WINTER CHARACTERS & THEIR BEHAVIOR
text and photos by Thomas Noland, Winter 2022
WINTER CHARACTERS & THEIR BEHAVIOR
text and photos by Thomas Noland
When it’s cold, dark, and wet, my native plant garden provides food and shelter for many winter residents. Birds and small mammals are active, and invertebrates hunker down under rocks and leaves.
Both the U.S. National Park Service and the Smithsonian Institution offer articles about winter survival strategies which can be seen by following the links below:
Wildlife in Winter: Survival Strategies (U.S. National Park Service)
Where Do Insects Go in the Winter? (Smithsonian Institution)
Steller’s jays feed on the fermenting berries of mountain ash during early winter mornings.
Steller’s Jay Overview (Cornell Lab of Ornithology)
For the dark-eyed junco, cold, dark, and wet means you get a meal wherever you can.
Dark-eyed Junco Overview (Cornell Lab of Ornithology)
The varied thrush is a vertical migrator, coming down from mountains in winter to the lowlands where they are often seen feeding on winter berries.
Varied Thrush Overview (Cornell Lab of Ornithology)
Bewick’s wren looking for protein and fat to keep its internal furnaces stoked.
Bewick’s Wren Overview (Cornell Lab of Ornithology)
Even the spiders are cold and wet, making it hard for them to get a meal when their webs are no longer invisible but glistening like chandeliers in the bushes.
The Townsend’s warbler is a winter migrator who enjoys nibbling on suet for energy in the winter.
Townsend’s Warbler Overview (Cornell Lab of Ornithology)
Many times during the cold, dark, and wet of winter, Snow Geese in the Skagit Valley stop during their migration to glean from the stubble in the corn fields.
Snow Goose Overview (Cornell Lab of Ornithology)
Red-breasted Nuthatch eating seeds on a cold winter morning.
Red-breasted Nuthatch Overview (Cornell Lab of Ornithology)
Thomas Noland is a naturalist and photographer living in Everett. In addition to his interests in paleobiology, he is a dedicated entomologist and caretaker of numerous rescued cats.
Table of Contents, Issue #18, Winter 2022
Vashon Glaciation
by Adria Magrath, Winter 2022 Forage fish. photo by John F. Williamsby Adria Magrath, Winter 2022Carefully shaking wet beach sand through a series of mesh screens can be a lot of fun. On a drippy gray weekend morning near the start of winter, our small group of...
Cold, Dark, Wet Visuals
Winter 2022This opalescent nudibranch hiding amongst the swaying eel grass at Carkeek Park Beach is briefly exposed as the tide rushes out to Puget Sound. Eel grass beds hold many secrets and are often referred to as the nursery of the intertidal. Perhaps the...
Salish Sea Winter
text and photos by Michele Jaenke Winter 2022A wintery hike in Dash Point State Park. Winter snow on the Franklin Falls hiking trail. A heavy snowfall during low tide on the Puget Sound. Fall and Winter colliding in a beautiful way on a local trail. Snow brings a...
Salish Coast Cures
by Malaika Rosenfeld, Winter 2022 Nanaimo nudibranch. photo by Malaika Rosenfeldby Malaika Rosenfeld, Winter 2022the situation Swollen shades of gray horizons — wide, hanging low over dampening heads: winter in the Pacific Northwest again, and all I can think about is...
Poetry-18
Winter 2022 Looking across Hood Canal at The Brothers poking up into the sunset over the Olympics. photo by John F. WilliamsLooking across Hood Canal at The Brothers poking up into the sunset over the Olympics. photo by John F. WilliamsWinter 2022My 'Hood by Al Gunby...
Kelp Forest Decline and Reforestation
by Marina Sannes, Winter 2022 Bull kelp and eelgrass off Tongue Point in Salt Creek Recreation Area, Clallam County, WA. photo by John F. Williamsby Marina Sannes, Winter 2022An iconic and beloved image, known well to those living on the West Coast and near the Salish...
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