What in the Woods Is That?

Play our biweekly guessing game!

Whatever draws us into the forest—be it birdwatching or logging, hiking or hunting—all of us are unified by the sense of wonder we feel in the outdoors. The forests, fields, and streams of our region are full of mystery, and if you stop and look closely, you’ll see all sorts of oddities.

Below find a picture of one such woodlands curio. Guess what it is and you’ll be eligible to win a Northern Woodlands woodpecker magnet designed by artist Liz Wahid. A prize winner will be drawn at random from all the correct entries. The correct answer, and the winner’s name, will appear when the next column is posted and in our newsletter (sign up here!).

Hardly Coincidental

Why are there stripes on this forest floor following a light dusting of snow?

Answer

This former farm field was plowed but apparently never harrowed before it was abandoned in the first half of the 1900s. Forest reclaimed the land but the legacy of the plowing remains. The snow is present in some of the plow troughs but not on the ground between, maybe because solar radiation isn’t high enough in the troughs to melt all the snow, or maybe because water collected and formed ice in the bottom of some of the troughs, allowing the snow to stick around even after the sun melted it elsewhere.

This week’s contest winner was Charlie Schwarz of S. Williamsport, PA