Hi Everybody!
Today was my first day back at Salmon Hole since the new year, and it felt great to be back!
The path down there was a straight sheet of ice, so be careful if you decide to head down there at any point. The bank of the river looked so cool though. The river had recently flooded during the rain and the thaw we had a couple weeks ago, but it has now re-frozen. This thaw and re-freeze affect created huge three foot deep chunks of ice all along the path of Salmon Hole.
However, these icy obstacles were no match for our fierce winter creatures. The path was absolutely covered in tracks.
Bunnies and squirrels were galloping all over the place.
In my official phenology spot, I also noticed rabbit and squirrel tracks, but I noticed some other tracks as well. I was hoping that they would be beaver tracks (because I had seen other signs of beavers in the area before), but I don’t think they were. They did seem to come up the hill from the bank of the river, but they weren’t really the proper shape.
It’s possible that it is a lynx or a bobcat (because it has four toes and no claw marks), but that doesn’t seem quite right either.
If you know what kind of animal it is, please let me know!
Animal tracks were not the only signs of life that could be seen at my phenology spot. Even though to us it seems like winter might never end, the trees are already preparing for spring. New buds are popping up on the deciduous trees in my area. My phenology spot seems to contain only Box Elder Maples, here are some pictures:
<— I apologize for the terrible quality of these pictures, both my hands and my camera were very cold and having trouble focusing.
These winter twigs match my hypothesis from the fall that the trees in my area are Box Elders. The buds are crescent-shaped, white, downy and come in clumps of three. The twigs also have a slight purple hue to them, which is another sign of a Box Elder tree.
<—–Here is my drawing of the specific parts of the twig.
Lastly, I'll leave you with this lovely photo of the river that has frozen over:
Have a lovely day and keep warm!! 🙂