Winter officially arrived more than a month ago and its grip is tightening on Oakland County.

But winter is a great season to explore and discover the subtleties of the season, what I call the “whispers of winter.” I take great pleasure in the Red-Bellied Woodpeckers’ daily visits to my bird feeders and nearby trees. They are welcomed splashes of color.

Coyotes remain active all winter, and I often find their tracks at local parks and in my woods.

Great Blue Herons usually migrate southward to warmer climates before the big freeze. Some, however, loiter well into winter and can be found amidst the shelter of cattails. During winter, herons that can’t find sluggish frogs in areas of open water will switch their diet to meadow voles and mice. This one was hunting for a meal along a roadside ditch.

Cardinals are perhaps the most recognizable bird of winter, and they are year-round residents of Oakland County. I see them daily at my bird feeders but take more pleasure in spotting them framed against a background of snow. This one is a male. The females lack the brilliant crimson plumage, but instead are an elegant gray with red highlights on their crest, wings and tail feathers.

White-tailed deer are easy to find in winter and common throughout our county wherever they can find foliage or bird feeders. They usually bolt on my approach, but sometimes I get lucky. They equate the squeak of my old garage door with me  getting seed to refill the bird feeders and take that as their dinner invitation. 

Beavers remain active in Oakland County all winter but are hidden away in sturdy lodges constructed from branches and mud and insulated by a heavy snow cover. They prepared for winter and now feast on branches, twigs and inner bark of trees that were stored away under the ice in caches near their lodges. This lodge is one of my favorites, and I’m pleased it’s located in a protected area in our county.

Muskrats have also prepared for the season and remain active all winter in lodges, which are smaller than beaver lodges and mostly made of cattails. In early winter, they also create small structures known as “push-ups” that the ice freezes around. Their daily foraging continues under the ice all winter and the push-up is where they can rest and catch their breath while foraging.

White-footed mice remain active all winter, and their tiny tracks are often seen on top of the snow. However, most of their time is spent under the snow “cuddled up” in winter nests constructed of dried grasses and leaves or within decomposing hollow logs lined with dried leaves. Winter is also the time they will try to enter outbuildings and homes.

Owls remain active all winter, and Oakland County is a year-round home to Great Horned Owls, Barred Owls, and Screech Owls. Their vocalizations are not whispers! Every once in a while, a Snowy Owl makes it this far south. When that occurs, word spreads quickly, and birders scramble to see it. Snowy Owls are far more common in the thumb region of Michigan. I captured this image in Tuscola County.

Eastern Gray Squirrels are perhaps the most commonly seen squirrel in Michigan, however, they are not always gray. The black morph variation is very common in our area, and I often see both color varieties scurrying about.

Black-capped Chickadees are year-round residents of our county. They are incredibly hardy and resourceful foragers. Bird feeders with sunflower seeds will quickly lure them in, but they do well with seeds and dried berries as staples. I often see small flocks of chickadees on the northern side of Crooked Lake at Independence Oaks County Park, where they feed on tiny seeds found in white cedar tree cones.

By the time you read these words, I will have celebrated the “whispers of winter” with my annual snowshoe winter trek up Empire Bluff at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. However, from my vantage point at the top of the bluff, it won’t be the whispers of the winter, but rather the roar of nature’s way.

Jonathan Schechter is the Nature Education Writer for Oakland County Government and blogs about nature’s way, trails and wildlife on the Wilder Side of Oakland County.

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