For Birds - There Ain't Nothing Better When the Wind Cuts Cold

Food and shelter are the foundation of life for wildlife during the Southwest Ohio winter. Being efficient in finding food and minimizing exposure to the elements and predators are key. That’s why winters can sometimes seem bleak and lifeless. Much like we run to the grocery and then go immediately back inside, animals dash out to food sources and then back to shelter. There isn’t a lot of loafing around when the wind cuts cold. 

You can add some action outside your windows by creating or enhancing food, shelter, or both where you can see it. I once hung a feeder outside of an office window that I made from a plastic peanut-butter jar and a promotional Frisbee. If you know me, you’re not surprised by this at all. 

If you want to be selective in what you’re feeding and attracting to your area, you’ll want to be intentional about the style of feeder and what it contains. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources offers these suggestions for winter feeding: 

• Sunflower Seeds
• Peanuts
• Niger Thistle
• Millet
• Corn
• Safflower Seeds
• Suet

Check out the complete column to see what seed might be right for you: Want to attract birds to your backyard? Give them what they need

Whatever feed you choose, make sure to periodically clean the feeders, especially in the event of warmer weather. Suet can turn rancid if temperatures climb, and it wasn’t that long ago that the ODNR requested that feeders be pulled during the summer. 

If you see wildlife that looks sick or disabled, report it to the ODNR through their reporting portal here: https://survey123.arcgis.com/share/987f2ade0037405ea9ff1819aab040a8?portalUrl=https://gis.ohiodnr.gov/portal 

Resources

Backyard Wildlife

https://ohiodnr.gov/discover-and-learn/safety-conservation/stewardship-citizen-science/backyard-wildlife

Publications

https://dam.assets.ohio.gov/image/upload/ohiodnr.gov/documents/wildlife/backyard-wildlife/Attracting%20Birds%20in%20Ohio%20pub037.pdf 

Bird Buddy (responsible for this cover image shot) https://app.mybirdbuddy.com/media/springfield-united-states/6e2d8371-30b6-4cd4-b6a1-fdc4e88db806

Fresh Start for Fresh Tracks

 

A clean slate. That’s what some think of the New Year. But a clean slate is literally what a fresh overnight snow provides to the outdoor landscape. There’s nothing better than a couple of inches of new snow to reveal what’s passed by, complete with as definitive of a time stamp as the outdoors provides this side of a digital trail camera. 

To paraphrase hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, who said, “skate to where the puck is going, not where it is,” use the tracks to determine where the animal is going. Deer and rabbits are both known for watching their backtrail, so they’ll be looking for you, too. Seeing them before they see you is the trick. Look for slight elevation changes where a deer might bed down to watch their trail and along edges of cover before you approach. 

Read the complete article, Snow helps track what wildlife are roaming locally

Photo credit to Dave Woehr https://www.flickr.com/photos/s5200/50990143467/in/photostream/

Looking Ahead ... And Looking Way Ahead

It’s a fact. The hours of sunlight are getting longer from now until late June. But that doesn’t mean the days won’t feel short with the early setting sun. Switching to a new calendar is always a good time to mark things you want to do again or for the first time if you missed the opportunity. (Note to self: mark a date in June to find green walnuts for Nocino for real this year. Just do it.) There are lots of things that mark the seasons personally for me. By no means am I anywhere near Bill Felkner’s level of knowledge and detail recording seasonal happenings (don’t forget the average part of this outdoor column), but looking back is a good reminder for opportunities taken, and missed, and where more could be done. 

Take a class, or go on a hike. 
Of course, you can always visit our public lands on your own. Winter is a great time to get away outside and there is seldom anything that approaches the crowds of summer. Cottontail Rabbit, Ringnecked Pheasant, deer archery, and squirrel seasons are still open. And if none of that suits you, read or reread “A Sand County Almanac” by Aldo Leopold. It’s a timeless series of great essays on our connection to the world and our place in it. I’m going to mark a date in June to find green walnuts for nocino, in what’s become a stretch goal for me. 

Read the complete column here: The new year brings new opportunities to connect with the outdoors

Five Rivers Metro Parks

National Trail Parks and Recreation Department

Metro Parks of Butler County

Buckcreek State Park

Ceaser Creek State Park

A Sand County Almanac

Nocino

1. https://www.themeateater.com/wild-and-whole/wild-recipes/how-to-make-nocino

More to come

Ohio Christmas Bird Count

Knowing is critical. Actually wanting to know is the most critical - and to care. At the end of the 19th century, wildlife conservation was barely a thought. Many people thought that animals couldn’t go extinct or be eliminated by humans. Until they were. 

The first Christmas Bird Count (CBC) happened in 1900, proposed as an alternative to the “side hunts” by Frank Champman, an early officer of what would become the Adobon Society in 1905. The thought was that the birds could actually be counted without bringing all of them to bag. The interest was immediate, including 25 locations from California to Canada, and counted 90 different species. Today, there are bird counts in all 50 United States and 20 foreign countries, involving tens of thousands of participants and counting millions of birds.

Read the complete column online here: The Christmas bird count: The tradition that shocked America into saving wildlife

https://www.audubon.org/content/cbc-data-bird-trends 

https://www.fws.gov/story/tis-season-christmas-bird-count 

https://audubon.maps.arcgis.com/apps/View/index.html?appid=ac275eeb01434cedb1c5dcd0fd3fc7b4 

A Murder ... and Then Some

 

A murder of crows is a group of three or more. What happens in Springfield every year has no problem flying past that threshold. One … five … nine … 100 … 130 … I was stuck in a parking lot on Upper Valley Road on the west side of Springfield.

