When Winter ComesWhen Winter Comes

Though a forest may be blanketed in snow or a lake frozen over, families who enjoy the outdoors in winter, happily bundled up to play in the energizing weather, know that wildlife is still teeming there. When winter comes, and deep snow blankets the woods, and ice forms cold and smooth on the lakes, thick enough for us to skate on, some people think our woods are empty. But we know better. The fallen log that is used to hide behind in a snowball fight is a shelter for tree frogs, caterpillars, ladybugs, and slugs. The drifts of fallen snow that families snowshoe across have winding tunnels made by meadow mice in search of seeds and bark. The towering trees families ski among shield birds from winter winds.