A Little Moonshine

Last night as I left class at about 8:30, I looked to the western horizon and saw an eerie but lovely moon. It was moon-illusion huge, a smoky orange sliver of a "u" just above the earth. I felt lucky to have looked over just then and seen it!

They are predicting a warm-up tomorrow -- I hope the snow doesn't all melt!

Tadpoles

Apparently, a student of mine reached through a hole in the ice into the pond and grabbed 5 tadpoles (presumably bullfrog). I do not know what he used to reach into the 33 degree water -- and I don't want to. But the tadpoles were so sluggish that he could just grab them! (I didn't see this but his mom told me about it, so I trust it is not fabricated...)

Let it snow!

After watching the weather and seeing that huge portions of the nation were getting winter weather of some sort, I admit I was a bit disappointed to have NOTHING happening here! But snow has started to fall... huge flakes, each flake containing many crystals clumped together. The snow crystals are beautiful. I would classify them as fernlike dendrites or possibly stellar dendrites. Definitely one of the classic, 6-pointed snow crystal designs. They are floating down like a holiday card.

We are only supposed to get an inch or so of snow -- hardly enough to create a clean slate for animal tracks. Still, it's magical out for a while, anyhow.

Here are pictures of the snow falling and a close-up of a snowflake on my sleeve (not an easy photo to take, but you get the general idea...)

Winter blahs

Perhaps January wasn't the best time to begin a phenology blog. Not as much happening right now as at other times of the year... snow on the ground, the lakes are frozen... it's a new moon (Happy Chinese New Year!) which means that this morning or tonight would be a perfect day for looking at winter constellations... if only it weren't cloudy! Oh, well.

Following Along

We are in the midst of a beautiful mid-winter week here in Grayslake, IL. Hard to believe, but today's predicted high of 30 degrees F is nearly 40 degrees higher than it was a week ago! This whole week has been sunny, mid 20s, with a thick layer of snow... perfect for tracking animals, and we have been doing a lot of it!

With a class of 3rd and 4th graders, I followed a coyote's tracks across the prairie. We saw the tracks get further apart as the canine ran faster, and at the end, we found his -- and our -- prize... a dead rabbit. Or part of one. Some fur, some intestines left over.

Also sighted this week: lots of vole activity, including some actual voles scared out of their subnivean world by large and careless feet; many, many birds, including a flock of chickadees singing loudly; squirrel tracks and a lot of osage orange midden; and a small town of ice fisher people on the lake.

Grayslake is at 42.35 deg N and 88.05 deg W. Sunrise 7:13 am, sunset 4:55 pm, moon waning crescent (beautiful, saw it on the way to work this morning!)