Follow the trail of animals on snowshoes to make peace with winter

I like winter, but not brutal winter. The only thing I found to reconcile myself with the cold season is to go play outside. I joined interpreter-naturalist Rachel Paquette on her own playground: Gatineau Park.

As Gilles Vigneault sang, Put on your parka, I’ll put on mineheading to the Visitors Center in Chelsea where the guide for the National Capital Commission (NCC), Rachel Paquette, is waiting for me.

La Gatinoise offers hiking On snowshoes, following the trail of animals. The goal: to understand the strategies of fauna (and flora!) to survive the winter.

Rachel Paquette explains that there are three different approaches for animals during the cold season: migrate, stay and remain active, or hibernate.

The brave ones who choose to stay in the forest are those we meet throughout our hike. The graduate in biology and environmental education emphasizes that the current low presence of snow on the ground is helpful to white-tailed deer. It is easier for them to move on a hard, compact surface. They thus expend less energy to move.

This is not at all the same thing for the ruffed grouse which prefers more beautiful powder snow to be able to land, hide, camouflage and warm up.

As in all things, one person’s misfortune makes another person’s happiness.

First stop: trail 60 at the park entrance

Rachel and I put on our snowshoes. It’s cold and snow is rare. But the ice patches are treacherous and the crampons under our snowshoes allow us to complete the course in complete safety. After only a few minutes of walking, Rachel stops in front of a dead tree or as she calls it: a pantry for the Pileated Woodpecker!

This bird spends the winter here. It feeds on ants that live inside the tree in front of us. They are a diapausespecifies the program officer at the CCN.

In insects, diapause is a mechanism of adaptation to environmental conditions, she continues. The insect slows down its metabolism during the cold season. The phenomenon is reminiscent of hibernation in vertebrates.

Beware of the footprints you follow

The guide invites me to look at the ground for a moment. Tracks of squirrels, mice… and bears catch our attention.

Rachel Paquette is quick to reassure me. Right now they are hibernating. Although bears do not hibernate completely during the winter: they slow down their metabolism, but they come out once in a while to stretch out and to check if everything is going well in their territory.she comments.

So what do we do if we come across one this winter?

Don’t run, don’t climb a tree, don’t approach the bear to get a better look at it and above all, don’t take out your phone to keep a memory of this encounter, warns Rachel Paquette.

Bears are wild animals. They are afraid of us.

What to do: warn him of your presence. Make noise, sing, whistle, clap your hands.

A black bear standing on its hind legs is not a sign of aggressive behavior. The bear tries to see you better or perceive your scentnote Rachelle Paquette. If that happens, we back away slowly.

And to think I learned all that in 30 minutes. The hike is free and lasts two hours. Snowshoes are provided. An ingenious way to get to know nature better and make a new friend… in winter!