By NANCY JANE KERN
IN 1942 COLUMBIA naturalist Alan Devoe gave a grim description of this month of winter in his book “Lives Around Us.” He wrote, “February, none but the hardiest and most watchful creatures of outdoors can survive this season. This time of snows and winds and icy coldness, when, as the north-woods Indians like to put it, there is Death, the dark mother, always gliding near on soft feet.”
This a tough time of year for our wildlife who search for the basic necessities of food and shelter. The ones who hibernate (like bears) or those who go into a similar state fare better if they choose a good burrow, hollow tree, or cave. We help our birds with suet, seed, and corn, and by law are unable to help our poor deer who must glean cornfields or browse on grass and tips of brush.
Last week a friend watched a very small young deer struggle through the deep snow with a coyote following behind. They went through a field to a wood and out of sight, giving indication of a poor outcome for the deer. Sad for one, and good for the survival of the coyote and for others dependent on meat.
So far the young deer are looking good at my house. Coyotes come back as hunger returns and in desperation will chew hide and bones as well. The chicken-like ruffed gouse (locally called partridge) and squirrels are eating the emerging buds of some trees. They particularly like poplars. Bittersweet vines may still have berries and are readily sought by many birds including the wild turkey. I help by keeping my bird feeders filled so my usual birds are fine. Wild geese are large birds who will hang around the area if there are bodies of open water and corn left on fields. Harvesters vary in efficiency and geese will find the fields with corn, and feed until it is gone. Another food that geese seek is grass and it is interesting to observe several fields just west of Kinderhook.
Wheat is often planted on the fields in the fall which can grow, even under the snow, to a brilliant and succulent green. On occasional trips over that way, there have been amazing numbers of Canada geese that fly in during the afternoon and stay until dark. The minute they land they start eating. What goes in eventually goes out, so they return some of what they have eaten as a rich fertilizer. Geese fly in and land in varying-sized groups of a few birds at a time, up to flocks of a hundred or more, with the cumulative total at possibly a thousand or more birds.
New arrivals cause loud exchanges of greetings. Rarely a squabble breaks out and someone is chased away. The snow does not stop them, and they plunge their bills down to reach their goal. At dusk, a Merlin hawk may watch from a nearby tree in the hope of a small bird or mouse to be flushed by the geese. Eventually, the geese fly off for the night. Spring, although months away, will bring warmth and more food. Death, the dark mother will come too, but fortunately, most will survive.