Well, not really stuck — because I chose to be there — and the car was running fine. But I was waiting in the parking lot as the sun was just beginning to fade and one group of five or six crows passed by. Then another and another. It went on like that in a steady stream for more than 30 minutes and was still going when I left.

They didn’t pass over in organized flocks like geese in a V formation. Or fly in tight clusters like pigeons. Or giant murmurations like starlings, although the numbers could support it. And they were all headed to the same place - to roost in downtown Springfield for the night.

Read the complete column here: Counting Crows

Resources and Links

https://ohiodnr.gov/discover-and-learn/animals/birds/american-crow 

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/crows-perform-yet-another-skill-once-thought-distinctively-human/ 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gui3IswQ0DI

https://www.cnet.com/tech/watch-a-wild-crow-tackle-a-complex-eight-step-puzzle/ 

https://www.facebook.com/clarkcountyhistory/videos/750962162965021 

You Don’t Have to Look Far to See Wildlife

Many people move around the landscape and just see cars, people, and signs of places to surrender their legal tender. Unless there is a snow-covered mountain peak, palm trees by a white-sand beach, or a herd of bison charging through the snow, they’re bored. They think nothing is happening. I feel bad for those people. While they might not see it, they’re is always something happening outside, even on the coldest days of winter.

Wanna bet? If you’re reading this in Southwest Ohio, no matter where you are, I’ll bet real money that a Whitetail deer has been within ¾ mile of you in the last 24 hours. That’s hedging my guess because I think ½ mile is the real number. Although it varies by specific locations, with estimates of deer density at 16 deer per square mile, it’s almost a given. That also means just a few days ago, somewhere nearby, a pair of bucks were fighting in the woods. In the spring, does will give birth to and raise their fawns within earshot of humans and passing cars. 

Read the complete column here: Wild Neighbors: How to Spot Wildlife Living Near Your

Aviation Trail - The Pinnacles

https://www.aviationtrailinc.org/additional-trail-sites 

Spring Valley Wildlife Area

https://ohiodnr.gov/go-and-do/plan-a-visit/find-a-property/spring-valley-wildlife-area 

Field Guides and Backyard Guides

https://ohiodnr.gov/discover-and-learn/safety-conservation/about-odnr/wildlife/documents-publications/backyard-wildlife-documents

Deer Density

https://www.bestdeerfences.com/blog/deer-population-in-us-by-state/ 

Straight Shooter for Safety

“Why?” said a deer hunter I was talking to from Missouri a few years ago, as he was baffled by an Ohio deer hunting regulation. “Why would they do such a thing?” he asked. I was talking about Ohio’s change 10 years ago to allow straight-walled rifle cartridges, a big step in accuracy and consistency from shotgun slugs, pistols, and muzzleloaders. But throughout most of the country, not allowing shouldered cartridges, including some of the most traditional calibers, the 30/30 and 30/06 for example, would feel alien to deer hunters. He couldn’t fathom hunting deer without them.

What is a Shouldered Cartridge?

Image from Ohio Department of Natural Resources 2025-26 Hunting Regulations https://dam.assets.ohio.gov/image/upload/ohiodnr.gov/documents/wildlife/laws-regs-licenses/Ohio%20Hunting%20and%20Trapping%20Regulations%20ENGLISH.pdf 

I touched on this topic more than a decade ago, but apparently, Ohio hunters couldn't wait for the change. Sales for straight-walled cartridge rifles have soared. Cartridges available aren't just the standard high-power revolver options, but a range of new offerings created specifically for the purpose, as well as the grand daddy of them all, the 45/70. As of last year, the newly allowed rifles were second only to crossbows, which have a much longer opportunity with the number of days allowed. The numbers dwarf those taken with shotguns. Handguns are just for those looking for an extra challenge now. And hunting accidents continue to decline. You can read more in my column, Ohio hunting regulations prioritize safety — and accidents are declining.

Legal Ohio Deer Hunting Firearms

Shotgun: 10 gauge or smaller shotgun using one ball or one rifled slug per barrel (rifled shotgun barrels are permitted when using shotgun slug ammunition).

Muzzleloading rifle: .38 caliber or larger.

Muzzleloading shotgun: 10 gauge or smaller using one ball per barrel. 

Handgun: With 5-inch minimum length barrel, using straight-walled cartridges .357 caliber or larger. The barrel is measured from the front of the cylinder or chamber to the end of the barrel.

Straight-walled cartridge rifles in the following calibers: All straight-walled cartridge calibers from a minimum of .357 to a maximum of .50. Shotguns and straight-walled cartridge rifles can be loaded with no more than three shells in the chamber and magazine combined.

Ohio Deer Harvest 2024-25 by Implement

Crossbow: 78,254 (33%)

Straight-walled cartridge rifle: 77,027 (32%)

Shotgun: 34,338 (14%)

Vertical bow: 30,839 (13%)

Muzzleloader: 17,092 (7%)

Handgun: 587 (less than 1%)

I don't currently personally have a straight-walled cartridge rifle and I'm not in the market, but these would be on my short list for reasons that don't extend out of my head into actual experience.

Marlin 1894 in 44 Magnum

Savage 110 Trail Hunter in 350 Legend

Ruger No. 1 in 45/70 Government, (if they ever make it in that caliber again)