March appears to have come in like a lamb. There have been periodic flurries of light fluffy snow over the first two days, and now today is clear, sunny and a perfect -10C (14F), with the same forecast for the next couple of days.
Early last week, we had a nasty bit of weather with sleet and rain, but the temperature dropped back to crisp and cold, and it snowed more since. Snowshoeing was out of the question for a couple of days, the crust being not quite hard enough to support us walking with boot cleats, but deadly slippery to try to maneuver on snowshoes. The few nasty days had us looking for inside entertainment, so I got out a puzzle for us to work away at. We jointly finished it, each of us spending a few moments here and there, putting in the pieces. The colourful picture was nicer to look at than the nasty weather that was falling outside the window!
Now there is a lovely padding of about 6 inches of fresh snow, covering the hard layer. That crust is very hard for deer to travel through, and we have only seen tracks and trail camera pictures of a lone doe and her fawn, who were heading toward the big deer yard to the south of us, in the last picture we have of them. The wild canines, on the other hand, have easy going, padding easily through that layer of soft snow on top of the crust.
We have seen their tracks regularly, and this short video shows them coming down our trail and turning off on a regular deer migration trail, heading in the direction of the deer yard in the cedar swamp to the south. At the very beginning of the video, one goes south, then another comes trotting along.
We think these are a cross between wolves and coyotes, which occur in this area. The wolves disdain our trails, crossing them, but not following them, and their footprints are much larger.
Yesterday, on a short hike, I stopped to hold out a handful of seeds to the chickadees that follow us around, when a firm, steady tapping sound caught our attention. A pileated woodpecker was systematically hollowing out a cavity in a dead beech tree, just off the trail.
Our presence did not phase the bird. Could it be preparations for nesting? The picture is a little hazy as I zoomed right in with my little Canon ELPH that I always carry in my pocket. We'll be keeping an eye on this cavity, and on another we spotted a few days ago.
March came in like a lamb here too. We're having beautiful weather, but I'm being extremely cautious.
ReplyDeleteWe have a pair of pileated woodpeckers in the area and we love it when they visit our trees, but I've never seen one do that! Interesting. What fun to possibly have a nest nearby.
Since the first of the month, we've had rain, and yesterday it snowed all day, so we now have ice with snow on top. The cleats are on the boots! The big woodpeckers decimate a suet cake in short order!
DeleteOur pileated woodpeckers have finally shown themselves this winter. When coming back from our hike out for the mail this past week, we saw one fly overhead and land on a tree just off our driveway. Now we see he/she has started building an apartment complex as there are 6-8 holes, one right under the other, down the face of the tree trunk. Such industriousness! We're getting a bit more snow this Saturday morning, but it's supposed to turn to ice, sleet, rain this afternoon. Welcome March!
ReplyDeleteThere must be lots of tasty bugs in that tree! Sometimes they peck so loudly when they are chiseling at a tree with that big beak, there is no mistaking who is making the noise, and other times they peck so softly, you are surprised to spot the big bird where the noise is coming from.
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