Winter Feeding

Survival is tough this time of year, especially with all the snowfall we've had. The picture above, taken on Buddington Road, shows exactly how high the deer can reach. In the winter deer "browse," which means they eat the ends off of twigs. In the summer they are more likely to "graze" on herbaceous wildflowers or grass.

The second picture, taken at Bicentennial Park in Berlin, shows where a squirrel punched through a very hard, crusty snow (probably by chewing a hole in the ice), found an acorn under the hole, and then left the acorn shell on the snow, which was about 6 inches deep. They used to say that squirrels remember where they buried their acorns, but now they say they just smell them under the snow. The Shelton area had very few acorns this year and I imagine the squirrels are desparately hungry right about now.