Mother Nature's snow wrath felt by northern Wisconsin residents might be difficult on animals not yet adapted to our changeable weather. While amounts varied, the general consensus was the Northwoods picked up at least 20 inches of snow this past weekend, with some points in eastern Wisconsin getting 30 inches of snow.
DNR wildlife biologist for Vilas county, Michele Woodford says the birds coming north are the ones feeling the brunt of the snow...
"...some of the creatures that might not cope as well as our native animals that are already here are migratory critters. Some of those migratory birds who came here expecting it to be spring, food, seeds available, those are the ones we will see being stressed the most...."
Woodford says some of the native creatures caught a bit of break a few months back...
"...One of the things we saw was a late start to our winter. We really weren't seeing a lot of extreme snow conditions or even cold temperatures in December and January. There was a little benefit in that. Turkeys, deer and bear probably will fare a little bit better just because they're designed to live in areas like this...."
She says the migrant birds use a good amount of their energy reserves flying here.She says little birds with less body mass are going to be impacted more than the larger ones. She says the DNR found Sandhill cranes....who routinely like to be in the open...were in areas out of the wind. She says they're a bigger bird, but migratory, and they were likely feeling the stress.
