January 7, 2017 - A Cold Week

I did my best impersonation of a bear this week.  While whining about having a cold, I basically slept and lazed around the house all week, looking out the windows at brilliant sunshine, pristine white snow, and crystal-clear blue skies amid the freezing temperatures.

Another beautiful January day - Photo by Linda Powell

And of course, one day of snow drifting down - at least until the winds picked up and it turned into a good-old New England Nor-easter.

The Bomb Cyclone in its early, gentle phase

We ended up with almost a foot of snow in the Lakes Region.  It wasn't a bad week to be stuck inside as it was a little cold for most outdoor activities anyway;  we've been 12 days in a row where the low temperature has fallen below zero.

January 3rd

Compare that to last winter when the coldest temperature recorded all year was -2.9.

Even my friend who usually hikes the high peaks in the Whites wisely settled for a little warmer trip up Mount Monadnock, and even there people were dressed like they were making an assault on Mount Everest.

Mt. Monadnock doing its Everest impersonation  -  Photo by Doug Jansen

So there wasn't much outside-time for me this week, but still some observing through the windows, and although I didn't see the whites of its eyes, we did have our first visit from the bobcat as seen by tracks in the snow, first leaping into the yard under the bird feeders and then wandering around checking out each of the feeding sites.  Based on the traffic pattern I don't think it caught anything, but I'm sure it knows there are good prospects here, and it will be back.  I'm hoping I'll get a sighting or two this winter.

All the cold and snow brought out the birds in force, taking advantage of easy food supplies to build their energy levels up enough to keep warm.  The feeders have been brimming with a full complement of winter visitors.

Thursday was a busy day at the feeders

A reader noted recently that in addition to the white pines, the hemlock trees also had a bumper crop of cones this year (thanks HC).

Cones thick on the hemlocks in November

And still on the trees in December

I had noticed that after a snow storm it only takes a day before the fresh snow is peppered with the scales of tiny cones under the hemlock stands.

Shards of hemlock cones paint the snow black

I don't know if it's birds or squirrels eating the seeds in the cones;  I wouldn't be surprised if it's both.

He also related from decades of observations on hemlocks on his property, that 30 years years ago the hemlock trees had large crops of cones every year and that isn't the case now, and he questioned why.  Poking around a little bit I found only that hemlocks are very sensitive to pollution in general, and road-side salt in particular, the later of which may be having an impact.  Air pollution in our area hasn't degraded much in the past few decades, and the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (an invasive species killing Hemlocks in much of North America) hasn't impacted New Hampshire in a significant way (yet).  It can't survive temperatures below -22 to -25 Fahrenheit, so these cold snaps do have their benefits.  With the increased application of road salt over the past ten or twenty years, that's the best possible reason I have to offer.

Another cold day with hardy people enjoying weather that sends Wooly Adelgids packing for southern climes

With a forecast for warmer weather, and me being on the mend, I hope to be back out the prowl myself next week, acting more like a bobcat than a bear.