Photo courtesy kgnojewski (iNaturalist CC)
Yellow-faced bumblebee
Many bees hibernate, making their winter homes under fallen leaves, inside woody plant stems, and, like many bumblebees, in the ground. Yellow-faced bumblebee queens spend their first summer getting fat and healthy on nectar and pollen at their mom’s nest before going underground for the winter. The next spring, they emerge to make their own colonies.
Photo courtesy smilacina (iNaturalist CC)
Townsend’s big-eared bat
These medium-sized bats don’t travel much, so they like to roost and hibernate in the same place. They gather in communities that can be a handful or hundreds strong. They curl up their namesake ears into coiled ram’s horns, and they puff out their fur to hold in heat.
Photo courtesy Jamie Simmons (iNaturalist CC)
Western pond turtles
Reptiles don’t hibernate; they brumate. Pond turtles bury themselves into mud or soil, where they can stay warmer. It’s not a true hibernation, because on warm winter days the cold-blooded turtles may heat up enough to get a snack and drink before going back to brumation.
Photo courtesy Matthew McPhee (iNaturalist CC)
Northern flying squirrel
These adorable arboreal gliders don’t technically hibernate, but hey, they don’t “fly” either. When it gets real cold, groups of flying squirrels cuddle up in a woodpecker-made hole and go into an energy-saving state called torpor, a sort of hibernation-lite nap.