Winter Hardship on our Wildlife

With record snow fall in December, our furry and feathered friends have had it much harder this early season. Although not at a crises yet, it was much more difficult for them.

Now we’ve had rain. This did take the snow cover down and expose some additional food sources, but the rain then froze making these sources unusable, especially to our small feathered friends. (at least until a warm spell takes some of the ice away)

Pheasants and Turkeys eat a lot of various foods that they find on top of the ground. In the soft shallow snow cover, they have no problem finding enough to eat. But now with the heavy ice cover, they will have a much harder time.

Now is when our Feathered friends and even some of our furry friends will come around looking for a handout. It is now, when food is hard to get, the the skittish ones will take the chance of being exposed and come in closer for an easy meal. The benefit to us…great viewing of our woodland friends.

Now, one of the big issues is, if you decide to start or have already started feeding the birds and animals…don’t stop. Many of these creatures, especially the small birds need a constant food source to survive. If you feed for a couple of weeks and then stop, the wildlife will have to seek out a new food source. They may find one real easily or it may take much energy to do so.

So, if you start, be kind and don’t stop. Then as they come, enjoy the beauty that Nature has put before us.