Snowdrops and Snow Drops

The world is not stripey.  Nor is my camera... this is some translation error between the computer and blogger, I think... but I haven't time to try and figure that out, so we press on.

Snowdrops, 2/23

Yesterday, I did check for snowdrops and found them blooming.  They were, indeed, the true first flower of 2012, though I know not when, precisely.  This morning, however, they are covered by about 5 inches (and counting) of very wet, heavy snow.

Snow Droops All the Tree Branches, 2/24

It started as rain, and then turned to snow as night set in.  falling onto wet branches and plants, the snow stuck.  Since the temperature hovered around 32 all night, it continued to stick pile... Now the world is white and very droopy.  Branches on many trees are practically touching the ground.  If you haven't put your back out shoveling (I did not, btw) it's very lovely.  Enjoy it today -- I suspect it's ephemeral, and we'll have puddles before long.

Snow Capped

My Metal Flower Garden

Earth Week Begins in Cold

"Behold! It is the spring-tide of the year.

Over and past is winter's gloomy reign."

These words are sung as part of our Seder, but this year, they seem, somehow... inaccurate. We awoke this morning to 2-3 inches of wet snow which even now isn't completely melted. It isn't uncommon for a spring snow to cover our daffodils... just the last one I recorded happened on April 5 -- a lot earlier in the season. I just hope this is the last!

But things are still moving forward... the yellow blur in the middle of this photo is a goldfinch. Key word: Yellow! That's summer plumage.

Let it Snow!

Just under 3 inches on the snow-meter, but I think it was more in a lot of places (depending on wind). Enough to be lovely, but not enough for skiing and not enough to stay pretty even if it stays cold... so I'm hoping for some more!

Don't Let it Snow.

First SNOW FLURRIES! Accompanied by frigid temperatures.

More White Stuff

Snowing again!

Many American Indian tribes had a charming naming scheme for their lunar months -- they named them after phenological occurrences. The month that fell closest to what we now call February was dubbed by many groups "Snow Moon." As a second grader remarked to me, "I understand why they called February the snow moon!" We've had a snowy February. It's mostly come in a few inches at a time -- about 4 tonight -- but it seems to keep coming. Even without the huge snowfalls they've had out east, we have a good covering of white stuff by now....

And soon, it will be time for the Crust Moon. Coming after the Snow Moon, this is the month when warmer daytime temperatures slowly melt the snow but colder night times re-freeze it, forming a crust of ice on top of the snow. That's a clever naming concept if I've ever heard one...

Contradiction in Terms

Last night's snow was a spring snow, weighing heavily on every bough, branch and berry. We only got about 3 inches, but it was 3 inches of almost-slush and it stuck to everything and the world is magically white.... for now. Based on the weather report, I suspect it will soon be all puddles!

More Following Along

I spent a lovely morning (well, part of a morning) tracking. With kindergartners. Tracking with kindergarten is always an adventure. Some of the interesting things about tracking with people that young:

1. They are super excited about everything. Which is great... sort of. The problem is, they are excited about everything, so when you have to tell them that that isn't really a track, but rather a place where an icicle dripped, it feels like breaking their little hearts. (But I can't just let them think all those indents in the snow are animal tracks, that's not right either.) On the other hand, the disappointment only lasts about 2 seconds before there is new excitement for the place where the plow splashed onto the snow.

2. Their feet are everywhere. I tried to get some pictures this morning, but I had to get them fast before 42 tiny boots trampled all over the tracks. No matter how many times you try to explain that no one else can see the track if they step on top of it, and no matter how well you put them in a line to follow behind... before long there is snow in, or footprints on top of, all the tracks.

3. They think everything is a rabbit track. This morning, we didn't actually see any rabbit tracks. We saw a lot of tracks -- vole, coyote, dog, opossum (I'm 99% on that one), squirrel, bird -- and they guessed rabbit for every single one of them.
This was a rabbit track.(Note: that was a large dog track, so it would have to be a gigantic rabbit.)
These? Also rabbit tracks.And those are kindergarten hands, so scale-wise, those tracks are TINY. I am not sure why rabbit is the default, no-thought-involved guess, but it is...

So I was pretty surprised when a kindergartner out-tracked me. The tracks in question were these. They were all over, making circles and crossing each other... I wanted to take a picture of the overall scene, but I had my camera in my pocket, and by the time I got it out and my gloves off... well, see #2 above.

