Wednesday, January 11, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
WILDLIFE: Some
animals go torpid
in the cold
Continued from page 1
They also have muscles that
can adjust the angle of their
hair shafts to obtain maxi-
mum insulation.
All the owls in Oregon are
built to handle cold. From the
moment they hatch, they pos-
sess a thick blanket of fluffy
down that covers their entire
body. The insulating quali-
ties are superb at keeping
air trapped in the soft down,
maintaining the owl’s body
operating temperature at
about 109 degrees.
Great horned owls have
been observed perched out
in the open at 10 below zero,
high up in cottonwood trees,
looking for all the world like
they were on alert for a cot-
tontail to go hopping by. The
cottontail on the other hand
— on a night when the tem-
perature is below zero — has
taken cover in a thick clump
of sagebrush, bitterbrush or
rabbitbrush, staying out of
the cold wind and conserv-
ing as much heat as possible,
nearly invisible even to a
hunting owl.
Ground squirrels and
many other animals who
make a living above the sur-
face of the ground in summer
have the ability to store fat
in their muscles and under
their skin. This abundance
of fat tissue keeps them
alive, and thick hair insulates
them while sleeping below
the frostline in their burrow.
Some of these species are
underground by September.
As snow gathers on mead-
ows and open ground it cre-
ates a white and inhospitable-
looking landscape; however,
it also provides homes for
mice, shrews, squirrels and
voles who use tunnels to
gather food.
There’s a group of winter
visitors who wing their way
down from the Arctic Circle
who have the remarkable
ability, while hovering above
the snowy flat land, to sense
these hiding rodents and drop
on them. And as if these
rough-legged hawks weren’t
enough for the rodents to
cope with, there’s also the
short-tailed weasels who
weave their way through the
tunnels taking advantage of
the easy food source.
Winter is also really hard
on our native flying squirrels,
who do not hibernate. Their
insect prey is unavailable, so
they get by with plant parts
cached in old woodpecker
holes. In nature, however,
for every adaptation there is
often a counter-adaptation.
Long-tailed weasels, with
their long lean bodies, find
their way into chipmunk dens
for easy meals, while fish-
ers and pine martens wreak
havoc on tree squirrel dens.
Those same weasels have
an all-white winter coat that
helps keep them camou-
flaged and somewhat hidden
from owls and accipiters who
also need food to get through
winter.
Beaver and muskrats
— and an occasional otter
— build a very comfort-
able winter home of sticks
and grass above the water,
from which they swim out to
feed. One would think such a
home would be impenetrable,
but there are mink and bald
eagles who do their share to
help the “Balance of Nature.”
Our native Townsend’s
big-eared bat sleeps away
winter in our lava caves, rely-
ing on its fat reserves to keep
it alive. From a biological
perspective, they appear to
be dead, their heartbeat and
breathing almost undetect-
able. The winter temperature
in lava caves is a constant 40
degrees, which is ideal for
hibernating bats; however,
research has revealed that
bats wake up at least three
times during hibernation
and fly around in the cave
to recharge their blood with
oxygen.
Excess fat in winter is the
most significant physical ele-
ment in helping wildlife to
survive. Our Western popu-
lation of monarch butterflies
use it for fuel and food to
make their long and ardu-
ous flight from northern lati-
tudes to the warm climes of
California where they gather
in the coastal forests to spend
winter.
Hummingbirds that some-
times elect to spend winter
here instead of going south
with their kin also use fat
to survive. They can go
into a stupor for three days
and nights without food or
warmth. There may even be a
Calliope or Anna’s humming-
bird coming to feeders in the
Sisters Country right now
that survived the 12-below
night. They become active
with just enough warmth dur-
ing the day for them to leave
their shelter and slurp up
sugar water.
But sugar water is not
food; it’s a hot-shot substitute
that may keep them alive, but
they also must have the pro-
tein of insects they devour
when they’re after nectar
as they feed from flower to
flower during the summer.
This is why it’s important to
take down feeders in fall.
