There are a few different types of people when it comes to winter. There are migrators — the snowbirds, the Florida folk. There's the active bunch — the ones who, when you complain about winter, they cry out, "But have you even tried cross country skiing?" And then there are the hibernators — the bookworms, stew cookers, knitters and tea drinkers.
Animals' winter survival strategies fall along similar lines. On Wednesday a trio of animal experts guided Vermont Edition listeners on a tour of our ecosystem in winter. We've compiled some of their best facts about overwintering, alongside stories from listeners.
The guests were: Ash Kerby-Miller, a staff naturalist at North Branch Nature Center, Sophie Mazowita, a consulting naturalist, educator, and wildlife tracker from Jeffersonville, and Gregory Pask, an insect chemical ecologist and associate professor of biology at Middlebury College.
"In our human experience of winter, it's a very tough time for a lot of us," Kerby-Miller said. "But for some animals, we are at the southern end, the warm end, of their range, and this is just a perfectly comfortable place for them."
Otters: Otter tracks are a favorite winter find of both Mazowita and Kerby-Miller. They love to slide downhill, and you can identify their path if you find sets of two or four tracks punctuated by a five- or six-inch wide slide. "They put chin and belly down to the ground and push off with their feet," Mazowita said.
Black bears: Black bears become inactive for a long period of winter. But contrary to popular belief, they're not deeply asleep in their dens. Female bears even give birth this time of year while in a state of torpor. Their dens tend to be partially open to the elements, so their warmth comes mostly from their thick fur and bear fat.
Jumping mice: Woodland jumping mice are true hibernators. Their body temperature falls to near freezing and they breathe just a couple times a minute. Before they hibernate, they build up fat by eating seeds, insects and truffles.
Winter fireflies: An abundant insect species in Vermont, winter fireflies look something like a sunflower seed with yellow and orange coloration. Their name is something of a misnomer — adult winter fireflies don't actually light up. Pask wants the species to be Vermont's state insect, due to their ability to tough out the winter and their proclivity for floating around in sap buckets and soaking up the sugar.
Honey bees: Honeybees subsist on honey reserves in the hives. The process of metabolizing the honey and huddling close together keeps them warm. Some bees even fan their wings to distribute the heat, allowing the entire colony to survive the winter.
Mink: Michael in Plainfield wrote in about a mink he spotted last week. "On the first day it killed a squirrel and 2 rats, and I learned they need to consume half their body weight every day to feed their high metabolisms in winter," he wrote. Michael said he's been keeping his chickens inside ever since.
Ermine: Hallie in Huntington wrote in about the ermine living in her old farm house. "They are currently living underneath the floor in our bathroom area," Hallie wrote. "I have seen them poke their head out of the laundry room a couple times as well as seeing them running around outside in the snow. We haven’t seen a single mouse dropping since our ermine friend moved in and are happy to share this co living space with them this winter and hope they choose to stick around."
Mourning cloak butterflies: These black, blue and yellow butterflies are among the first to emerge in the spring. They overwinter in tree hollows and fallen logs. They're able to survive the winter due to proteins and other compounds that act as a sort of anti-freeze. Pask said you can spot them flying around when there's still snow melting on the ground in the spring.
Broadcast live on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.
Have questions, comments, or tips? Send us a message or check us out on Instagram.
