Arb Sightings 1/28/10 Posted on January 28th, 2010 by

Following this past weekend’s unseasonable rain showers, high temperatures have once again dropped into the single digits and lows have dipped below zero. However, this cold spell shouldn’t persist too long, and by next week highs should once again be in the mid-20’s. The good part is that while the temperatures are cold, the sun has been shining for several days now and the winds are beginning to calm; thus it actually doesn’t feel too frigid outside. There is a chance of snow in the forecast on a couple days next week, but as of now it doesn’t appear to be of any significant accumulations.

It has now been over a month since the winter solstice, which means our days are indeed getting longer. Unfortunately there is a bit of lag time between the solstice and when temperatures will begin to consistently rise, and so photoperiod (day length) doesn’t necessarily correlate with temperature. The good part, of course, is that we’re one month closer to the spring equinox on March 20.

Here are some highlights from this week in the Arb:

– Rooster Ring-necked Pheasant perched in high bush cranberry behind Interpretive Center 1/27

– Cooper’s Hawk hunting behind Interpretive Center 1/25

– Black-capped Chickadee singing spring song “spring’s-here!” behind Interpretive Center 1/28

– Red-breasted Nuthatch coming to suet feeder behind Interpretive Center 1/28

– Gray Squirrels feeding on fallen seeds under feeders behind Interpretive Center (finding it more difficult to make jump to feeders as snow sublimates) 1/28

Gray Squirrel feeding on fallen sunflower seeds below feeders behind Interpretive Center, 1/28/10.

 

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