Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy

So with all this snow, I got to thinking about signs of the seasons (I also got thinking about the snow storm of ’78 when I was a kid up in MA and the fun we had making tunnels! but that would be another blog topic all together).

In addition to snow, of course, there are other elements in nature that are winter through and through and when we think of them we may be brought back to some memory from younger days or think of some activity in anticipation.

So, I decided to make a list of things that make me think of winter and thought I’d share some of them here with you:

- Dark-eyed Juncos with those charcoal eyes and pink beaks
- White-throated sparrows calling “oh sweet Peabody, Peabody, Peabody”
- White-crowned sparrows so regal
- Wildlife tracks that I can clearly follow through a woods in snow
- Icicles forming on eaves
- Structures of trees without leaves
- Leaf buds on tree branches closed up tightly
- Crisp clear night skies with piercing stars
- Birds of prey hunting over farm fields and meadows and more easily seen in trees
- Leaves as insulation
- Roosting, flocking, sleeping in

What are some of the things that jump out for you in winter?

This just in from the Virginia Native Plant Society’s Piedmont Chapter:

Join the Piedmont Chapter of the Virginia Native Plant Society on Sunday, February 28 at 2 p.m. at the State Arboretum, with a focus on evergreens. Please meet at the Kiosk in the parking lot. Carrie Blair will lead the walk. After a 1 ½ hour walk we will serve hot cocoa in the library. To RSVP and for more details, please contact Robin Williams at 540-547-9752 or robinspony@verizon.net within a few days of the event if you plan to come. This event is FREE.