quiet of the night

There are woods and a large adjacent field a few miles from my home. A coyote den was rumored to be in the area, I had seen an owl fly through it a week earlier, and I knew deer frequented the field. So on 2/4 at sunset, around 5:00pm, with anticipation of hearing an owl and seeing animal tracks of deer and coyote, I snowshoed through the woods staying close to the adjacent field. The sky was clear, winds calm, temperature 31 degrees. I did come upon a snowshoe or cottontail track in a shrub area between the woods and field but saw no other tracks in the area. As I started to venture further along in the wood line bordering the field, I heard a brief screech which I could not identify. Soon I settled under the splaying arms of a giant oak. Hearing nothing more for 30 minutes or more I was ready to return home. Then finally the hoot of a great horned owl floated across the field.
It was disappointing not to see more animal tracks here, as I had seen several deer track the day before at Wachusett Meadow Audubon Sanctuary. Were there fewer animals here because of the proximity of homes? Hunting seasons? Or was I just not in the right location. How much did the the heavy snowfall earlier in the week change the activity of the deer, coyote and other animals? Did the snow cover on the field eliminate the need for deer to search for food there? How much more difficult is it for owls to find food with a deep snow cover? Do they go into torpid states longer or more frequently as food becomes scarce? Was the screech I heard at the beginning of my observation that of the great horned owl I heard later? How do the deer and coyotes survive with scarcer availability of food? Do they go into states of torpor?

Publicado el 06 de febrero de 2021 por gingerventi