Winter is a hard time

This is the time of year when hard times hit everyone. Mule deer flounder through snow nipping at what grasses they can dig out and nibbling at the ends of bitterbrush. Most of them are on their winter range, but unfortunately a few — hooked on “handouts” — stick around the Sisters area.

It isn’t healthy for deer to hang around waiting for human handouts. Besides that, they’re terribly hard on my poor raspberry canes — waiting with grumbling bellies for someone to feed them.

Fawns that didn’t get sufficient mom’s milk, or weren’t weaned in time to eat enough solid food to build up winter body fat, will die. That’s hard on mule deer, sure, but without winter-killed deer, pronghorn, rabbits and hares, the eagles, owls, hawks, magpies, ravens and other meat-eaters would have an even tougher time of it.

Winter makes for strange bedfellows; the photo above was taken at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge one very cold morning (six below zero). I had to choose what to record on film, as there were two other members of the “gang” visible as well. To the left of the eagle a badger was digging out a meal at the base of the rim rock and to the right of the magpie a raven was waiting for dessert.

Coyotes and badgers usually don’t associate with each other, but when a badger is out looking for a meal at least one coyote will tag along to steal what the badger digs out.

The golden eagle, too, hangs around to see if it can get in on whatever good friend badger unearths.

In the over 40 years I’ve been banding golden eagles, recovery data suggests one outstanding factor leads to premature death: juveniles often starve to death in winter.

Magpies and ravens are the cleanup crew, but occasionally the raven comes out top dog (so to speak). Charlotte Nitcher, Library Assistant in the Sisters Branch Library sent the following e-mail to me the other day, which illustrates the point:

“As I was working at my desk, packing to move to the new library, I witnessed one of life’s dramas. A young kestrel had apparently brought down a bird of about equal size. For more than 15 minutes, I observed the kestrel holding its prey down on the snowy sidewalk on the street corner directly across Spruce Street from the Staff Workroom.

“After about 15 minutes, the kestrel abandoned its kill because a raven flew in and perched on the nearby juniper tree. Moments later, the raven fluttered down to ground, hopped on top of the now dead bird and flew away with it grasped in its feet [talons?]. Although I’ve often witnessed kestrels hunting from my home, I hadn’t witnessed one eating a live captured bird. As I observed this, I found myself thinking of titles for the unfolding drama: “Eaten Alive” or “Feathers and Snow” or “Trump That” or “Paper, Rock, Scissors” (in reference to the literal “pecking order” I witnessed).”

Magpies are the best telegraph there is for sending a message about something to eat in winter. I have a hunch they have extraordinary eyesight when it comes to locating food; however, this uncanny ability killed many eagles when bobcat fur was high on the fur-buyer’s list.

Fur trappers used what is known as a “sight-set” to trap bobcats, a technique illegal today. The trapper hung bait (usually a dead cottontail) from a low branch of a juniper and set traps near the bait. Yes, this technique captured bobcats, but it also trapped eagles.

Magpies were the first to spot the cottontail and a hungry eagle is always watching magpies in winter. However, when the eagle was caught, real trouble developed; the trapper was now in possession of a protected species. According to a trapper that brought a severely trap-damaged eagle to me, most were killed and buried.

Yep, winter’s a tough time for everyone…