By MAUREEN PICHÉ

The unusually warm winter and lack of snow aren’t just confusing human North Country residents—the rest of the animal kingdom is acting strangely, exhibiting behaviors local naturalists say they have rarely, or never, seen before.

Typically slumbering critters, including bears, are waking to look for food, and traditionally migrating birds and deer have decided to stay put, the naturalists report.

Peter O’Shea, a naturalist at Indian Creek Nature Center in Canton and wildlife author who frequently takes tracking walks in the southern part of the county, said he’s seen some of the most unusual animal behavior this winter than in any year he can recall.

He said he was surprised to spot a chipmunk running around one mid-February day—a creature that normally stays inside until April.

And then there are all those deer.

“This year, most have not migrated to the deer yards,” he said, explaining that during a normal winter, deer will move from hardwood cover, which allows snow to pile up, to evergreen woods, where there’s less snow. But this year, perhaps 80 percent have stayed. “I’ve never seen that before. This winter, they’re able to range freely and find all the food they want,” he added.

Barring something unforeseen, the deer population will most likely be booming during the next year, he said.

O’Shea noted he’s spotted raccoons “all over the place.” They typically go into a deep sleep for at least 3 or 4 weeks during the heart of the winter, but not this year. And he’s seen two sets of bear tracks, one in Fine on Jan. 10. “I’ve never seen bear tracks in January before.”

This change in behavior in some animals has a collateral effect on others, O’Shea said. Predators like coyotes and bobcats depend on heavy snow to catch deer, so their numbers may be down this year, or they may switch to mice and snowshoe hares that have lost their natural camouflage. If deer numbers go up, moose numbers may go down, because deer pass along a deadly worm to moose populations.

Since deer aren’t dying in winter yards or succumbing to predators, scavengers are finding it difficult to locate a meal. Eagles, ravens, foxes and fishers rely primarily on dead carcasses for their winter fare.

Canton naturalist Jeff Bolsinger has been watching the bird patterns this winter, and he, too, has been surprised by the extreme changes.

“There are definitely a lot more birds around than usual,” he said. The half-hardies, or birds that normally migrate during the winter but can withstand a North Country winter if need be, are here in droves.

Robins are everywhere, he said. In fact, he said the annual Christmas bird count conducted in the Massena/Cornwall, Ont. area tallied an astounding 1,600 robins. Compare that to the previous record of 120. Other varieties such as the eastern meadowlark and the winter wren are still up here, Bolsinger said.

Lots of blackbirds and eastern bluebirds are around, although Bolsinger admits at this stage, it’s hard to tell if they stayed or came back early.

The one concern is that winter isn’t over yet, and this unseasonable weather could turn nasty at some point, catching the animals off their guard, covering up food supplies or freezing the more delicate creatures.

“A cold snap would probably kill off some of the birds,” Bolsinger worries.