As everyone is aware, our “spring” weather has been come-and-go, at best, so far. As we sit in our climate-controlled houses and complain about both the 80 degree day followed by the 20 degree day, we can only wonder what wildlife must be experiencing out in the elements.
Different animals handle these swings in temperature differently. A common ecological principle states that organisms have three choices when faced with a change in their surroundings, including changing temperatures: move, adapt, or die.
Unfortunately, weather can be a cruel and common source of mortality for many wild animals. I recently read that an estimated one-third to one-half of all garter snakes do not survive the winter. However, many animals do survive temperature extremes better than we give them credit.
For example, many migrating birds have been showing up at Cheyenne Bottoms over the last month, coming from their southern, “warmer” wintering grounds. Intuitively, one of the reasons these birds have chosen to go south for the winter is they are not equipped to survive our cold winters. So, what happens when they are caught by an unseasonably wintery blast during their northward migration?
Many birds will test fate and ride out the cold the best they can. However, some birds will simply move.
A few weeks ago, there were an estimated 2,000-3,000 American white pelicans at Cheyenne Bottoms. Then a blast of winter hit our area with cold, wind and snow. Noticeably, many of the pelicans apparently left for several days. I suspect that many of the birds made a U-turn and headed slightly south in response to the weather. A few days later, after a return of more typical weather, thousands of pelicans returned to the Kansas marsh.
Similarly, over the past few weeks, staff at the Kansas Wetlands Education Center have enjoyed watching common garter snakes emerge and bask in the sun outside. The snakes are nowhere to be found on the next cold wintery day.
Since migrating or leaving the area during a cold snap is not possible for a snake as it is for a pelican, the snakes must quickly adapt to the condition. Being cold-blooded, or more accurately ectothermic, snakes are dependent on the air temperature around them to supply their bodies with the required heat for metabolism. Most snakes do not store fat on their bodies the way mammals do for insulation and an energy source. Instead, snakes enter periods of inactivity when the temperature dips. In order to survive freezing, they may find shelter underground but their real key to surviving the cold is becoming inactive.
Animals are amazing in so many ways. Do they dread the large temperature swings that we’ve experienced over the last couple weeks? I can’t imagine they enjoy them, but they don’t have a choice if they want to survive to see the better weather days that lie ahead of us, hopefully.