Migration is generally thought upon as the great exodus, mainly conducted by birds but a few insects do so as well. Once upon a time there were three hard choices for wildlife each autumn: migrate and get the heck out of here hibernate and “see y’all next spring” or adapt by growing thick fur and changing the diet from green leaves to hard nuts and dried berries.Įach of these winter survival options can be further divided down to more species specific choices. The local wildlife species are also a perplexed as to the weather pattern. Certainly not out normal wintertime experience. This lack of a winter vibe has hit our local tourism quite hard, with snowmobile trails yet to open, ice fishing being restricted in many places to occurring just a few feet offshore, and pond hockey on lake ice relegated to just a dream. But we are in the Great Lakes region of Ontario and February is ‘supposed’ to be three weeks of minus 20 on top of a metre of fallen snow. Should you live in North Carolina or the south half of Pennsylvania, well OK, situation normal. Maple trees are being tapped, red-winged blackbirds are returning, tree buds are opening and some early wildflower stems are pushing upwards. Having just come out of two weeks of very warm temperatures and lots of melting snow, it certainly feels like the calendar has been shifted a month ahead. If one had to pick a theme for this season, I suppose “Winter… Interrupted” would be as good a choice as any.
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