Where is all the snow? That's the question I was asking myself during a walk in the park on New Year's Day, just before we finally got a coating of the white stuff. Then I started wondering: Are birds and other wildlife better off with snow on the ground or without?

The answer is: It depends.

Right now, the birds have to love the fact that there is no or little snow around. Food is plentiful in the meadows and forest edges, with berries still adorning shrubs and trees and flowering plants still laden with seed heads.

Little wonder people are not seeing a lot of birds at their backyard feeders, when there is so much food out in the wild.

When food sources are encased in snow and ice, it's a different story. Cardinals, finches, juncos and other common birds will jockey for space on the perches and can strip a feeder of seed in no time.

And their brethren out in the wild have a hard time when their food is covered up. Scientists can draw correlations between harsh winters and the shrinking of bird populations. Lingering snow cover can mean that some species of birds starve for lack of food, and it can take years for the population to rebound.

So, if I were a bird, I guess I'd be pleased there is no snow.

But if I were a weasel, maybe not. The three weasel species in Ohio — the long-tailed weasel, the short-tailed weasel and the least weasel — all have white fur in the winter. That's great when there is snow on the ground, but not so when the weasels' surroundings are brown and gray. Fewer white weasels are caught by owls and other predators when there is snow on the ground. So bring on the snow, for the weasels' sake.

If I were a mouse, I'd like the snow. Mammals and birds alike use snow as an insulator, finding it far preferable to cold winds blowing over a bare, frozen landscape. Because there is air between snow crystals, the packed snow is like a thick blanket providing insulation, keeping the ground around 32 degrees even when the temperature is below zero.

Mice will create tunnels through the grass under the blanket of snow, to connect areas where food is stored. The tunnels keep the mice warm and the snow above protects them from predators.

However, when the snow starts to melt, that creates a problem for mice. In one of my favorite books, a passage describes the opposite effects of a January thaw on a mouse and a hawk.

This is from Aldo Leopold's “A Sand County Almanac”:

“A meadow mouse ... feels grieved about the thaw. Today his maze of secret tunnels, laboriously chewed through the matted grass under the snow, are tunnels no more. ... The mouse is a sober citizen who knows that grass grows in order that mice may store it as underground haystacks, and that snow falls in order that mice may build subways from stack to stack. ... To the mouse, snow means freedom from want and fear.

“A rough-legged hawk ... drops like a feathered bomb into the marsh. He does not rise again, so I am sure he has caught, and is now eating, some worried mouse-engineer who could not wait until night to inspect the damage to his well-ordered world. The rough-leg has no opinion why grass grows, but he is well aware that snow melts in order that hawks may again catch mice. ... for him a thaw means freedom from want and fear.”

Three of Preservation Parks' January nature programs focus on just this topic — nature in winter. Homeschool Adventures, for ages 7-12, is Jan. 19, at 10 a.m. Preschool Park Pals, for ages 4-5, will be held Jan. 25 at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. And the Budding Naturalist Program, for ages 6-7, will be Jan. 28 at 10 a.m. All three programs will be held at Deer Haven Preserve, 4183 Liberty Road. Only the Preschool Park Pals program requires advance registration; e-mail register@ preservationparks.com. Or call (740) 524-8600, extension 3, for questions on these or any other programs.

Sue Hagan is marketing and communications manager for Preservation Parks of Delaware County.