Plus 1 today. First coffee on the deck in 2026. First Glaucous Gulls of the year. #Nunavut
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@NunavutBirder I consider the day we spot the first gull as the first day of spring.
@brosetti certainly a sign
@NunavutBirder How do animals like hares and foxes survive in winter? What do they eat? Are there still mice under snow? Birds? I assume carots don't grow for the hares in winter?
@jfmezei Foxes eat largely lemmings which live under the snow all winter. Also some hare, and carrion. Arctic Foxes also scavange polar bear kills and in the spring predate seal pup dens. Hares eat plants that they uncover under the snow. Ptarmigan mostly eat Arctic Willow buds. Ravens hunt and scavange. Redpoll eat plant seeds. Owls and Gyrfalcon predate ptarmigan and hare, and lemming. Polar Bears hunt seal. Seal eat fish. Caribou eat lichen.
@NunavutBirder Surprised/impressed animals could survive eating what are essentially dead plants under the snow in winter when you'd expect they would need the max amount of calories to stay warm. Pretty impressive.
here in the cities, birds and squirrels survive on peanuts that grow naturally on balconies 🙂 (some get bird seeds in bird feeders though).
@NunavutBirder any bears awake yet?
@ThisCJ Our bears do not hibernate. Pregnant females den, but no hibernation takes place.
