Frozen forest bathing

porcupine last year

We eagerly anticipate Spring hereabouts, but it is nowhere near arriving. Climate Change is a bad thing, if that is what it is. We should be having 10 C. in the day, but we seldom make it to 1 C.
The sap producers are chewing their fingernails. Not so good.

I've been deer shed hunting, as we've lost about half of our snow cover, and I thought it might be a good time to spot them poking out of the snow, before the critters steal them away. I saw nothing.

I was following some deer tracks, obviously made on a warmer day. They sunk through the soft snow. I was walking in -15 C. weather, and walking along the top layer, for the most part. I did not need snowshoes, despite the snow cover.

It's funny how it works, you head out for one thing and find another.

porcupine in summer

I was not disappointed, since it's wonderful to be outdoors and walking, but I spotted a porcupine's site. They tell me that in winter they don't hibernate so much as estivate (sort of doze). In addition, they wake up, from time-to-time, to eat within 100m of their burrows. I found such a site. Lots of trees with bark nicely peeled off. It's a big forest, and it won't harm the forest integrity. It might even do some pruning, allowing smaller trees to get more sun.

I found some neat cave-like shelters under the sedimentary limestone in the area. We have very shallow soil, and shallow lakes, as well.

The porcupines are as big as our raccoons, eating like mad all summer to carry them through the winter. They are often roadkill, however, these docile, slow-moving creatures are often on the road.

The only critter I saw was a pileated woodpecker flying on the opposite side of the wetland.

Daisy and I took a walk on the wetland in the morning, and I could see where the ice is melting. Can you see her in the 2nd photo? We were checking the trailcam, which had NOTHING on it!
She is in the upper right, checking things out. She likes to lead me across the wetland. Daisy was out this morning for an hour in the -15C. morning temperatures. She's a trooper!

Basically, I did a circle around the wetland, cutting across it where it narrowed. The walking was fine. The penultimate photo shows the roof of our house, the final one a close up.