Winterkill –
You can find bones anytime, but it seems like I see more after winter, when things begin to thaw. These are deer bones; a pelvis and ribcage and leg. I don’t know what killed the deer, but I know coyotes have worked it over and picked it clean.
When you come across an animal skeleton it’s easy to pity the dead animal. I think about the bitterness of blizzards and the lack of food in late January. Old or young or wounded animals are often killed by the elements. Nature isn’t always pretty.
But what about the hungry predators with babies to feed? They have to eat too. Winter-killed animals provide for them and nothing goes to waste. Bones are broken open and the marrow is eaten. Eventually nothing is left behind.
Winter is tough for predator and prey. Creation is a hard but beautiful system. It endures.
