A Look at the Season's Main Events
By Virginia Barlow
December
Grouse form coveys and roost in the lower branches of conifers, somewhat protected from wind and snow / Make a note of the location of the feather-shaped fruit stalks of ostrich fern and return in May to gather the edible fiddleheads / Mourning doves will gobble up almost every kind of seed from birdfeeders, but on their own, they mostly eat tiny grass seed / Speckled alder is the only common eastern shrub that has both male and female catkins all winter
Dec. 13: peak of the reliable and prolific. Geminid meteor shower. Some interference from a waning crescent moon that will rise at about 1 A.M. / Until deep snow covers them, wild blueberries will be browsed by deer / Common polypody fronds are evergreen. The “many foot” of its name is because the fronds grow here, there, and everywhere from branching, underground rhizomes / On a still winter night, it is said to be quiet enough “to hear a deer mouse snore”
Dec. 21: winter solstice, the longest night of the year / Northern flickers are wintering in the southeastern states and may be working on the fire ant problem / The berries of wild roses that persist into winter are high on the list of winter foods for mammals and birds / When the ground is covered with hemlock branch tips, a porcupine has probably been at work / In addition to being camouflage, a weasel’s white coat radiates less heat than a dark coat would
Dec. 22: peak of the Ursid meteor shower / The sterile fronds of Christmas ferns used to be harvested for Christmas greens. The tips of fertile fronds are withered and brown and not so pretty / Redpolls, pine grosbeaks, and crossbills move south to northern New England in years when the spruce and fir in Canada have low seed production / After the first deep snow, deer will head for deeryards, usually south- or west-facing slopes with dense softwood cover
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These listing are from observations and reports in our home territory at about 1,000 feet in elevation in central Vermont and are approximate. Events may occur earlier or later, depending on you latitude, elevation - and the weather.
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© 2006 by the author; this article may not be copied or reproduced without the author's consent.
