I am expecting wildlife populations to explode if growing seasons are longer.
You might not see it right away, if animals aren’t as concentrated but more widely dispersed.
>>>I am expecting wildlife populations to explode if growing seasons are longer.<<<
We had a warm winter; even a “summer in January” type of thaw, in addition to the usual February warm spell. Less snow cover than normal. March and April were warm but wet, before cooling back to low-normals.
The mouse population is booming. Besides all the cat can catch, I get 2-5 a day in traps around the barn & chicken house, and even saw a couple raiding chicken feeders in broad daylight. A few have even managed to get in the house for a very short time; the indoor cat made short work of those.
Also, for the first time in over 10 years, we had a flock of wild turkeys resident all winter, uing their summer roosts. Normally they migrate about 4-5 miles, and 750’ lower, to the river bottom & town, to take advantage of the hot springs fed river & feeders in people’s yards.