries in a matter of hours, this one seems to just hang out in our yard all by itself.

 Our holly trees were stripped of their thousands of berries a few weeks ago, and for a while we had a dozen or so robins that stayed around, picking through leaves on the ground to find berries that had fallen. After a few days they all moved on except this one.

 In the past I’ve had one robin spend the winter, and there’s a part of me that wonders if this is the same robin from last year and two years before that. It could be, but it’s more unlikely than likely, given the extreme circumstances, but one never knows for sure.

 This robin has some favorite parts of the yard. Against my better judgment I always leave the multiflora rose hips and the bittersweet berries in one part of the yard. I know it’s where the rabbits go, but it’s also where the robin has been feeding. It’s also eaten some of the old berries and raisins I’ve tossed out. It hides in a nearby bush when I toss them but once I’m back inside I can watch it run over to check what I tossed out. It often gobbles them right up, but one of our resident blue jays has also caught on, so they both run around grabbing their tidbits as quickly as they can.

 The snow has melted now, but for a while we had enough snow that many people were finding tunnels and trails as the snow in their yards melted. Mice, voles, and even moles will tunnel in the snow when they can.In many ways this helps them avoid their predators. but watch out if you see a fox or coyote standing still, listening to the snow. If you don’t know their intentions, you may think it is cute, but they’re deadly serious. One good, well-timed pounce, and that will be the end of that tunnel.