It’s February

One of the two annual visitors to our Wetlands.

You don’t need a calendar to know that it’s February, just take a hike around the Wetlands here at the Museum. If you see two Canada Geese, it’s February. These two geese drop in every February, very often its within a few days of the first of the month.

The geese are absent during summer through winter, spending only late winter and spring with us. I guesss their arrival could be termed as a harbinger of spring.

It may be pushing it a bit to say it’s springtime, but I’ve been seeing chickadees inspecting nest holes and brown-headed nuthatches excavating holes. With these geese arriving in town, what else am I to think. A change is clearly upon us.

The other member of the duo.

Probably not in the least related to the arrival of the geese, chickadee or nuthatch activity, but a result of the sunshine early today (2/6), was a turtle out on a boulder, a yellow-bellied slider. The temperatures were hovering around the forty mark at the time making me wonder what the attraction was for this turtle. I can only guess that the sun must have penetrated the water sufficiently enough to microclimatically warm the muddy patch of bottom this turtle chose to rest in for the winter. Forty degrees is not a comfortable air temperature for a turtle.

A cold weather slider (2/6/14).

Whatever it is that’s happening out there, it can not be reversed. Like it or not, winter is sailing by us. It won’t be long before flowers are blooming, bees are buzzing and we’ll be complaining (some of us) about how hot it is.

Good luck!

5 responses to It’s February

  1. Judy Overby says:

    An observation in the last week is the loud clear whistle of the Tufted Titmouse. It too seems a harbinger of spring although it seems a little early to be hearing the recognizable whistle. I heard it clearly last Sat. and again today. Perhaps it is also glad to see the sunshine.

    • Greg Dodge says:

      Judy,
      I’ve been hearing titmice singing as well, along with a few cardinals. I think you’re right, a warm sunny day after a bit of nasty weather often gets the birds to singing. Me too!
      Thanks,

    • Greg Dodge says:

      Ro,
      Interestingly, I’m not sure that’s ‘ol Lucy out there after all. Lucy has an obvious gray eye ring, see here:
      /2012/02/29/give-me-some-kind-of-sign/ (scroll down for a close up of Lucy and Goosey).
      I didn’t notice an eye ring on either of these geese. My first thought at seeing the geese was that yes, it is Lucy. But when I looked at the photos after downloading them to the computer I couldn’t make out the eye ring. Hmmm, I’ll have to look a little deeper into this mystery.
      Thanks,

      • Greg Dodge says:

        Well, I got a real close look at the geese today and sure enough, it’s our Lucy out there! No doubt about it!!

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