The harsh winter has many Maritimers anxiously awaiting more spring-like temperatures; however, humans are not the only ones who have been negatively impacted by Mother Nature’s cruelty.

Biologists say birds and animals of all sizes have been hit hard by excessive amounts of snow and cold temperatures.

“It’s been a pretty hard winter for wildlife, especially large mammals, like deer, are having a hard time moving around in the snow that we have now,” says biologist Kim George.

George works with the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources. She says the late start to winter helped deer to store extra fat reserves to get them through the storm.

“That would have been a lot easier on them then and then once the heavier snow came, they’re using a lot more of that stored energy to be able to move around,” says George.

The heavy snow is also taking its toll on predators like coyotes and bobcats. They rely on smaller animals like mice or rabbits for food, which are hard to find in deep snow.

“Serves as a protection from their predators and it gives them a nice insulation cover over top of them,” says George.

Smaller birds of prey, including owls, are having a hard winter according to officials at the Cobequid Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre.

“It’s definitely the most snow we’ve had here and the most animals we’ve had admitted for starvation,” says Dr. Helene von Doninck of the Cobequid Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre. “ A lot of time they’ll (owls) hear stuff under the snow. Their hearing is really, really good and they just burst through the snow and grab a mouse or a mole or whatever they can to eat, but there’s so many layers of snow and ice, just built up on top of each other, kinda like a layering effect, there’s no way they can beat through that.”

Leaving humans and wildlife alike, anxiously awaiting the sight of green grass.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Dan MacIntosh