Look Down!

The winter can sometimes seem void of animal life. Besides the occasional bird, most animals seem to stay out of sight at this time of year. But if you take time to look down you may discover that more animals are out and about that you thought.

A nice new coating of snow is a great time to go outside and look for animal tracks. Just this past week, I found lots crow tracks around my compost pile. And even though it has been many months since I have seen any deer trek across my yard, the plethora of tracks in the snow let me know that they are still using my yard as a thoroughfare. The deer left more than just tracks, they also left some fresh scat or poop, another great way to see what animals are out and about this winter.

And let’s not forget about insects. Besides the ones that have sought shelter in your house for the winter, it is rare to see insects in the winter. But if you are lucky, you may come across one or two. The winter stonefly is one of these rare winter sightings. It spends much of the year living in streams as an aquatic nymph or immature insect. In winter, they emerge from their watery homes as adults an crawl onto the snow or ice. They are usually smaller than an inch in length, but their dark brown or black color makes them visible on the snow. Adult stoneflies only survive for a few weeks walking across the snow and ice searching for a mate.

What signs of animal life can you find by looking down?

While out on a hike, if you look down there are lots of plants that thrive in the winter. You might come across a fern like the rock polypody (Polypodium virginianum). These evergreen plants have feather-like leaves and can be found growing on rocks. Or maybe you’ll come across a clubmoss like the flat-branched ground-pine (Lycopodium obscurum). It looks like miniature Christmas trees and although it is sometimes referred to as the rare clubmoss, it is fairly common here in the northeast.

Many plants with non-woody stems (herbaceous plants) die back in the fall and early winter, but some plants know as winter annuals actually sprout in the fall and early winter. Many of these plants are considered weeds and are common in home gardens. They include henbit (Lamium amplexicaule), common chickweed (Stellaria media), and annual bluegrass (Poa annua). After sprouting in the fall/winter, they continue to grow all winter and are some of the first plants to flower in the spring. After they produce their seeds, they die off disappearing for the hot summer months only to reappear in the fall, sprouting from the seeds produced in the spring. At this time of year their bright green leaves present a sharp contrast to many shades of brown that surround them.

You may not think of flowers when you think of winter, but flowers there are. Just last week, I was outside looking down and was pleasantly surprised to see that my Johnny Jump Ups (Viola tricolor) were still flowering. Their dark green leaves and bright colorful blossoms caught my eye and made me smile. Another winter flower to look for is the hellebore, also know as the Christmas Rose or Lenten Rose (Helleborus sp.). The flowers of these evergreen plants vary in color including white, pink and maroon and flower anytime between December and April. Their stunning blooms can brighten up even a cold, cloudy winter day.

And even though it is January, signs of spring can be seen if you look for them. Daffodil bulbs are starting to sprout, a reminder on theses coldest days of winter, that there are warmer days ahead.

So what are you waiting for? Bundle up, get outside and look down! You may be surprised at what you see!

Crow footprints in snow — *Crow footprints*

Deer footprints in snow — *Deer footprints*

Scattered pile of pelleted deer poop — *White-tailed deer scat*

An oblong black insect on snow. The insect has long antennae, six legs, wings folded across the back and two long black thread like protrusions off the back end. — *Adult winter stonefly*

Small plant with feather-like leaves (fern) growing out of a mossy rock — *Rock polypody fern*

Tree Clubmoss - small Christmas tree like plants growing near a rock — *Rare tree clubmoss*

Henbit - a small plant with broadly egg shaped with bluntly toothed margins — *Henbit*

Johny Jump Up - small purple, yellow and white purple — *Johnny jump up*

White hellebore blooms — *‘Christmas Rose’ hellebore*

White and pink varigated flowers of a hellebore — *Variegated hellebore*

Next week: We will continue to explore the natural world by looking all around us to see what nature has to show if we just take a moment to stop and look.