A Winter Walk

Most folks living in the Adirondacks have their own favorite hike that they do in every season….mine happens to be Black Pond in Paul Smiths.

This latest snowstorm filled up  the woods nicely with over 10 inches. It makes for a perfect snowshoe day. Here are some views I had on that day:

Throughout the winter white-tailed deer will often “yard up”  in the woods surrounding Black Pond. Here they eat, and eat, and eat!

These low-growing hobble bush-Viburnum alnifolium branches have been eaten quite regularly by deer and so it results in this multi-branching effect which stunts the growth of the shrub branches.

Ferns often produce spores on their large lacy leaves but this wetland fern called Sensitive Fern-Onoclea sensibilis produces spores on a stalk that remains visible through winter but eventually dies back in spring.

American beech leaves

Ice crystals form along the shoreline of a small stream…

…and on many branches nearby…

Ermine tracks-Mustela erminea, can be found all around the edge of the pond…

…and also entrance holes can be seen as the ermine “dive” into the snow on the scent of some food.

So get out on those snowshoes and see what’s out there!

Photo Credit: all photos Brian McAllister

That time of year again

In an earlier posting I had mentioned how birders anxiously await the coming of winter to see what “exotic” northern birds might come along with the cold and the snow. Well over the past few days we have been hearing about good sightings of Bohemian Waxwing, Common Redpoll, and the occasional Evening Grosbeak throughout northern NY.

And the timing could not be better, as this week begins the much-anticipated 111th Christmas Bird Count. Across New York State and countries all over the Western Hemisphere, birding enthusiast’s will cover many miles by car, on foot, on skis, in boats, all in search of avian critters to count.

New Yorkers will begin there counts this weekend and even through the holidays they will keep an eye on bird feeders, nearby parks, and wood lots and record their findings. Adirondackers can find about half-a-dozen CBC’s in their neck of the woods

Click here for more information on the NYS Christmas Bird Count.

And here’s an additional article from the New York Times

Also…at this time of year, how can we not think about the amazing  winter survival strategies that are going on all around us in the animal world.

Winter World is a book written by Naturalist/Professor(UVM) Bernd Heinrich which delves into the frigid world of winter and survival techniques that animals use to make it through the many sub-zero nights. A must read!

Around my neighborhood gray squirrels raid birdfeeders and local conifer stands by day but what do they do as late afternoon temperatures drop and a clear night sky plunges the thermometer to zero or below?  Heinrich takes great effort to explain the ways animals make it through another winter night.

Finally…snowflakes have been on my mind lately. We all know the wonderful 6-sided shapes they come in as they fall on our face, sleeves, or tongue. But do they all look that way throughout the winter? The answer is no.

Snowflakes can change shape even as they fall from hundreds of feet in the air and finally land on the ground. Flakes of early winter(like now) will usually hold their hexagonal shape with multiple edges. They may even collect other flakes as they fall and give us the big downy flakes right down to the ground.

But as we progress through winter the moisture and temperature levels in the air decrease and as the flakes fall they often collide with one another resulting in broken pieces of the crystal breaking and falling to the ground. We often see these smaller column-shaped or “spicules” landing on our gloves later in the really cold months of January or February.

Go buy some cheap black knit gloves and head outside while it’s snowing to enjoy the shapes of snowflakes all winter long.

Here’s a great thank you to all the Bird Count participants and may your counts be high, your hands be warm, and your bino’s not freeze-up!

Photo Credit: Brian McAllister