Arb Sightings 12/3/10 Posted on December 3rd, 2010 by

Winter has decided to begin in earnest, one month earlier than usual. Over the past couple weeks southern Minnesota has seen more snow, several dangerous ice storms (one of which caused about 400 vehicle accidents in the Twin Cities in one night), and frigid temperatures struggling to reach the 20’s. Even today here in St. Peter a weekend snowstorm has begun that is expected to dump around eight inches of snow on south-central Minnesota. The clouds however should disappear by Sunday, giving way to sunny but cold days (with lows in the single digits) next week.

We’ve had a couple days above 32 degrees Fahrenheit since our mid-November snowstorm, but we needed more to melt all that snow. Thus some of the snow on the ground right now is from November, and if current temperatures become a theme this winter then this November snow could still be on the ground in March! Personally I think winter is one month too long already (cough, February), which means I’ll probably need to take a trip to someplace warm and exotic in January. We’ll see.

Here are some other highlights from this week in the Arb:

– Five Gray Squirrels foraging for seeds under bird feeders behind Interpretive Center 12/2

One of five Gray Squirrels raiding bird feeders behind Interpretive Center, 12/2/10.

– Eastern Cottontail tracks in snow on Interpretive Center’s front doorstep 12/2

– Small flock of Cedar Waxwings feeding on crabapples southeast of Interpretive Center 12/1

– Black-capped Chickadees, Dark-eyed Juncos, and House Finches increasing in number and making more frequent visits to feeders behind Interpretive Center 11/29

 

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