For winter wildlife, Windmont Park is a go-to spot

As the winter deepens, I find that there are still plenty of things to enjoy in the outdoors, even in this time of the year.

Keeping the bird feeders full of black oil sunflower seeds and cracked corn is a full time job some days. I’ve been putting out walnuts for the squirrel visitors, as well as dried field corn dried on the cob. The heated winter watering hole in the Nature Center requires daily refilling, as the water evaporates more quickly during cold weather.

It is a joy to watch the birds and squirrels flit and scamper about, bringing life to the otherwise stillness of the yard.

In the afternoon sunshine, a good bundle-up will usually stave off the cold for a brief walk about the yard to take care of the Nature Center.

For those times that it’s just too cold to be outside for any length of time, I’ve learned that enjoying a drive to a park can provide an alternative type of outdoor time that doesn’t require bracing yourself against gale-force winter winds.

Windmont Park has become my go-to place to watch for winter wildlife sightings in recent years. Especially bald eagles. Those sightings are becoming rather common place around the Kewanee area, but they are still such a joy to observe.

Earlier this week I was driving south on North East Street and spied a tree with what I first thought were three crows in it. As we drove closer to the tree, it became apparent that one of the crows was much bigger than the other two. It was a bald eagle, just sitting casually in a tree beside the road. What an awesome sighting!

As we have had periods of mild weather so far this winter, there have been more than the usual eagle sightings in and around the Kewanee area. Typically, bald eagles will follow open water southward as the winter deepens, so it will be interesting to see if we have other sightings as we enter the hardest cold of winter.

The cold winter weather creates food difficulties for many wildlife. Depending on the depth of the snow, deer and rabbits may become visitors to more urban areas in search of food.

Possums, skunks, raccoons and even weasels have been spotted within the city limits already this winter. Many of these are merely wandering through and will not attempt to make their home close to human habitation.

Some of them, such as raccoons, are living among us. I’ve seen them crawl out of storm sewer drains, from beneath the eves of dilapidated housing and out of abandoned-looking garages.

Because these urban raccoons are used to living near humans, they aren’t afraid of fairly close contact. I’ve had them visit my frozen-over water gardens this winter.

There have been coyote sightings in and around the Windmont Park and west Mill Street areas of town. Keep this in mind and keep a close watch when letting your dogs outside this winter.