Highlights

FEBRUARY 2020 - Groundhog, Bioreserve Walk, Snow Moon Walk

INFO ALERT - SIX MORE WEEKS OF WINTER ...OR WILL SPRING COME EARLY???

The groundhog, aka woodchuck, is about to tell us. 



Photo courtesy NPS


Notice the sun is setting later each day and rising earlier? February is almost here and with February comes weather prognostications from groundhogs. February is the last full month of winter and Groundhog Day falls right on the second day of the month. Although we haven't had much winter weather so far this season, if you enjoy winter activities don't delay. If the groundhog sees his shadow this Sunday spring weather will be here shortly.

We hear that global climate change has our New England groundhogs quite concerned. If the winters continue to warm, will the groundhogs abandon their burrows and stay active all winter? Will they all leave and migrate north to Canada? Will they continue their tradition of predicting the coming of spring from Canada? Will their Canadian predictions still apply to New England? What a potential disaster we have here.

You don't care? You don't believe the weather prognosticating abilities of your neighborhood groundhog? If so, you probably didn't believe last fall's winter weather forecast from another of Mother Nature's weather prognosticating critters the woolly bear. The ones we saw last fall predicted a mild winter. So far this winter the woolly bears have been right on. Here they are again: http://www.greenfutures.org/?content=2j66uVa6AonjLEjF

    

 

A Drumlin Woodchuck
- Robert Frost


One thing has a shelving bank,
Another a rotting plank,
To give it cozier skies
And make up for its lack of size.  

My own strategic retreat
Is where two rocks almost meet,
And still more secure and snug,
A two-door burrow I dug.

With those in mind at my back
I can sit forth exposed to attack
As one who shrewdly pretends
That he and the world are friends.

All we who prefer to live
Have a little whistle we give,
And flash, at the least alarm
We dive down under the farm.

We allow some time for guile
And don’t come out for a while
Either to eat or drink.
We take occasion to think.

And if after the hunt goes past
And the double-barreled blast
(Like war and pestilence
And the loss of common sense),

If I can with confidence say
That still for another day,
Or even another year,
I will be there for you, my dear,

 

It will be because, though small
As measured against the All,
I have been so instinctively thorough
About my crevice and burrow.

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ACTIVITY ALERT -  February's Snow Moon Walk Exploring the Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve


February 8, Saturday, 8 p.m. Meet at Blossom Road and Corduroy Trail. Directions to trailhead below.


We will do some hooting as we walk along. (photo - courtesy USFWS)




And maybe some howling. (photo courtesy USFWS)



Length of walk approximately 2 1/2 miles. We walk by the light of the moon but bring a flashlight should mischievous clouds hide the moon. Wear appropriate shoes/boots for hiking rough woodland paths and trails. Water and snack always a good idea.   


Directions to trailhead: 

We will meet on Blossom Road at Corduroy Trail approximately 400' north of Fall River Water Department's Watuppa Headquarters at 2929 Blossom Road, Fall River, MA. Park along the east side of the road.

Due to of the extremely poor road conditions make sure you approach the meeting location from the Westport, south end, of Blossom Road.

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ACTIVITY ALERT - Snow Moon Walk


No snow, but we had a very bright February Snow Moon illuminating the forest. 


The temperature was below freezing for our moon walk this past Saturday. Lack of wind and easy walking by the light of the moon soon warmed everyone up. The light from the full moon, that seemed to be hanging right above our route, made Brightman Trail and the forest on either side magical. 

 

All listening for a barred owl or coyote to answer our calls. Unfortunately on this full moon walk not one critter wanted to respond. You can read more about the barred owl here: http://www.greenfutures.org/?content=ifGquv7aPn48UAWp and the adaptable coyote here: http://www.greenfutures.org/?content=ndSnqV5CViYpysBI

 
 

(A Thatcher photo) 

Part of our walk took us down Corduroy Trail through a dark and mysterious Atlantic white cedar swamp. Atlantic white cedars love growing in swamps and are a rather rare species found only sporadically along the Atlantic coast from southern Maine to northern Florida and the Gulf coast to Mississippi. For more on this interesting tree go here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamaecyparis_thyoides



 

Walk leader Roger pointed out an old pileated woodpecker hole in an old tree that we passed by. Perhaps there was a pileated woodpecker fast asleep in that hole wondering what all the commotion was about on the trail outside. Here's the first photo taken since the pileated has returned, by Liz, of a pileated woodpecker feeding its chicks in the Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve. Pileateds require big trees and lots of them and have recently returned to the Bioreserve after years of absence. Isn't that great!
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INFO ALERT - NO SNOW THIS WINTER? 


If you're missing snow in our neck of the woods this winter, here are some snow photos from past winters in the Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreseve.


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