A light snow covers the Arboretum grounds. Prairie grasses and forbs rise above the snow, providing winter interest with their variety of shapes and weather-muted colors. Red berries, grass seeds and seedheads from flowers whose petals have loing fallen away provide food for birds and small mammals. And the stalks themselves provide shelter for over-wintering insect larva.
The sun is bright in the sky, with temperatures in the low 30s, making for a delightful day. Yesterday was winter solstice, or the shortest day of the year, in the northern hemisphere.
Tiny mammal tracks run between clumps of shrubs before disappearing under the snow. The tiniest of these show a tail drag between the pawprints, indicating the presence of mice or voles. Larger tracks crisscross the smaller. These could be from rabbits or squirrels. Chipmunks might even be about, given today’s warmer weather.
Tiny tracks in the snow reveal a busy intersection of mammalian travel.
Ironwood leaves still hang tenaciously to their branches. Oak trees also cling stubbornly to some of their leaves. A lone robin chirps from an oak nearby. It is answered with the cheeky trill of a red-bellied woodpecker. Without another peep, the robin fled.
A dozen or so wild turkeys peck at the snow-covered field under crabapple trees. As the evening approaches, they will roost and perch in the trees, giving reason to the term, “a rafter of turkeys.” But these birds can be called by many other names. This article from BirdFact provides those names and the logic behind them.
(Left) Ironwood leaves cling to branches. (Right) Wild turkeys forage under crabapple trees.
The needle-leaves of tamaracks fell a month or two ago. Now the branches are studded with small cones. I love how soft their needles feel in summer, and the waxy rose of their new young cones.
Having lost their needle-like leaves, tamaracks are now studded with small cones.
But the afternoon darkens and grows colder. As I take my leave, the grounds become alight in colored lights, in preparation for this evening’s Winter Lights. I’ll have to return soon!
Mary Beth Pottratz is a Minnesota Master Naturalist Volunteer. More information about the program is available on their website.