Anyhow... I could tell they were bird tracks. In some of them you could actually see not only the shape of the foot, but the imprint of wrinkled skin. They were quite large -- way bigger than typical songbird tracks, but not large enough to be a hawk and not webbed enough to be a water bird. In places they had clearly stopped to scratch the ground. But my brain? Didn't come up with the answer. So I took some pictures, planning to think about it later. Then, back in the classroom, as a wrap-up, I asked the kids to review what tracks we had seen. (You guessed it! "Rabbit" was the first answer!) But then they listed the ones we actually saw, and we got a pretty complete list but the bird wasn't on it. So I said... "There was one more I remember -- it was over by the barn..." and a girl raises her hand, I call on her, and she says, "Oh, yeah... the crow tracks."

That's right, folks. She figured it out before I did. I am not sure how, actually. I guess my students are just tracking geniuses (the rabbit thing notwithstanding) and I'm going to go ahead and take some of the credit for that. It makes me feel slightly less stupid.

Snow Trekking

Well, no sledding for us, but we did get out and take advantage of our snow day with a walk... well, trudge, sort of... through Rollins Savannah. Due to the winds, the snow had blown all over, creating waves and ripples. A better camera would probably have been in order to capture them, but here is an OK picture of some snow patterns:

The blowing snow meant that on the tops of hills, the snow was pretty shallow, but in lower areas or on the leeward side, there were some pretty deep areas. The deepest was about up to my waist, and luckily wasn't very large or I may have gotten stuck:

Eventually, tired from trailblazing through deep snow, I laid down at the base of a large bur oak tree...

This was my view from here:The sky was constantly changing while we were out. For a few brief moments, we even glimpsed blue. This is a neat time when the sky seemed to glow at the horizon. We also saw many deer tracks (some blown over) and many vole holes. We also saw a vole scurry across the trail and dig into the snow. I really wanted a photo of him, but was keeping my camera tucked inside my coat to avoid the problem of if freezing like last weekend. I couldn't get it out fast enough. I bent over and looked in the hole he had disappeared down, and he kept poking his head up, then disappearing, then poking his head up and disappearing again. But he never came back out. Can't blame him, really. I would have waited for us to leave, also.

Following Along

Some tracks from today... above, tiny vole tracks lead to a hole. There were a LOT of vole tracks above the snow today. I'm not sure why they spent so much time above their subnivean comfort zone, exposed to both the elements and the predators...

Below, a midden pile of Osage orange remains after a squirrel finished dining.

Winter Walk

Well, I certainly haven't been a very good blogger lately. Partly this is because really, not a lot is happening, phenologically... there's more snow, more melting, tracks (which I can write about for the next 3 months), Orion (same deal)... Partly this is because I've had a pretty lazy winter break. Not so much computering... and, for that matter, not so much being out in nature. Anyhow, no point in forcing it.

Today, we did brave the cold and go for a walk at the beach. It was nice, with snow falling and the muted color pallet of winter sticks and grasses. Here's some of what we saw:

Bridge over the dead river.

Beach grasses
Stripes of snow, sand, ice, and rocks on the beach. The water, by the way, had no ice on it at all. It was quite wavy, which meant we had to watch our feet constantly. There are few things I like less than having wet feet in the winter when you're stuck outside.

This crazy looking thing is a bundle of sticks (I think) that was in the area where the waves hit, so it got coated in ice.

We saw 3 deer (and enough tracks to indicate that there are a lot more than 3 out there). Here are some shots of them.
This last is not at IL beach, but in my mom's yard, where some squirrels have dug at least 15 holes such as this right in the grass, presumably in search of there caches. It should make for a lovely lawn in the spring... oh, well!

Happy Thanksgiving!

An interlude from drawings to show you all what was on the ground when we awoke this morning:

The FIRST SNOW! As the sun rises (behind the rain clouds, that is) it's already turning to slush and currently, before 7 am, it's back to raining. Yup, it's going to be a lovely holiday. So anyway, we didn't get much and it won't last long, but it still counts! And it was enough for:

The FIRST SNOWBALL! Sort of.

And now a sappy interlude... this Thanksgiving, I am, among other things, thankful for all the discoveries I have made, and that I can share them with you, and you take some of your precious time to read about them. Have a good one -- N