Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Each species is a masterpiece, a creation assembled with extreme care and genius.

It's very difficult to live in Canada and not talk about the weather. Especially in the winter time. No it isn't just difficult it is impossible. But this year when I look out at the piles of snow or at the blowing drifting snow I am spotting more of the wild creatures who are living right in the middle of it all.





This week I have seen tiny little red birds fighting with everything they have to get to our feeder. The wind would blow one of them off into the trees where he or she would sit and wait. I think she was trying to get her breath back. If the wind died down even a little bit the feeder would be swamped with birds eating to prepare for the next blast that will keep them from feeding. The squirrels and chipmunks pop up from their little holes in the snow banks and grab what the birds drop.

What do these critters do where there are no human feeders? Are we changing their life patterns with our feeders forcing them to leave their warm and protected homes for the food we provide rather than storing their own? I don't know. But I admire their tenacity. The birds don't seem to have grown a winter coat nor fattened up their spindly legs to handle the snow on the trees. The squirrels and chipmunks look the same as they do in the summer. I might need a science lesson or two to truly understand how they survive. I am at a loss if I forget my scarf.

On Monday this week I passed a fox going by me on the main road. The road had been plowed back far enough that he was safe on the shoulder. One of his front legs wasn't working properly. He wouldn't have been able to manage the deep snow with three legs. We had a three legged cat for a long time. She became quite skilled at doing all the usual cat things outdoors with her three legs but she had the summer and fall to practice before she took on the snow around the house. This fox was using a manmade road to get somewhere. Would he have stayed in his den rather than venture out with one leg hurt before humans plowed the roads? Or did he get hurt and was trying to get back to his den the best way he could?

We are changing animals habitats all the time but as I watch from my warm car or house I cannot help but admire their strength and ingenuity. 




6 comments:

  1. I've been thinking about animals a lot too...mind you it's not as extreme here but I look at my brothers dog and see how helpless she is bc of her domestication but it seems mother nature seems to have figured it out somehow...

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    1. Our wild animals must wonder at what is happening around them. I imagine them having summits every once in awhile to discuss what to do about it all.

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  2. Not sure about your little redpolls - I think they always over- wintered, but probably fed on winter berries,which may not be as bountiful now with urbanization. The cold really bothers dogs' paws this time a year - if you saw Indy going, you'd think he had a bum leg too - he is practically hopping and limping and then he gets in the house and he's fine - it's quite dramatic!

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    1. Poor Indy. Maybe his mother or father owner could get him some winter booties? Are there such a thing by the way? I see dogs with coats. The fox could have used a set of crutches.

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  3. Are you guys trapped in your house?

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    1. No but can't get out the back door of the garage til spring thaw!!

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