Be warned: today’s blog will read like the back of a cereal box, or the kind of placemat factoids meant to keep the impatient kids at bay in restaurants. Then again, you might be dying to start your Friday with new information on snowshoes for birds.

Really, there are some astonishing facts out there about animals in fall, preparing for winter. Seasonal cycles can affect all kinds of things from reproductive and metabolic activities to migration, hibernation and coat changes.

Here goes:

Q: Why do bears hibernate?

A: To drive those of us stumbling to the bathroom in the middle of the night into fits of envy…. did you know they can “sleep” for up to 100 days without peeing? And of course without eating or drinking, slowing down their entire system during food  shortage time, snug in whatever den they found.

 

Q: What is an existential difference between bees and wasps?

A: The former survive hibernation, the latter all die except for the queen. Invertebrates such as mollusks, myriapods, crustaceans, arachnids and the insect family all hibernate – who knew.

Q: Who are the true living dead?

A: Frogs! They often cannot dig deep enough to be protected from the cold under the leaves when hibernating.

“And yet the frogs do not die. Why? Antifreeze! True enough, ice crystals form in such places as the body cavity and bladder and under the skin, but a high concentration of glucose in the frog’s vital organs prevents freezing. A partially frozen frog will stop breathing, and its heart will stop beating. It will appear quite dead. But when the hibernaculum warms up above freezing, the frog’s frozen portions will thaw, and its heart and lungs resume activity–there really is such a thing as the living dead!” 

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-do-frogs-survive-wint/

Tell me that is not fascinating.

Q: Do all animals slow down in fall to prepare their bodies for the onslaught of winter?

A: Nope. Deer, boar and bats are seeking mates in fall, elk and moose becoming particularly aggressive.

Q: Why do mammals and birds change color to white in late fall?

A: If you answered: “camouflage in the snow,” you are partially right. More interesting, though, is the fact that white fur, lacking pigment, has more space in its hair shafts. When air fills the empty spaces, it traps the animal’s body heat and provide insulation from the cold. Birds experience a similar benefit when they fluff their feathers, trapping pockets of air close to their body for added warmth. Many animals go through molting, shedding their fur for a generally thicker version. Many of these changes are triggered by length of daylight, not temperatures. Think about the effects of climate change – you’ll go white to escape predators and then there is no snow…..

Q: Heard a bird lately?

A: Probably a robin, they never shut up. The rest of them do, though, since there is no longer a need to call for a mate, or define their territorial borders. And many migrate to warmer climes. Which is also complicated by climate change because many who used to fly south now stay in different territories, upsetting the natural balance in the food chain. Never mind that some of the migrating birds now also have routes open to them through previous permafrost territories that allow them to come to new grounds – bringing with them viruses that we previously did not have to face. Bonus fact: some birds are carnivores in the summer, herbivores in the winter.

And here is one of my favorites: in winter, some grouse dive-bomb head first into powder snow. Completely submerged, their heat creates a sealed dome, forming their very own igloo. Before that, in September, they grow extended scales on their feet, practically functioning as snowshoes!

Thoughts of grouse, particularly sage grouse, were triggered by seeing small patches of sagebrush this week (Have never been able to photograph the birds themselves). Large sagebrush patches are required for their survival, since they shelter the birds and are the one and only source of highly nutritious food during the winter. This puts ranchers, builders and conservationists in conflict – although in Oregon they found a compromised approach that seems to have helped the birds stay off the endangered list. That is until the Trump administration came along and eyed changes….

https://www.opb.org/news/article/oregon-ranchers-conservationists-biologists-debate-sage-grouse-plans/

See them in action in eastern Oregon below the music video that is dedicated to them (although from an initiative in Wyoming. Same different.)

Here is the sage brush in fall  – photographs are of sagebrush landscapes in Oregon and Nevada.