Animals in Autumn Preparing for Winter

[science_spot]

Humans have it easy, compared to animals.  Most of us live our lives without fear of becoming prey, without having to scavenge for or hunt and kill our food, and without having to learn to build a good home or go without.  I wonder if my spirit is strong enough to be an animal living in the wild, having to take care of itself (and offspring) or die prematurely.

In autumn, these challenges to animals become more apparent, as they prepare for winter, which is the most challenging time in the adult life of an animal in the wild.  Greenery to be used for food becomes scarce, the temperatures drop, and foliage used for hiding from prey disappears as the snow settles in.  This season, I have been paying special attention to the animals outside, and how they prepare for winter, so I can share with you my observations (which are destined for my new book I started working on).

The most obvious preparation is by the many birds in the area.  Many are heading south for the winter.  The process of migration is quite complicated, but made to look easy by the millions of birds that take part every autumn (and again in the spring).  Determining leadership, direction and timing, birds form groups and head south to better climates where they can live a bit easier while the north is under a blanket of snow and cold.  Not all the birds go south, and those that stay behind have plenty of their own work to do in order to ensure their survival.  They will need to make sure their nests are in a good, protective location, and in good condition, or find a new home in the birdhouses some people set out.  This home will hopefully be nearby a food source, whether that is a bidfeeder consistantly kept with seed, or some winter berries, a stock of nuts, or insect colony.

((SIDE NOTE - it's a good time to prepare your feeders in anticipation of the Christmas Bird Count in December and the Great Backyard Bird Count in February))

Other animals are preparing, too.  Many animals put on extra weight in the summer by eating excessively when the resources are there.  This extra weight will be stored at fat reserves, to be burned off when food is scarce during the winter.  During the winter, the deer will come closer to the house looking for food around my landscaping.  In an effort to keep them away from my bushes, I feed them apples and kitchen scraps to help them through.  If I didn't, they would resort to eating evergreen bushes and drinking from the drainage ditch in order to survive the winter.

Those animals that can store food, such as squirrels, will be busy the next few months collecting their food, such as nuts and berries that theywill be able to ration to themselves in the winter.  I can usually tell if the trees had a bumper crop of nuts that year because the squirrels have so many nuts stored they seem to stay away from the bird feeders, because they just do not need the free food.

Insects, the bees and wasps (etc), in particular, also need to prepare their home for winter.  Now that the temperatures are cooler, most have already selected the best place to build a nest or hive so the colony can hibernate until spring.  Unfortunately, one of their top choices seems to be my shed and the eaves of my house!  My place is definately not the Ritz Carelton, but these bees act like it is!

What other animal activities have you witnessed during the autumn?  Do any of these things mark the season for you?  For me, it is the migration of Canada Geese because their formations in the sky cannot be overlooked, and their overwhelming presence missed as soon as they are gone.  the funny thing is, they don't all go.  Many individuals stay here for the winter, enjoying a free-for-all on the golf courses all around town!

 

Tonya

AKA sunmoonstars

The Science Spot

 

[MSugarKane]

Sep. 27, 2009 at 9:39 AM

What amazes me each and every time I hear it happen.   As the ducks are getting ready to fly south, they herd into large groups.  They sleep in the lake at night.  At dusk you hear them squawking loudly, for a long time as many formations of ducks enter the lake, glide into the water and join the large groups that already have landed.   The ducks in the water keep squawking until every duck in the sky has landed and then silence!  They all automatically are silent for the night.    It amazes me that they know when the last duck has landed. 

[Momforhealth]

Sep. 27, 2009 at 10:06 AM

I so miss the fall up north.  I am now in the south and the signs are alittle different.  I saw a bunch of monarch butterfies the other day..It makes me wonder where they have flown from.  We see canadian geese flying to our nearby park that has a nice sized duck pond..many different kinds of ducks coming in formation slowy circuling down into the water.  This is the time we love to go to the park and feed them because we feel that they must be starved from the long journey.  (although it is a little early yet and we are not seeing it..Maybe later October or Norvember) I always wonder how far south they go. Pecans and acorns are all begining to fall..but soon all the good ones will be cleaned up. ( i love pecans) 

[science_spot]

Sep. 27, 2009 at 10:34 AM

momforhealth - thanks for the view from the south!  I find so many of my posts are lost on those in different climate, but I haven't spent enough time in other areas to write the post from another point of view.

(Original Poster)

[You_Are_Invited]

Sep. 28, 2009 at 3:38 AM

Well, we don't get fall here until the end of Novemeber or even Christmas. There are leaves falling  off some of the trees around here but because it's so temperate we rarely get the winter dead tree look and never do we get specatacular colors. They go from green to dead it seems. We are seeing all kinds of new ducks at our pond and it is easy to see they aren't used to interacting with humans much. Our regulars pracitically sit in our lap when we feed them and newbies are a little more formal and don't seem to know how it works (LOL), but they love the duck food all the same.

[singedwingangel]

Sep. 28, 2009 at 6:30 AM

I sit in that wonderful spot that is not quite north and not quite south. It is a mixture of mild but can also get to brutally cold in the winter, but not usually for too long. Last winter in February is when our ice and snow hit, freezing a local lake and leaving it coveredin geese and ducks who seemed quite surprised by the loss of much of their shore covered nesting and resting spots.... I have pics but can't get firefox to let the m go here lol.. We do however get some of the most beautiful changing leaves and our winter nut is the Walnut..We get pecans too but more walnuts then anything.

[mtnmama111]

Sep. 28, 2009 at 2:00 PM

I think we are in for a bad winter in my area (central CA Sierra foothills ~3000') - my pets always change seasonally as they are mostly outdoors (dogs) and in/out (cats). My Akita mix is losing his coat and eating twice as much about two months earlier than usual... AND our cat has already beefed up by about 5 pounds and his coat has the winter gloss and fullness to it...