Loading...
January 14, 1988 - In Winter, It's Survival of the FattestPage 8A/The Suffolk Times /January 14, 1988 In Winter, It's Survival of the Fattest By PAUL STOUTENBURGH Last week's snow and cold were the closest thing to a real, old- fashioned winter I've seen in a long time. The evening of the snow I can remember walking out to the barn and stopping midway so the mood of the storm could take over. It's then, with the snow swirling about and the cold creeping in every crevice of your clothing, that you start to realize how frail and vulnerable you are. It also gave me an appreciation of today's conveniences in contrast to the more primitive way of life of our ancestors. The cows looked mournfully at me, their thick winter fur insulating them well against the layer of snow spread across their backs. Inside I fed Focus on Nature the chickens, on every conceivable perch they could find. As I put the grain down they all came to life in a flurry of wings and feathers, de- scending on the yellow bits of grain as if they were starved. Even the frenzied pecking order that usually rules was forgotten as all rushed about, each trying to outdo the other in this evening feast. Yet there was one that did not join in. It was sickly and stood in the corner crouching with wings drooped and head drawn into its feathers. Wintcr had co.:gi+t up with it and it would only be a mat- ter of time before it would go down. Winter is a cruel task - master par- ticularly for those who step out of line and don't play the game accord- ing to the rules of nature. I'm sure many of you have seen swans that have succumbed to the cold. Re- member, they are escaped domestic fowl and out of their element when winter comes. Yet as long as the water doesn't freeze over completely and cut off their underwater food supply, they can usually take it. Now free, they have stepped out of their role of dependence on man and have tried to go it on their own. The result each year is that we lose some to freeze -ups. Owls' Food Under Snow Even wildlife usually well- equip- ped to handle winter's cold some- Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh MUTE SWAN - -Swans are domesticated fowl that With the warmth of the open water gone and their have escaped from man's care. For this freedom food supply cut off they become casualties of they pay dearly when winter's frigid weather sets in. winter's wrath. times goes down. Owls are a perfect ovsamnto Tba .. {:.............7..4_ than the owl. It glides on silent wings. Its talons are as deadly as any weapon and it can hunt on the dar- kest of nights. Yet when snowstorms come like the one we've just experi- enced and the weather remains cold so the blanket of snow remains for a long time, the owl's food supply es- capes below. Here voles and mice and rats tunnel about out of sight of the marauding owl. Starvation can re- sult and each year people call saying, "I found a beautiful big owl dead under my evergreen tree. What could have happened to it ?" Even our great blue heron, the master stalker of our creeks and bays, succumbs to the cold. He should have known better and migrated south with the others but every year a certain few seem to try to make it through the winter. Some time ago I wrote an article about a great blue GOLDSMITH and TUTHILL INC. ESTABLISHED 1842 PRODUCTS AND SERVICES AVAILABLE • Fuel Oil • Automatic Delivery • Kerosene • Oil Burner Service • Diesel • Heating Installations • Gasoline • Discounts for Cash • Antifreeze • Phone Orders Promptly • Motor Oils Served Youngs Ave. Southold, N.Y. 11971 765 -3767 heron I watched pathetically suc- -L — �L_ __I_1 i I_ I l in a long, narrow ditch where r kil'lies and such must have been present. Then as the cold nights froze the water and cut off his food supply, he gradually weakened. I knew it was just about over when I saw his tail touch the ice. No self - respecting heron would ever permit this unless something drastic was happening. Sure enough early the next morning when I checked the heron was com- pletely down, cold and lifeless. Survival Game Is Tough Ice and snow, cold and blow are dif- ficult cards to play the survival game with. Just last week when we were on our Audubon Christmas bird count we were desperately looking for a clapper rail out on the marshes. No matter what we did we couldn't raise one. The last place we tried where there was always open water we found our clapper rail but it was dead. It had frozen to death within 10 feet of the open water, another victim of winter's cold. But then, how do some birds and animals somehow survive? I guess the way to say it is that they have learned the rules of the game. A per- fect example would be that little puff of feathers, the chickadee. How does this tiny little bird keep going and seem so cheerful throughout the whole winter? It has found out how to live off seeds of any kind from poison ivy to bayberry to ragweed to sunflower seeds at your feeder. Then there are the eggs of moths and plant lice and hibernating spiders and bee- tles and flies and insects of all kinds it finds under the bark of trees and the rubble of undergrowth. It has found food available all year. But then, what about at night when it doesn't feed? It's found a way of solv- ing that problem for if you were to follow the little chickadee that comes tucked away at night in a cavity bt a tree or an old woodpecker's nest or perhaps even its own nest where it reared its young last season. I know even the common house sparrow that comes to our feeder uses our bird boxes as a place to snuggle up and conserve heat. Each has learned the right card to play in the winter game of survival. Animals are the same. Mr. Cotton- tail roams all night during the winter and when it snows he travels atop the snow where he can reach the tender buds and limbs of your rose bushes and other plants otherwise out of his reach. You can see the evi- dence from the many tracks around your home. It's during the day he finds a dry, warm place to sleep to conserve his energy, perhaps under an old building, in a brush pile in the woods or in the tool shed like Peter Rabbit. When the weather gets too cold for some like the opossum, raccoon and squirrel, they just curl up in their nest and sleep it out. The squirrel in the top of a tree in his leaf nest, the raccoon and opossum under an old wood pile or in a tree cavity. When it warms up, it is time for those, too, to get out and scavenge about, perhaps tipping over your garbage pail. Some years when winter's cards are just right we see great drops in populations because of the cold and snow. It takes years for these species to rebuild. The good side of the story is that they usually do rebuild, which makes our lives more enjoyable and rewarding, for the natural world is one we should never tire of.