ANNAPOLIS, Md. — As winter tightens its grip on Maryland, the state’s wildlife is shifting into survival mode. With insects dormant, daylight shortened and many plants stripped of leaves, food becomes scarce across forests, fields and backyards. The seasonal shift forces animals to rely on strategies honed over generations to outlast the coldest months.
Among the species most familiar to Maryland residents is the gray squirrel, a year-round presence that stays active even as temperatures fall. Wildlife officials say squirrels aren’t true hibernators, but their behavior changes noticeably once winter arrives. In late fall, they begin eating heavily and storing fat, a biological insurance policy that helps sustain them through long stretches of cold weather.
Rather than disappearing underground for the season, gray squirrels retreat to their insulated nests — called dreys — built high in trees from leaves, twigs and bark. Inside, the animals may sleep for several days at a time when temperatures plunge. When they do emerge, they spend their waking hours recovering the thousands of nuts and seeds they buried earlier in the year, often relying on a keen sense of smell to track down food under snow or frozen soil.
While squirrels remain visible through the season, they are just one example of the diverse ways Maryland wildlife navigates winter. Many bird species, including Canada geese and tundra swans, migrate along the Atlantic Flyway, taking advantage of the Chesapeake Bay as a wintering ground. Others, like warblers and orioles, travel much farther south to escape freezing temperatures.
Smaller animals adopt more hidden strategies. Frogs and toads burrow beneath leaf litter or into muddy pond bottoms, entering deep dormancy until spring thaws return. Insects such as bees and butterflies rely on sheltered overwintering sites, while some moths and beetles pass the season as larvae or pupae. Even mammals like chipmunks, skunks and raccoons reduce activity levels significantly, conserving energy until food becomes more abundant.
Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources says these adaptations reflect a larger ecological pattern: winter rewards species that prepare early, conserve resources and minimize exposure to the elements. Understanding these behaviors, officials say, helps residents appreciate the less visible rhythms of wildlife that continue even when landscapes appear quiet and still.
More information on gray squirrels and winter wildlife can be found through the Maryland DNR, the Lincoln Park Zoo, and the Maryland DNR’s “In Praise of Dormancy” feature.
Families can also explore seasonal animal activity through winter wildlife safari activities for kids.
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