Wintering birds as a
whole need that same pro-
tein as well as water. When
a bird attempts to slake it’s
thirst using its body heat to
melt snow and ice into water,
it uses too much of their pre-
cious fat reserve. Yes, sage
grouse can get away with it,
but robins and most feeder-
birds can not. They must
have flowing or open water
to stay alive.
The robins around Sisters
Country in winter have
migrated from the north
(“ours” are in Sacramento).
They can get by on juniper
PHOTO BY JIM ANDERSON
Black-tailed jackrabbit, hunkered down in the snow.
berries, old apples and other
fruit, but without water,
they’ll go into serious stress.
The colder it is outside, the
more birds need water.
Other migrating birds
have a tough time of it as
well. As we have seen, water-
birds crash when they’re
making their night migratory
flight and run into a weather
front. They quickly run out
of fuel (fat), and in the case
of grebes, will usually die if
they can’t find water to land
and refuel in. That’s when
wildlife rehabbers like Elise
Wolf of Sisters become very
busy trying to heal injuries
on grounded waterbirds and
keeping them fed until they
have the strength and food
1
2
3
4
5
How can
to go on, when the weather
cooperates.
Then there are the “snow-
birds” that migrate to warmer
climes. The white-throated
swifts nesting at Ft. Rock feed
on the huge insect population
in the irrigated hay fields.
But the swift families leave
their nesting area at the end
of summer. At the moment,
we don’t know exactly where
they spend winter, but swifts
have the remarkable ability
to stay airborne for over 200
days, feeding on the wing.
Mule deer hanging around
Sisters in winter are hav-
ing a tough time of it. The
well-meaning people who
See WILDLIFE on page 31
YOGA benefi fi t y you?
PAIN
AIN RELIEF:
RELIE
IEF:
F: Studies
S tu
tudi
dies
es show
s ho
how
ow
w that
th at practicing
p ra
ract
ctic
icin
ingg yoga
yo ga reduces
r ed
educ
uces
es acute
a c utt & chronic
h i p pain.*
a n
ai
FLEXIBILITY:
L EXIBILITY:
E XIBILITY:
LITY: Improved
mprove
p
fl exibility,
ex #4
ity,
y TO
mobility,
y and posture;
increased
eas
ra
rang
nge of
o f
... range
YO GA
DO
ON
AS
RE
movement
mo ov
o vement
ement
and
reduced
aches and pains.*
isol
cort
stress &
Reduce
ESS RELIEF:
WEIGHT
WE EIGHT
IGHT
HT STR
MANAGEMENT:
Burn excess
calories,
calorie reduce stress & cortisol
ol le
levels.*
lev v e ls
rove relaxat p ion, relaxation,
imp
ls,
e & leve
mon
ss hor
stre
STRESS
TR
RESS
ESS
SS
RELIEF:
Reduce
stress
cortisol stress hormone levels, improve
rela
relax
rel
ela x a ti
rt rate
lower
ow
w er blood low
wer
pressure
essure
& heart
rate, ssu
improve
i re
rove & digestion,
d hea
estion,
boost , immune e system.*
s sys
sy s t e m
od pre
er blo
.*
tem
sys
une
INCREASED
NC CREASED
C REASED
ASED rov
STRENGTH:
Yoga
Y
g
a
postures
p
stures
use
every
eve
y
muscle
in
the
body,
bod
y
incr
increasing
inc
incre
e a s
imm
st
boo
ion,
e digest
imp
strength
tre ength
ngth
th from head to toe and relieving g m
muscular
usc
scuul ar r t tension
ensi
en
sion
si
on a and
nd p pain.*
ain n.
ai
n.
*Source yogahealth h .org
22
Yoga
ga
a For
F or E
Everybody
veryb
b od
d y ~ Wednesdays 5:30-6:30 P PM
Karen Kassy, MS in Integrative Medicine ~ life.love.yoga. 164 N. Elm St.
Hope for a child. Change for a nation.
There are a million perfectly understandable reasons not to help.
Thankfully, love trumps them all.
$37 a month. All the difference in the world. Sponsor a child with a local organization at
HopeAfricaKids.com
This ad sponsored by The Nugget Newspaper.