Column by Marty Giles

The annual Holiday Lights display at Shore Acres Gardens is a sure sign of winter’s approach, even if our weather isn’t quite wintery yet.

Putting up storm windows, checking the antifreeze in radiators, and pulling out heavy coats — such activity abounds as humans prepare for the deepening winter. Other animals also use a wide variety of techniques to prepare for the two challenges winter brings them: a drop in food supplies and a drop in temperatures.

Although squirrels storing nuts and seeds for winter is a common image for autumn, many small mammals collect and store food when it’s abundant. Several birds also set aside food. Certain woodpeckers store acorns in holes drilled into oak trees and shrikes have been know to leave prey impaled on thorns for later dining.

However, most stored food is probably not collected by the animal that gathered it. Apparently, small mammals often simply forget where they left their hoards. Uncollected stashes often are pilfered, or they rot or sprout.

Summer menu items may not be on the winter menu, so some animals go with replacements. A few insect-eating birds, for example, switch to eating seeds when the weather kills the insects or forces them into shelter.

Storing fat is another common mammalian alternative (one sometimes shared by birds). Fat combines the benefit of food storage with insulation. Even humans exhibit this trait as many people experience increased craving for starchy foods in autumn and winter.

As pet owners are all too aware, mammals also usually put on a “winter coat” that further bolsters their insulation.

Many birds — and certain mammals — migrate toward the equator to warmer climates. Some, like our spotted towhee, simply move to lower elevations. If you’ve noticed that robins look different in the winter, you’re right: They are different in winter. Our summer robins spend the winter in Central California while Canadian robins take their places.

Many animals travel very short distances to hide from winter’s cold. Most amphibians seek sheltered nooks under logs and other protected places, applying the same principles we do when mulching garden plants to insulate against frost damage. You may notice mice and ladybugs entering your home as they seek warmer quarters.

True, prolonged hibernation is rare in Western Oregon’s relatively mild winters. Many species, from bears to frogs to some bats, do become torpid for short stretches in winter, experiencing periods of lowered metabolism. Not being in a deep hibernation allows many groggy creatures to take advantage of a sudden warm spell, perhaps to even go out and forage.

Perhaps the ultimate animal adaptations to the challenges of winter occur in the insects that have adjusted their life cycle to accommodate the cold season. In many species, the adults die in autumn, leaving eggs or larvae in cocoons to lie dormant through the winter. Some insects undergo a chemical metamorphosis that alters their blood to make it resistant to freezing — animal antifreeze.

Plants get ready for winter, too. Most plants in temperate zones, including ours, produce seed or fruit that winter well, starting new plants the following spring. Deciduous trees and shrubs lose their leaves (In deciduous species, the lowered light and temperatures lower metabolism so far that leaves become too costly to maintain). Delicate perennial herbs “die back,” casting off leaves and stems, but retaining roots and other structures below ground, where they’re protected from freezing and survive to sprout after the ground warms in spring.

While our gentle Oregon Coast winters don’t elicit the degree of winterizing seen inland and in more northern regions or in higher elevations, our winters are cool enough to induce inhabitants to get ready for the season. Does eating an extra slice of pecan pie count as winterizing?

For information on how to arrange an exploration of our fascinating natural history for your group or your visiting guests, contact Marty at 267-4027, or e-mail mgiles@wavecrestdiscoveries.com. Questions and comments about local natural history are welcome.