The hard ice is more difficult or even impossible for animals to scavenge and graze underneath so this is not comparable to soft fluffy snow. |
A fox can’t break the surface of this ice we have had. |
| Stop worrying about ice. The biggest risk to deer is super heavy snow (way more than we have had here) which is soft and younger deer can’t move in. Ice is something they can move across well, same with foxes. |
Deer move well across ice and they do not need to graze on the ground in the winter. They can easily actually survive on evergreen needles, tree bark, etc. in the winter. |
| Honestly, there are too many white tailed deer. The population needs to be reduced, naturally or artificially. |
One morning last week, after very cold night, I was at Rio Shopping Center (Gaithersburg) which has a lake. Workers were picking up dead Canadian Geese and there were at least 20 of them (with pieces of ice still stuck). Some of them got stuck on the ice (body temp melts and freezes) and died overnight. It was a sad sight. |
That’s horrible. |
Yeah, what is the worry here? Seek mental help if you're worried about wild animals. |
That is so MAGA-like thing to say PP. |
Feral cats are a scourge. If you care about wildlife you should feed it some rat bait. The animals that aren’t invasive in our area have nothing to worry about. This is cold but hardly unprecedented cold for this region. |
MAGA = rational. Thanks for clarifying! |
LOL. That wasn’t it but not surprised you read it THAT way. |
Go out w them and Sheppard the flock. |
Well, it's definitely not rational to worry about wild animals surviving outside. |
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The snowcrete is a problem. Squirrels can't dig thru it to get their stashed food. The cold keeps it in place.
This is not usual. I say this after 40 winters here and 16 in Massachusetts. I feed the squirrels and birds during this event. I keep the birdbath filled with unfrozen water. |