Nature Connection: Slim Pickings

When there’s not much to choose from, those of us who’ve been around a long time may say there are slim pickings. I’m not sure many people use the phrase anymore, but back in the day the phrase was “fire,” and to be fair, we’d all be “delulu” if we expected the language to stay the same. No need for us to get “salty” about it, I guess.

Anyway, January and February are tough months with slim pickings for a lot of wildlife, whether they are mammals or birds. Those that migrate or hibernate avoid the drama of daily winter survival, though they certainly face plenty of challenges of their own as they travel or slumber. 

The sudden ups and downs of temperatures we’ve been having can be very confusing to plants as well as wildlife, causing some to bloom in mid-winter and others to think about nesting. Of course, then everything re-freezes with temperatures diving well below freezing and it’s rather chaotic out there.

Throw in snow cover and plants already coping with several years’ worth of drought, and food can be hard to find. I recently watched a rabbit digging in the snow to look for grass or something edible, and eventually it seemed to find something and settled down to graze for a minute, ears twitching all the while.

Winter is tough on grazing animals such as rabbits and deer. Much of their regular food is no longer available and they rely on foods that may not be the best tasting or most nutritious. Both rabbits and deer will nibble on tender tips of branches or baby trees. They will eat rose hips and buds and any grasses they can find. 

Predators also have a difficult time in winter as the easy and abundant hunting they had in summer and fall is no longer available to them. There are the above-mentioned deer and rabbits, of course, but even they can be slim pickings at this time of year. When captured, some are so thin they don’t offer much sustenance, but no predator is going to turn down a meal, even if it is a sparse one.

As I write, a snowstorm is predicted for the weekend which could bring significant snowfall to our area. If we get deep snow, that offers yet another challenge to wildlife. Some, like squirrels, raccoons and skunks will have enough fat reserves to hang out in protected areas to rest for a few days, even a week or more, if necessary. Others, however, will have a difficult time navigating through deep snow. This makes life difficult for predators as well as prey, but those that hunt in packs, such as coyotes, may have an advantage in bad weather.

Hawks and owls won’t hunt in the worst of a storm, but they may benefit from snowfall in several ways. First, their prey will be hungry, even desperate, and perhaps not as aware as they should be. Secondly, those that rely on camouflage may find themselves standing out against the snow in ways they never imagined. This makes hunting easier for hawks and owls that hunt in daylight. Nocturnal owls can suffer with deep snow because the little rodents they prefer can tunnel beneath the snow, making them harder to find. Owls have great eyesight but also great hearing, though, so they can hear the little guys moving about and can often pinpoint their exact location and grab them beneath the snow’s surface. Foxes and coyotes can do this as well. They aren’t always successful, however. Not by a long shot.

Winter is a time of subsistence for much of wildlife here on Cape Cod but also most of New England and many other northern areas. Many don’t make it through, unable to find enough food to keep their metabolism going through long, dark, cold nights.

More than a few times I’ve found dead birds, including dead hawks, just lying fully intact beneath a tree. When I picked up one of the hawks I found a few years ago, it was so light with no fat or meat on its bones, I had no doubt it had starved. 

Today, if you find dead birds at the beach, I don’t recommend picking them up as bird flu is a possible cause of death. It’s not the only cause, though, and many sea ducks and gulls perish over the winter months from starvation and exposure. If you must pick up a dead bird, be sure to wear gloves and be smart about it.

It’s too late to plant berry-, fruit- or nut-bearing trees and shrubs right now, but think about adding some native trees or shrubs to your yard next spring. Bird feeders help some birds get through tough winters, but natural food in addition to or instead of imported seed is even better.

Nature provides for wildlife but it’s good to remember that we humans have disrupted her natural cycles and destroyed a lot of habitats so we could have homes and towns and roads. Lawns are decorative but do nothing to help wildlife. Maybe think about letting a part of your lawn grow wild. This will offer habitat for insects that feed birds but also provide the wild grasses and other plants that can help feed rabbits, birds and even deer year round. 

It's slim pickings out there for wildlife over the next few months. Survival is difficult even in the best of times if you are a chickadee or a rabbit, but it’s especially hard in winter. If you can do nothing else, maybe put out a dish with water and check on it every few hours so it doesn’t freeze. Your wild neighbors will thank you.