Look Up!

Although most broad-leaf or deciduous trees lose their leaves in the fall, as you are looking up, you may notice that some trees like oaks and beeches retain their dead leaves until the spring.  This is called marcescence.  It is still unclear as why this happens.  Scientists hypothesis or propose several explanations for this phenomenon.  It may deter deer and other animals from eating the tender leaf buds hidden beneath the dead leaves or it may help catch snow and provide the tree with more moisture.  Whatever the reason, these trees do stand among their bare leafed neighbors.

Moving on to the deciduous trees that did lose their leaves in the fall.  Now that their leaves are gone, many things that were hidden are now visible.  Look up, what do you see?

Many squirrels spend much of the winter in nests called dreys made out of twigs, dry leaves, and grass.  Although squirrels sleep in their dreys all year, many of them are hidden behind green foliage during the spring and summer.

Every year baldfaced hornets create large ball-shaped paper nests in trees and bushes.  Although Winnie the Pooh extracts honey from a similar looking nest, in reality he would not have found any honey, just an angry nest of hornets.  At this time of year, the nest will be empty.  Before the first hard frost, new queens leave the nest, mate and find a nice spot to overwinter in a old stump or rotting log.  In the spring they will emerge and start a new nest leaving the old nest to hang in the tree like a forgotten Christmas ornament.

Although may birds fly south for the winter, there are still plenty that stick around to enjoy the snow.  Look up in the sky do you see any birds? A flock of Canada geese?  A murder of crows?

Get outside! What other things do you see when you look up?