1-04-2025 9:08pm

When It Comes To Surviving The Winter Doldrums I've Turned To "Plan B"

Beth Callahan Editor

Nature Close to Home and Ohio Certified Volunteer Naturalist Dave Woehr shares monthly naturalist stories.

LEBANON, OH -- Winter is here. It’s chilly, damp, and windy outside. I can’t seem to coax myself to get out there and hike the trails like I did in bygone years. Tromping through the cold and snow to get a refreshing dose of nature is just a memory now.

But, years ago I developed a “Plan B” for this time of year that allows me to satisfy my curiosity about the natural world in winter without even leaving the house. I’ll share my experience so you can try it if you want to.

My home is on the edge of Lebanon right along the Turtlecreek Township line. There is a brushy fence line at the back of my property that I can observe easily. In the past couple of weeks I’ve seen a coyote, numerous gray squirrels, and several cottontail rabbits back there. There used to be deer, too, but I haven’t seen them in quite a while now.

Just outside the picture window overlooking the back yard, I’ve hung bird feeders containing sunflower seed and suet. It’s quite amazing how many birds are attracted to that food supply. They spend all day from daylight to dusk moving back and forth between the brushy habitat and the feeders.

I keep my camera handy to document their presence. As you probably know, nature photography has long been a hobby of mine.

Winter is a great time for bird-watching. The Audubon Society promotes Christmas bird walks and many local clubs and organizations offer similar winter events. I used to go on some of these outings, but lately I’ve discovered I can see plenty of birds from my La-Z-Boy chair by the back window. And the La-Z- Boy is only a few feet away from the fireplace!

In 1986 I started keeping a record of the bird species I saw in my own yard each year during the month of December. Looking over that data I see that I have listed 60 species of birds during that month without leaving home! Certainly that number of species is not representative of a December in any single year, but rather over the nearly 40-years I’ve conducted December backyard bird watching. Every year’s list consists of a different mix of species usually totaling 25 or a little more.

This December (2024) was a banner year with 30 species visiting the back yard. We don’t have space to name all the species I saw this past December, but some of the sightings I consider most interesting include a few raptors (predatory meat-eating birds).

Those were the Red-shouldered Hawk, Cooper’s Hawk, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Great Horned Owl, and a Merlin (small falcon). They were hoping to make a meal of some of the “customers” at the seed and suet feeders such as the cardinals, chickadees, titmice, and various woodpeckers.

I did not see a Cowbird, Cedar Waxwing, or Common Grackle this year, but as I mentioned earlier, the species mix is different every year. I am quite pleased to see that the number of my recent December backyard bird species was steady or a bit up compared to the past several years.

We are losing habitat in Warren County to residential and commercial development, but so far the birds seem to be adjusting to it. Habitat loss due to development is often slow and easy to overlook as it continues to slowly alter our landscape. And it affects all wildlife – not just birds.

If you want to observe nature during the winter months but are holding back to stay inside where it’s warm, you may want to try my “Plan B” with a backyard bird-feeding station to oversee from your indoor vantage point. You might even see a coyote, a squirrel, or a rabbit.