Weather & Wildlife: When Winter Fails
Despite the lack of winter this year, the wildlife photography will still be good – albeit different than years past. As stated above, there will be winners and there will be losers due to the lack of snow across the Northern Hemisphere as a whole.
But one thing that can’t be left out of the equation, and is likely more important than snow, or the like thereof, is temperature. More often than not, a lack of snow across the northern latitudes tends to go hand in hand with abnormally high temperatures. And this impacts all species.
Consider moose, for instance.
In the winter months, while donning their luxurious coats adapted for the last ice age, moose experience heat stress at temperatures above 25 degrees. This winter, temperatures rocketed far north of this tolerance level. Next week in Bozeman, Montana, temperatures are expected to be above 50 degrees for the first week of February. Even come summer, moose begin to pant and take cover when temperatures rise above 45 degrees across their range. This winter, they will experience that and more while wearing coats adapted for temperatures that plunge into the deep negatives.
When temperatures rise well above normal in the winter, nearly all species of mammals are impacted in a negative way. Some species, such as bison which are adapted for the open plains, have highly evolved hypothalamuses that helps to regulate their body and brain temperatures and can withstand huge temperature swings. But for most, rising temperatures in the winter create extreme discomfort and they begin limiting their activity to the coldest parts of a the 24-hour cycle.
It's no different the rest of the year. In the fall, during the rut, all activity tends to shut down if temperatures climb above 55 degrees Fahrenheit. At the peak of these annual hormone fueled tournaments, animals will adjust their behavior to the middle of the night and earliest hours of the morning when temperatures are more tolerable if necessary. As wildlife photographers, understanding this can save us days of wasted time and money spent in the field when temperatures are going to be above this threshold.
Animal activity is the same in winter, only the temperature tolerances are even lower. As I already mentioned, on my first Yellowstone workshop this winter, despite the lack of snow we found more red foxes than I have seen in that region over the last several years combined. While elk had yet to be pushed down from the forested mountains due to the lack of snow, we watched wolves shift their efforts towards hunting bison. Come the second workshop, however, when temperatures climbed into the mid-40s, the wildlife activity all but shut down during the day. Those animals that are strictly diurnal, such as bighorn sheep, were predictably accessible in their microclimate habitats. Otters, of course, continued to do what otters do. But those species with a bit more plasticity, such as moose, foxes, coyotes, wolves, etc. limited their activity to night and the edges of light to avoid heat stress.
Leaving Yellowstone and heading east to Louisville, Kentucky to attend Imaging USA, I watched as countless geese flew north in tight formations. Huge skeins of both Canada and snow geese could be seen in patterns indicative of migration. For waterfowl, migration north is tied to temperature and the full moon. Normally, this boils down to the full moon in either February or March. If it’s been a warm mild winter, birds will begin to move with the full moon in February. If it’s been a cold hard winter, they will delay till the full moon of March. This year, however, with the full moon of January coming late in the month, and early spring like temperatures prevailing, those large skeins of geese seemed suspiciously as though the migration was beginning a full month earlier this year.
This winter, while you are searching for wildlife to photograph, keep in mind the El Nino that has impacted the weather so profoundly. The lack of snow is creating winners and losers that will have an impact on populations and photographs both this year and next. But temperature is probably one of the greatest limiting factors for wildlife photography this winter. While cold forces animals to eat to maintain their internal body temperatures, abnormally warm winter days shut down activity across the board, forcing animals to confine their movements to night and may very well be sparking a mass exodus of birds a full month earlier than usual.
Want to learn more?
Check out Episode 20 of the PhotoWILD Podcast all about weather and wildlife.
In the Winter 2024 issue of PhotoWILD Magazine, we do a deep dive on all things winter weather and animals. How does a changing barometric pressure impact wildlife? How do animals respond to falling snow, rain, sleet, or changing temperatures? Weather, especially in the winter months, is one of the biggest predictors of wildlife behavior. If you know how animals will react to the weather, when they will be most active, where they will take refuge, and how they will respond, you can step up your wildlife photography by being able to predictably find and photograph wildlife all season long.
Uncompromising quality. Workshop level education. The Art & Science of wildlife photography at your finger tips.
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