17 February 2011 – Six o’Clock Ducks

The big news is after two and a half months, the cold snap broke. Our temps soared into the mid 40s!  You could hear the ice creaking on the roof and drips hitting the gutter. Very happy noises!   But wait there’s more! Friday our temps are supposed to climb to 53.  Can’t believe it. That should melt most of the snow. Maybe not all the huge piles in parking lots or the ends of driveways, but the roof should be clear and the ground as well. After that the predictions are for more snow mixed with rain and highs in the 30s, but that is totally bearable. Whee! Warmer air, longer days? Makes me so cheerful!

I keep meaning to tell you about my six o’clock ducks. I would love to get a picture, but I haven’t managed to have my camera when I see them. About three weeks ago right about six pm I was standing out on the deck after feeding the ferals. I heard the faintest whispering sounds. Couldn’t figure out where it was coming from or what was making it. Finally saw a flock of at least 50, probably more, ducks circling overhead. They were calling to each other, but very, very softly. Not even quacks, but more like whispered wack wack noises. Three weeks ago, everything was still frozen solid. No open water on ponds, no creeks nothing. But here, the ducks were back.

Every night since then, if I have been outside, or driving home from work around six, I have seen the ducks. Tonight I noticed that they are starting to break into smaller groups. But they are still whispering. Interesting.

Meanwhile, squirrel courting behavior is in high gear. Great acrobatic chases through the tops of the trees and daring high wire routines on the phone lines are being displayed to impress the females and that includes me. The mating chases can go on for days, with the female in the lead, playing hard to get. She will stop and wait until he gets close then take off again. It is quite entertaining. In retrospect, it dawns on me that squirrels mate twice a year—mating rituals in late Dec to Feb and again in June through July. No wonder there are so many road kill squirrels during these times. Why watch for cars when your eye is on the prize?

I have quite a stack of seed catalogs—the first one came in December and even now new ones are still showing up in the mail. I pour over these pages filled with bright colors and promises, turn down corners, make notes and wonder where on earth I could possible fit everything that catches my eye. But an evening spent curled up on the couch with a hot cup of coffee, a blanket and a new seed catalog is hard to beat.

Even though there is more snow predicted in the upcoming days, and historically we have snow into March, we are on a warming trend. No matter how much snow is in your yard today, the sun is higher and stronger, the days are longer, and winter is mostly behind us. Even the silver maple buds are beginning to swell. Here you can see how large the buds are getting on the silver maple. The black, barren limbs in the foreground are on the Norway Maple—not even a hint of budding yet.

The squirrels are very busy in the silver maples. After a long winter, they are happily eating these buds. Makes you wonder how the trees are able to put any leaves out at all. 

Driving home from work the other night, I saw glowing streaks in my rear view mirror. I had to pull over into a parking lot so I could get a good look. The sun was about to set and the last rays were making the con-trails glow in silvers and golds. It was gorgeous. You can also see how our ever present cold winds were blowing the trails around. It occurs to me how many times we start with a cloudless sky, but by afternoon the sky is filled with high clouds that aren’t really clouds at all, but are a huge collection of these con-trails, overlapping and criss-crossing until the blue is covered. 

And here is yet another photo from my parking lot as I was leaving work. This was another single digit day, bitterly cold with wind. I happened to look across the street at the soccer field and see this unusual sight.  The guy holding the strings is standing up to his knees in snow; must make it very hard to run with the kite, but I’m sure the wind was perfect. I got incredibly chilled just stopping long enough to grab this shot.