As the Snow Piles Up...

As we all enjoy the Holiday Season, many of us have been thankful for the lack of snow (those of us in our adult years that is). The lack of the white stuff has probably not gone un-noticed by the wild critters around us either.

The white-tailed deer of ‘the Valley’ have will been even more thankful than their human neighbours. Winter can be a true hardship to most local wildlife.

All neighbouring wildlife that are active throughout the year have adaptations to help them survive the harsh conditions.

Those that do not migrate or hibernate are often pictured on calendars and Christmas cards at this time of year. Many of us, while enjoying these images, are not aware of how these lovely creatures cope with the coldest of our seasons.

At this time of year, the local white-tail population has fed on acorns, and beechnuts, and hopefully added a thick layer of fat under their skin to act as their long johns, if you will. They have shed their reddish summer coat of fur, for a drabber grayish brown thick “parka” of winter fur.

As the snow pack accumulates they will leave their summer areas and head to the winter deer yards of the region, hopefully avoiding vehicles and predators along the way. These areas, used by generation after generation of white-tails provide shelter to the winter herd.

The thick coniferous tree canopy, usually of eastern white cedar or eastern hemlock, reduce the amount of snow that actually reaches the ground. The snow that stays on the branches acts like a blanket and traps slightly warmer air in the areas underneath.

The congregation of a large number of deer can also pack down trails and make traveling within the yard somewhat easier, and with strength in numbers there are more eyes, ears, and noses to detect danger as well.

All of this results in energy conservation for the animals. They will bed down under the trees as the snow piles up and reduce their activity in order to reduce their caloric consumption.

The food that they eat now includes twigs from saplings and whatever branches they can reach. Their digestive juices also adapt to break down the winter diet, and they can be seen chewing their cud as they soak up the sun on bright days, as they lay on south facing ridges.

So, as we humans celebrate, shovel, grumble and plan ‘winter get-away trips’ consider what it takes to ‘truly survive’ winter in ‘the Valley’.