Old dog, new tricks

 As many have said, sometimes one must avoid the news for mental health reasons. My circle of influence is small. I know most of you are up on pressing problems in the world, local and national and international. What helps, as my readers have said, is to focus on a hobby. 

My old camera is pretty worn out. The new one came with a mid-zoom lens, and uses the old lens. I've the camera set up on the bird feeder with the big zoom lens. As long as it sits nicely we are good.

Barb had wise words regarding my new camera features: 

"Just keep on doing one new one each day, and repeat the ones you like."

This is a learning curve! It has Wifi, which interests me. I haven't figured it out! It was a bit of frustration yesterday. OK, a lot. It involves QR codes to do the set-up, and that didn't work well. By the time I load that up on the phone, then send it to the lap top. I just can't work on the iPhone!

All of us need something fun in our lives. Things are so dreary outdoors, with days of rain, snow, mud. I like snowshoeing, tracking the critters in the snow. Speaking of which...

This is the view out the back deck. My little daffodil garden sleeps. The now is melting. Can you see the meadow vole tunnels, slowly melting in the snow?! 

This is a meadow vole one of the cats brought home. I captured it in my ball cap and hustled it outdoors. They are ubiquitous!

Back to the camera. This was my first try at night. You'll have to imagine that the waning moon was shining brightly. By the time I grabbed the camera, trying to get a photo... the moon itself was gone. 😣

These are the yard lights. This isn't bad! 

The funny thing was it ended up snowing Wednesday. All this is now recovered with snow. Be careful what you wish for!

It is so peaceful, and it protects flora and fauna from the bitter cold. This is Dec. 9th. The same thing happened Wednesday! We are white again. The cats are pretty frustrated! 

Incidents, rain, subnivean zone

The March OPP report tells of a wolf hit by a vehicle. I've been doing a graph (🚓LOCAL COLLISIONS). It amuses me, and keep up my Excel skills, such as they are. I'm still having some trouble with it! 



I've been preparing this piece and with the recent rains, I figured it might be time to post it, even though our snow is still around. First, the precipitation...

Normally, remember 'normal,' we'd have a nice snow cover to protect the flora and fauna. In spring, it melts and the trails show themselves. (The Latin is for you, JB!)

The subnivean zone is the area between the surface of the ground and the bottom of the snowpack. The word subnivean comes from the Latin “sub” (under) and “nives” (snow). Mice, voles, and shrews retreat here for protection from cold temperatures, bitter winds, and hungry predators. Food is right at hand: grass, leaves, bark, seeds, and insects are free and unfrozen.  Under the snow, these tiny mammals create long tunnel systems complete with air shafts to the surface above. [Read more...]

Once the temperature rises, you can see the tunnels in the snow.



How do wildlife cope outside in the lingering cold during the winter months? 

This Subnivean zone protect critters from the cold and predators. Some predators need the snow cover: voles, deer mice, weasels, ermines.

deer mice in the bird seed 

This is a great example. Here is the sidewalk, with the bird feeder directly above the hole on the lower left!

The red squirrel loves to dig holes, and pop out when and where it is safe.

Daisy sat, watched and listened for a long time, until she plucked this vole out of the snow.

Then, there are the mouse tunnels, previously under the snow, exposed to the elements.