ROCKY HARBOUR — Living in nature can often be a struggle for survival, fortunately for wildlife frequenting this province adaptation is a requirement.
Western Newfoundland has had unseasonable weather for two winters running and Darroch Whitaker, the monitoring ecologist at Gros Morne National Park, says its impact on wildlife is quite evident.
Last month was the mildest December on record provincewide. Lowest snowfall highest rainfall figures were recorded in some areas.
“The first thing is not to be too alarmist,” he said. “Our wildlife in Newfoundland and Labrador, especially in Newfoundland, is very much adapted to this kind of weather — around freezing, lots of rain and not the snow, lots of slush. They deal with that every spring and every fall.”
Thus, most animals are able to modify their behaviour, adapt, and cope with the conditions. However, there will be those who profit and those who suffer.
Wildlife with the most potential for dramatic, and possibly tragic, are the ones who depend on ice and severe winter conditions. The main species most commonly recognized would be the seal and polar bear.
Whitaker said the differences in behaviours of these two species have already been widely witnessed — namely more frequent encounters on land. Last winter, thousands of seals came ashore in the Port au Choix and Port Saunders areas and he noted seals had their pups inland in the Gros Morne region too. In Northern Labrador, polar bears will have to dramatically change their lives to adapt to a lack of ice.
The ecologist also said the gray jay would be negatively impacted by a mild winter. The bird collects food throughout the fall and stores it in trees to feed their newly hatched young and survive during the late winter season. In warmer temperatures, he said the stored food decomposes and leaves the birds scrambling to find food. Although he said there has been no research done locally, he believes the same reproductive failures during mild falls and winters are experienced.
He also said the lack of snow could hurt the survival of smaller wildlife, such as mice or vole (field mouse). They take shelter and breed under the snow, and without this protection would be suspect to predators like owls and hawks. While there may not be much direct sympathy from the public, they are an important part of the food chain, he admitted.
Whitaker said the migratory birds are the most visible examples of wildlife impacted by weather patterns. He said anybody with a bird feeder can observe the differences in species and the timing certain birds arrive or leave the area.
He said short-term responses to weather are obvious by the visibility of birds such as the American gold finch or the dark-eyed junco. This year, he said those birds are fewer in numbers around people’s gardens because there is still plenty of food uncovered in the country. The same birds would also leave this area, heading south, during harsher winter weather, but they seem to be staying longer.
He also said the Christmas bird count in the Gros Morne National Park area accounted for a record number of Canadian geese. He said these birds are typically gone by the time the count happens in December, but the water sources they frequent remain free of ice. He also said ducks, such as the goldeneye, are staying inland longer for the same reason.
Animals such as moose, caribou and arctic hare are all fairly adaptive to the conditions. The larger game will travel more without being hindered by deep snow, and they may feed around roadways longer with the lasting greenery. He said caribou distributions may change, saying the animals which normally spend their winter in the long range mountains in the park appear to be coming down lower than normal. He said this behaviour could possibly be surveyed in the future. The rabbit would typically just change its diet to adapt to the food supply available, he said.
The absence of some species are also noticeable, primarily bird species such as the common redpoll. They typically migrate south to here in high numbers, but Whitaker said there appear to be fewer here so far this year. Conversely, he said southern species, such as the American gold finch, have steadily been increasing with the milder winters.
The ecologist said it is required of them to protect the ecological health of the park, thus run a lot of ecosystem monitoring programs. They measure such things as snow cover in mountains and its impact on vegetation, how much water is in streams, and water temperatures.
“Those are things we are not seeing big effects yet,” he said. “But, if you get into scenario of climate change — if there are big effects on ecosystem, longer-term changes — we should be able to pick up a lot of those.”
