One thing about being out on the Meadow in the winter is that it is so much easier to find the birds' nests in the shrubbery. Early on, we found a small and delicate nest at eye level. Later we found a couple of bigger nests. Now I can't tell what bird build which nest, but I think that it would be neat to determine what birds inhabit the meadows just by looking at the structure of the nest.
From the time we left Nubanusit Road and followed a stream that flows out of Nubanusit Lake and into the Great Meadow, we could see old mink tracks. Initially we followed the tracks down next to the stream and into the Meadows, but later, we had pull ourselves through a thick stand of alder. Those minks can move with so much ease through the snow, but I am definitely not as sleek as a mink.
We lost the mink tracks and left the wetlands area of the Meadows to head into the woods around which the stream flows. The travelling was much easier in the woods--the snow is not as deep. After a while, we came upon some fresh moose scrapings, or browse. No tracks in the new snow, so not that fresh, but clearly some time in the past month or so. We were able to follow the trail of the moose from scrape to scrape for perhaps a hundred yards, but came to a point where we could find no more. Perhaps the trees were just not as delectable in this part of the forest. The woods are not very wide in this area, so we occasionally slipped back onto the Meadow to see what we could find. But it was tiring for Al to break trail so we didn't stay long.
Back in the woods again, we decided to stop for our customary snack. A snowy day calls for a little fire to warm up, but we had to shake the snow off of the boughs overhead or we could imagine the snow putting out the fire in short order. It's fun to build a fire on the snow. As it burns, it melts a lovely bowl in the snow. And when we decided to get on the move again, we filled the bowl with snow to put the fire out. By the way, it was a special snack on this particular day: homemade calzones from my birthday dinner the night before. Tasted even better the second day.
Okay, folks, here's where the new forestland riddle comes in. Al had been out in this area two weeks ago with his brother and found some porcupine sign, which consists of trees, particularly beech and yellow birch, stripped of bark. We found the same porcupine sign again and it prompted a riddle. Here it is: What do you call a smooth-barked tree that has been stripped by a porcupine? Answer: A Nude Beech. So, if people ask me where we went this week, I can truthfully say that we snowshoed to the nude beech.
We made our way back to a point where we found our earlier tracks and rather than break trail, we followed our tracks. Made the going a lot easier. We finished where we started and topped our hike off by making snow angels in David Birchenough's front yard. We didn't see anything spectacular on our hike this day, but when we returned to Al and Owen's house, Owen told us that one of his ewes had given birth to twins, a white male and a black female. We were able to watch as the ewe cleaned the black lamb, born just moments before we returned and as the white lamb nursed. Since that day, I learned that another ewe had given birth to twins. I look forward to seeing the newest additions in a day or so, before our next adventure.
We lost the mink tracks and left the wetlands area of the Meadows to head into the woods around which the stream flows. The travelling was much easier in the woods--the snow is not as deep. After a while, we came upon some fresh moose scrapings, or browse. No tracks in the new snow, so not that fresh, but clearly some time in the past month or so. We were able to follow the trail of the moose from scrape to scrape for perhaps a hundred yards, but came to a point where we could find no more. Perhaps the trees were just not as delectable in this part of the forest. The woods are not very wide in this area, so we occasionally slipped back onto the Meadow to see what we could find. But it was tiring for Al to break trail so we didn't stay long.
Back in the woods again, we decided to stop for our customary snack. A snowy day calls for a little fire to warm up, but we had to shake the snow off of the boughs overhead or we could imagine the snow putting out the fire in short order. It's fun to build a fire on the snow. As it burns, it melts a lovely bowl in the snow. And when we decided to get on the move again, we filled the bowl with snow to put the fire out. By the way, it was a special snack on this particular day: homemade calzones from my birthday dinner the night before. Tasted even better the second day.
Okay, folks, here's where the new forestland riddle comes in. Al had been out in this area two weeks ago with his brother and found some porcupine sign, which consists of trees, particularly beech and yellow birch, stripped of bark. We found the same porcupine sign again and it prompted a riddle. Here it is: What do you call a smooth-barked tree that has been stripped by a porcupine? Answer: A Nude Beech. So, if people ask me where we went this week, I can truthfully say that we snowshoed to the nude beech.
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| Looks like a frog, or maybe a crocodile. |
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