Living Under the Covers

When I was a kid I used to take my favorite stuffed animals and play under the blankets. It was such a warm comfortable place to play; especially in winter. Even now, when it is cold outside and chilly in the house, I will grab a flashlight and current reading book and relax under the covers.

I was thinking about how comfortable I would be home in bed, while I was out hiking in some very cold, cloudy weather. It had snowed over the weekend, and the prairie was covered with a new layer of fluffy snow. I found a few new deer tracks, maybe a coyote or dog track, but cold weather keeps many animals curled up in the warm places that they make or find in winter.

As I walked down to the creek to see if it had finally frozen, I was starting to think I was the only living thing outside on such a cold day when I saw a tunnel made right under the surface to the snow. While big mammals like us have to manage walking on top or through the snow; voles, deer mice and shrews have learned to enjoy winter under the snow.

If you get down and look carefully you will find many places in the prairie where the snow never touches the ground. There are many gaps, hollows or caves that provide a warm, winter home to these small mammals. In early spring, after the snow melts, a walk through the prairie will reveal a maze of tunnels, nests and food stores that give us a glimpse of the busy life that occurs under the cover of snow.

I followed the tunnel into the prairie where it disappeared into the grasses. I found and followed a few more. Small animals need a lot of food to keep them going, so the best guess is that they were out looking for food. "Let's see, where did I put those tasty seeds I found last summer?"

By now, I was getting cold. I tightened up my hood, zipped up everything to the top and shoved my hands into my pockets and started back to the car. How nice it would be to be able to walk freely through the prairie in winter, under a warm, toasty blanket of snow.