“I love fall, but I dread to think what is coming afterwards,” the cashier told me as I paid my bill. Apparently she did not look forward to winter. I have a feeling that many of you readers really like winter and get excited when snowflakes start falling.
Have you ever wondered how many snowflakes make a drift or even a twelve-inch ground covering? And yet we are told no two snowflakes are alike. From what we can observe, it certainly seems like no two are alike. But no one has observed all the snowflakes, so how do they know? God could just as easily create a million identical flakes if He chose to. In any case, God is so awesome!
Snow is really good for the ground water table. As it melts, the water seeps into the ground, helping to replenish underground streams.
In wintertime, there are fewer hours of daylight since the earth is tilted away from the sun. The latitude where I live is about halfway between the equator and North Pole, so we’re in the Temperate Zone where we are blessed with four seasons: winter, spring, summer, and fall.
Winter is a time for deciduous trees to rest before the busy season of leafing and producing food. The hillsides look pretty bare. However, there is an advantage to that. Without the leaf cover, we in the mountains can see more of the ridge lines and hollows in our landscape.
The evergreens—spruce, hemlock, pines, and cedars—continue to add their green color year-round, as their needle-like leaves photosynthesize even in the winter. Interestingly, the shape of the needles allows the snow to largely fall off without damaging the limbs. If deciduous trees were to keep their leaves, they would be more prone to damage from the weight of the snow.
Now put on your coats and boots and come along. Let’s get some fresh air while we continue to enjoy winter. Don’t worry; we won’t get lost. We can always track ourselves back in the fresh snow if we would need to, but we won’t. It’s also a great time to look for animal tracks.
Bears? No, don’t worry about them. Our black bears are hibernating…well, sort of. Technically, they go into torpor. How would you like to sleep for three months of the year? God created them that way because they would have trouble finding enough food in the winter. They have fattened themselves up and found a den, perhaps in a big hole in a rock ledge, a hollow tree, or even a big hollow log lying on the ground. Some of the females will have babies during this time—little eight-ounce cubs that eat and sleep while snuggling with mama bear for the rest of the winter.
Our groundhogs hibernate as well. But often in February, the males come out of their dens in search of females. You may even have Groundhog Day marked on the calendar. Since they don’t have calendars, they don’t always appear on schedule.
We don’t need to watch for poisonous snakes. They are cold-blooded, meaning their body temperatures are the same as their surroundings. All amphibians are cold-blooded as well. Frogs are sleeping under my pond. They have buried themselves in the mud, as they can’t endure the winter either. They’d have trouble finding flies that have also gone in storage. I guess the frogs get a bath as they emerge upward through the water when they wake up.
What do you think made this track? See how round it is without showing claw marks? You’re partly right in saying it looks like your cat must have been exploring in the woods. It is actually a bobcat track. It is larger than your house cat’s track. The top margin of the main pad has a dip in it. Your cat’s track is rounded here.
Bobcats travel in search of rabbits, chipmunks, squirrels, birds, or mice…almost any mammal smaller than they. I think their tracks are rather cute. They mostly travel at night and can make you shiver if you are close and hear their human-like screams.
A squirrel has been traveling here. Since the snowstorm has passed, he’s left his hollow tree with its store of nuts and gone out to dig some buried ones. Either he has a keen sense of smell or an extraordinary memory. I’ve already watched a squirrel find a nut in my yard with at least 8 inches (20 cm) of snow on the ground. Sure enough, he came up with a walnut that had been buried there.
Anyone want to guess what this track is? No, not a dog…it’s a coyote. Its track is more slender than a big dog’s, with the pads in the middle having a different shape, as well. Like a dog’s, you can see its claw marks.
Often in winter, you can hear coyotes howling to communicate with a possible partner. Their howls can be spine-tingling too, or, if not too close, just plain beautiful to hear.
Some animals change the color of their coats in winter. Our snowshoe hares in the higher elevations turn white to blend with the snow that is usually on the ground there. They, along with their cousins the eastern cottontails, wear bigger shoes in the back than in the front. There’s a rabbit track here. See how he places his front feet first and then hops, bringing his back legs up on both sides and ahead of his front feet.
I’m sure you know what this track is…yes, a white-tailed deer. I believe this is a buck track, rather large at that. See how his hoofs point more straight instead of curving in like a doe’s would?
Oops! Let me help you up. You tripped over a partially buried antler. Bucks shed their antlers in the winter. This one is nice—it has five points! Often both sides are shed close together. Let’s follow his track for a little and see if we can find the other shed. Good eye! Sure enough, you found the other side. He was a ten-point.
Do you recognize that sound? It’s a Great Horned Owl hooting in the afternoon. These owls begin nesting in the winter months when there are more hours of darkness. This gives them more time to find food for the baby owlets, since these owls hunt in low light or darkness. Also, with leaves off the trees, they are better able to see mice and other small mammals on the ground. These large owls will eat other owls and birds and are one of the few enemies the skunk has. Yuck! Do you think they have bad breath after a skunk meal? God is amazing in how He designed owls to nest at the right time so they can find food to support the family. And it’s exciting to think that new life is coming forth even in winter.
Looks like a large chicken has walked this way. Oh, here it dropped a feather. This belonged to a wild turkey. Wild turkeys may sit up in pine trees for several days during a winter storm. Today, with snow on the ground, they’re probably feeding in shallow streams, or scratching through the snow with their sharp toes, hoping for a grub. On warm February days, you might hear a male gobbling.
I think it’s about time for us to head back for some doughnuts and hot chocolate.
