Winter at the Running Log

Winter’s a hard time for most resident mammals and birds; the abundant food of summer and fall is slowly disappearing, eaten or lost to decay. Insects spend the winter as eggs, pupae or in hibernation; most birds migrate to warmer climes where the living is easy (sort of) and some mammals hibernate (bears, woodchucks, jumping mice). Small mammals such as shrews, voles and mice spend the winter in the subnivean zone below the snow where the temperatures are higher and they’re somewhat hidden from their many predators.

The winter of 2021/2022 was warmer than in years past, a portent of winters to come, and the snow cover came and went repeatedly. Activity on the running log was less than at times in the past and with fewer species – but interesting nonetheless.

The stars of the show were a pair of gray fox that made repeated visits. One characteristic of gray fox is that mated pairs often hunt together –

Come and re-visit winter at the running log –

It’s spring now and things have changed, the next video from the running log will be quite a bit different.