A day or two after our first “big” snowfall this past December I took the camera for a ride. About a mile from my home I found what I was looking for; horned larks. The morning temperature that day was about 9 degrees F. and a light northwest wind was blowing across what appeared to be a tundralike landscape.

At hundreds of spots, weed stalks protruded through the more than 12 inches of snow covering the fall harvested fields. Braving the harsh elements, and not at all bothered by the cold, was a flock of over three dozen larks.

The horned larks were doing what they needed to do - eat. They are certainly tougher and adapted well to finding these seemingly barren fields much to their liking. I watched as bird after bird pulled at the seed tops, even perching on them and appearing to intentionally shake them to knock seeds loose. They looked to be just as comfortable there, exposed to the extreme conditions, as we are seated in our warm dens.

Another amazing species “toughing it out” each and every winter day is the diminutive golden-crowned kinglet. The kinglet tips the scales at 1/5 ounce, about the weight of two pennies. They need to eat three times their body weight each day to maintain a body temperature of 111 degrees F.

It is no wonder I find them almost impossible to photograph because they don’t sit idle even for a second or two. I have watched them feeding in the hemlock trees, hovering just under the needles, grabbing food on mornings when the thermometer hovered near 5 to 10 degrees.

What amazes me even more is that somehow they survive through 13 or 14 hours of brutal nighttime temperatures. At daybreak they are right back at it, gleaning dormant spiders, insects and insect eggs from the foliage. Wow.

Wild turkeys aren’t tiny, obviously, nor do they migrate or hibernate, so after roosting on tree limbs through the long winter nights, they need to begin feeding quickly each morning, regardless of the snow, crust and ice. They scratch through the snow, trying to find the half to 1 pound of acorns, beechnuts, seeds, buds and grasses they need each day to survive.

In winters with deep snow cover I have seen them resort to following mountain streams where some streamside and shallow water plants or insects must offer them food as well. They learned that the stream may not be crusted over like the woodlands around them.

The white-tailed deer doesn’t retreat to a den or burrow in the tough winter conditions. They are well-adapted to withstand the cold temperatures with a winter coat of hollow hairs and layers of fat they store before winter’s cold arrives. They can lie down in a foot of snow on a 10-degree night and remain comfortable. But remember, they are smart enough to limit their coldest nighttime activity, and during the day will seek out a south facing slope that receives more direct sunshine and preferably a spot out of the cold north winds.

Whether it’s a horned lark, kinglet, turkey or deer, they all have adapted to “tough it out” much better than us.

Test Your Outdoor Knowledge: The ____ is North America’s largest rodent. A. black bear, B. coyote, C. beaver, D. Norway rat, E. muskrat.

Last Week’s Trivia Answer: A baby beaver is called a kit.

Contact Barry Reed at breed71@gmail.com.