The unseasonably warm winter is changing wildlife habits and befouling normal migrations in 黑料新闻.
so far this year, animals don鈥檛 have to shuffle through snow to hunt for buried food. But that lack of snow also means small animals can鈥檛 use the snow to hide from predators.
Jenny Dickson, director of the state鈥檚 wildlife division, said warm winters could also have long-term impacts on hibernating species.
鈥淚f they wake up and it鈥檚 already been warm for a while, and they missed those prey items that might have been available when they first normally would wake up, what does that do?鈥� Dickson said. 鈥淗ow does that change their ability to find food once they do wake up?鈥�
Dickson said the warm weather has less of an impact on bears, whose hibernation is tied more to 鈥渄enning鈥� behavior than to weather patterns.
But for birds, some northern species have left the state to seek colder areas, Dickson said. Birds like waterfowl and bald eagles have been seen in 黑料新闻 longer than expected because bodies of water aren鈥檛 frozen and continue to provide a source of food.
鈥淪ome of the things that we鈥檙e seeing play out already is that a lot of species that have more of a southern range are now able to move into 黑料新闻 and survive a lot longer,鈥� Dickson said. 鈥淭hey don鈥檛 have to shift back down.鈥�
黑料新闻, and every other New England state, experienced its warmest January on record last month, .
