Michelle Witte, Nederland. Remember playing hide and go seek? Who was always the easiest to spot? The friend in the brightest colors, right? 

You may often observe the apparent lack of wildlife in the winter months in local forests and mountains and assume all the wildlife has fallen asleep or traveled to warmer climates.

However, several animals are still active during these colder, darker, and snow filled months. Like most Coloradans, our wildlife is clever in figuring out innovative ways to adapt to the changing seasons of the region, especially throughout our winters. A popular strategy by local wildlife and across the globe is camouflage. In mountainous areas that experience big weather and other transitions throughout the seasons, like snow, warm blooded animals such as mammals and birds, will change their camo based on the season and the physical changes in their environment. Hence a winter coat and summer coat. Some local experts at this technique are our Snowshoe Hare, White-tailed Ptarmigan, and Long-tailed Weasel. 

The beloved Snowshoe Hare (Lepus americanus) has a few great tricks to withstand the winter. In fact, one of its adaptations is where it gained its name, Snowshoe. This member of the family of rabbits and hares, or lagomorphs, has particularly large hind feet that work just like a pair of snowshoes to keep them afloat on the snow. When humans were designing snowshoes they looked to animals like the Snowshoe Hare for the design. Using the wisdom and ingenuity of nature in human technology is called biomimicry, and snowshoes are a great example.

Besides their big ol’ feet, Snowshoe Hares will disguise themselves in a white coat for winter to escape predation in an already challenging time of year.  The process of turning from greyish brown to almost completely white doesn’t happen overnight, it can take up to a month or more during Autumn. By time winter fully sets in they are dressed in white ready to hide from the hungry eyes of our carnivorous friends. 

The elusive White-tailed Ptarmigan (Lagopus leucura) is a high-elevation bird found throughout the Rocky Mountains. Most of their life is spent above tree line, only coming down to roost in trees during the harshest of winter storms. They are primarily ground foragers, looking for low-lying plants and insects. Unlike many birds, their feathers extend to cover their feet, providing much needed warmth for life in the alpine. 

They are hard to spot not just because of their white feathers in the winter, or their speckled granite-like plumage throughout the summer, but they’re also excellent at impersonating a statue. They tend to crouch down and freeze at the sight of predators or hikers that adventure through their home. This makes a particularly hard combo of adaptations for predators to spot the smallest member of the grouse family! 

Long-tailed Weasel (Mustela frenata), a carnivorous mammal which uses their color change from season to not only outwit their predators, but also go undetected by their prey, win win! These small, slender and short legged friends can eat an impressive 40% of their body weight each day. Their diet consists of mostly small mammals like mice and other rodents, with the occasional bird or insect. The Long-tailed Weasel can be identified as brown, with a lighter color chest, and a black tip on its tail in summer. During winter, their coat turns completely white, except for the black tip on their tail. 

Why might that be? The black spot actually creates contrast to trick the eye, so that their coat can blend in better. The Snowshoe Hare has a similar technique with its black ear tips, or the Ptarmigan with its black beak.

With so much diversity of wildlife, weather and environments to explore in our Nederland community it can be hard to keep up with the many transitions in nature that happen throughout the year.  You’re invited to adopt the pace of the season, slow down and open your eyes to what may be hidden in plain sight. 

Michelle Witte is the Nature Education Director at Wild Bear Nature Center in Nederland, Colorado. 

(Originally published in the January 21, 2021, edition of The Mountain-Ear.)