Tri-State Outdoor News

Our Backyard Habitat provides us with a variety of wildlife to enjoy all year. If we look or step outdoors during winter there are numerous wildlife observations to experience. Energetic squirrels rush around digging for all the stockpiles of acorns that seem to be hidden everywhere.

Since nightfall comes early in winter we have had the opportunity to see the opossums making their rounds. The nocturnal opossums rest during the day and stay out of sights but at night they emerge to look for food. Don’t let the opossum’s rat like tail keep you from appreciating the only marsupial that we have in North America. Their tails are merely an adaptation for grasping. Once you realize that the opossum’s diet consists mainly of insects and dead animals you may want them to roam your yard at night too. Opossums are known to play dead – a defense mechanism brought on by fear.

After baby opossums or kits leave the mother’s pouch they pile on her back for a cruise. I had the chance to observe this once; I saw what appeared to be several sets of eyes moving as one along the edge of the yard. The little kits became visible when the mother opossum moved out of the shadows into the moonlight.

The imprint of an owl’s wings are left in the snow following it’s successful hunt of a small rodent.

Winter brings many unexpected sights. While passing by a window one afternoon I saw the largest flock of turkeys (at least 30 if not more) that we have ever had in the backyard at one time. It was a sea of birds across the yard to the edge of the woods. Wild turkeys are our largest gamebird; it was exciting to see a flock that close. With anxious turkeys a few feet away I slightly opened the door to try and snap a quick picture. The flock fed on the ground for a few minutes before walking as a group back into the woods. Turkeys feed on seeds, insects and even nuts.

The most memorable winter wildlife encounter that we have experienced happened a few years ago. One day my husband told me that there was something amazing to see in the snow-covered yard. As he led me down the driveway, he pointed out the tiny tracks of a small rodent in the snow. We followed the tracks across the driveway into the yard. The tracks suddenly disappeared – replaced by a giant imprint of an owl. The owl’s wing tips had brushed the snow several times on each side of the tiny tracks before the rodent was snatched from the ground.

The deep print that the bird left behind was almost three feet across. We could clearly see the wide-set ear tufts, the wide body and the wide wingspan of the incredible Great Horned Owl. We have never sighted the massive bird but to this day our nights are frequently filled with its call usually in loud hoots of three.

When the winter snow covers the ground it is a perfect time to find some interesting animal tracks; nature gives us wonderful things to discover everyday.

Please help Cornell University’s Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society by participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count February 13-16. The website www.birdsource. org/gbbc explains exactly what to do. It’s fun/easy and a great way to introduce children to nature.

Discover some wildlife in your backyard today. For information on ways to provide for wildlife visit www.indianawildlife.org.

Writer’s note: Correction for December issue – the picture that appeared last month was taken by Conservation Officer Mike Keller.