While staring out the kitchen window over a hot cup of coffee on a brutally cold morning last Saturday, I noticed birds swarming to my wife's feeders, even before it was fully light.
When nothing more than the inconvenience of having to stand up to get another cup of coffee is on a person's mind, I think some pretty strange thoughts. How do those little bird's feet keep from freezing right off their bodies? What would that many birds be eating if my wife was not spending a fortune on bird feed? What do the birds do that are not freeloading in front of our house?
I decided to go to the farm for a bit of research on what animals do when it is so cold; a person's nose hair freezes the minute they step outside.
The truck started, reluctantly, and I let it warm up while I put on 40 pounds of clothes. I was not planning to get stuck on my quick trip to the farm, but then I never have planned to get stuck. Sometimes, it just happens. A mile or two walk to obtain help on most days is just annoying. On a day like today, a person could die from exposure before making it to the road.
Coty, the Labrador, usually can not wait to jump into the back of the truck. It is difficult to convince him to ride inside. Today, it took no persuasion at all to get him to ride in the cab with me.
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I drove down by the cabin and halfway across the dam. From there, I could see two of our food plots, a lot of our newly planted trees and the small stream of water that always comes out of the dam. For several years, I thought the dam had a slow leak. I recently learned it has an internal drainage system that keeps large earthen structures from getting saturated, which would eventually cause them to fail. Since this water comes from deep inside the dam, it never freezes. All the wildlife in the area has discovered this unique watering hole.
Turning off the truck, Coty and I waited to see what wildlife was in the area. The small birds were the first to appear. Juncos, finches and field sparrows worked the ragweed and foxtail that had grown between the new trees. Before long, a group of gobblers came out of the heavy timber, making their way toward the water. They would stop occasionally to scratch down through several inches of snow and a heavy layer of ice to get to the buried acorns and hickory nuts.
When they spotted my truck, they turned up the hill through the food plot, pecking at sorghum on the way. The bright red of a cardinal caught my eye in the food plot as he hopped on the bright white snow. He was eating seeds from something I had planted or a weed that grew voluntarily.
Coty and I got out to check the tracks near the little stream that exited the center of the dam. There was every track imaginable. Raccoons, opossums, mink and mice watered there. Deer, turkey and coyotes tracks were also in abundance. Right at the edge of the water, the snow was packed down to the point one track was indistinguishable from another as all sorts of animals from tiny birds to deer got a drink.
I learned a lot about winter survival of our wildlife during our short venture into the cold. They can get along without us, but it makes their life much easier if we help them. A food plot and fresh water will help all sorts of animals through the winter.
There is though one question remaining; I still do not know why birds do not freeze off their feet when it is so cold.
Walter Scott is an outdoors enthusiast and freelance writer from Bloomfield, Iowa.
