Early (meteorological) Winter #phenology

Yesterday, for the first time this Winter, a pileated woodpecker arrived at the feeders. We've been expecting an appearance since photo histories show that late November or early December have been when seasonal sightings have usually begun. Actually, since we don't put out suet feeders during the warmer months, we've created a self-fulfilling prophecy, haven't we?

Winter: pileated woodpecker at suet

Photo by J. Harrington

Today is the anniversary (1941) of "a date which will live in infamy." It is also the anniversary (1972) of the Blue Marble. The combination puts us in mind of the opening phrases of A Tale of Two Cities:

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, ...

Does it strike you as "funny" that those phrases fit our contemporary situation almost(?) perfectly? Pete Seeger's heartbreaking, contemporary, folk song Where Have All the Flowers Gone?, with its too, too apt refrain,

Oh, when will they/we ever learn?
Oh, when will they/we ever learn?

also feels like it fits the snow-covered, flowerless, ground and the memorable anniversaries for today.

Blue Marble (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Image)

Speaking of snow-covered ground, the local whitetail herd has been making its way across and down the hill in the back yard (tracks are obvious) and pawing the dickens out of the snow under the back yard oaks. It looks as if they waited until the huge acorn crop of this Autumn was covered with snow before they decided it was tasty. Perhaps the nuts loosened from the caps after lying on the ground for awhile. That, maybe, could be enough of a difference to make the wait worthwhile. We can't think of any other reason the deer would have delayed acorn-eating, but then we don't know what else has been available to knosh on. Mushrooms?

Local ponds and pools have been frozen long and hard enough that the waterfowl have moved South except for a few swans still hanging around the Lino Lakes wetlands. The really cold spell forecast for next week will reseal the few open stretches of the Sunrise in the Carlos Avery pools. Were it not for family obligations and Christmas preparations, we'd think it time to settle down for a long Winter's nap.

Often I Imagine the Earth

By Dan Gerber

Often I imagine the earth 

through the eyes of the atoms we’re made of—

atoms, peculiar

atoms everywhere—

no me, no you, no opinions,

no beginning, no middle, no end,

soaring together like those 

ancient Chinese birds

hatched miraculously with only one wing,

helping each other fly home.

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