With the latest round of snow that we had we were able to conduct our two snow experiments from the Winter Wednesday – Snow activitiesfrom chapter two of Discover Nature in Winter.
The first experiment was to gather snow and then let it melt to see how much water was actually present in the snow.
Here are two cups of packed snow.
Just under a cup of melted water resulted from the two cups of packed snow.
The next activity was to put out a clean jar in a snowstorm to gather snow. You then bring the snow in and let it melt. You pour the resulting water through a coffee filter and funnel to collect any particles that are within the snow.
We looked at our coffee filter and we could see a few black particles with the naked eye. We then put some of the water on a slide and looked at it under the microscope. I tried to get a photo of what we saw but you will have to use your imagination.
The arrow is pointing at a green splotch and then there was another green thread-like object at the bottom of the lighted area. This was a brand new slide with a brand new slide cover…..we were surprised and amazed.
I left the melted snow and microscope out all morning and just about everyone in the family tried their hand at viewing the snow up close.
Here are some dog and cat tracks in the snow on our back deck this morning. I love the way they look like they were dancing together. 🙂
I am loving our winter nature study this year. With the Winter Wednesday activities and the Discover Nature in Winter book, we have so many fresh ideas to learn from.
We had another chance to take a walk up in the high country yesterday. The boys were snowboarding but we preferred to take a slower approach to our day. We took two hours to tramp around in the woods and see what we could find.
Here was something we found interesting. It looks as if an animal scratched the bark off this Jeffrey pine to get at something underneath…insects? If you look closely you can see the chunk of bark sticking out from under the snow.
Here is a close-up.
Lots of prints in the snow…..dogs and otherwise. We aren’t sure about these. They seem too close together to be a dog and there are no marks for the claws like dogs have.
We think these are squirrel tracks.
Some squirrels had a feast on this stump that we came across as we crunched through the snow. I have come to appreciate that there are animals that depend on this food source in the middle of winter. As we stopped at one point along our walk, a huge cone came crashing down just a few feet from us. As you look around the forest floor, you see cones just about everywhere in various stages of being eaten.
Somehow we lost the trail as we wandered around looking at various interesting things. Yes, that is my hubby looking for a way back to the trail. He assured me he knew which way to go. 🙂
If you have to be lost, can you imagine a more peaceful place? It was quiet and sunny and warm and we knew generally that we needed to head towards that mountain to get back to the main trail.
We eventually found our way back and it was a really good thing because I was getting tired and hungry. We saw so many other things but I will share those in another post.
We haven’t had much snowfall in our area since last week so our plans to complete the snow melting measurement activity are on hold for the moment. We did observe something that the book talks about on page 28 and 29, Snow Melt and Trees.
“During the day, the tree absorbs heat from the sun. The tree radiates heat and melts the snow.”
You can see in these photos how this looks out in the woods.
Here is another photo that shows the melted snow very clearly. Right after we took this photo we saw a coyote over beyond the trees. He was hurrying past on his way to somewhere else….we did not see him again all day.
On my the right sidebar of my blog I have a photo of my summer hiking boots….now here are my winter hiking boots. These are so very comfortable and warm. Don’t they look like brand new? They are two years old! I just love LL Bean. ( I just looked up on the LL Bean website and I can’t find these particular boots there anymore….just in case you were going to ask.)
The snow was just right for snow boots. I was really glad we did not need the snowshoes today because they are a lot of work and I wanted to just relax. Next time I am going to bring them along because there is an area that I wanted to explore but the snow was just too deep. I stepped of the trail and sunk down to about mid-calf.
We stayed on the trail….isn’t this a welcoming little entrance to this part of the wilderness? (Don’t tell Brittney…this is where we saw the bear last fall.)
Several people emailed me about the beaver dam in the header of the blog. Yes, it is a real beaver dam that is along one of our regular hiking trails. I promised a few more photos to go along with the beaver story. The photo above is a good example of what a tree looks like that a beaver has worked on. This particular tree is pretty far from the creek so I’m not sure why they chose it but it is still sitting in the woods. You can tell how big a beaver is by how far up the tree he was working.
You can see if you look closely or click the photo to enlarge it that the rangers have come through and protected some of the tree trunks with wire to prevent the beavers from falling the trees. There are quite a few trees that look as if the beaver got started and then the rangers wrapped up the trunks to keep the tree intact.
The turn around spot on this hike was this beach. This is the beach we spend hours and hours at during the summer and fall. This is a favorite with locals so there are lots of tracks and paw prints in the snow. There were a few mallard ducks hanging around today as well as a very chattery squirrel. More on the squirrels in another post soon.
One more friend from our walk this time.
Mr. Steller’s jay is a glorious blue and even more striking against the winter’s gray. They have to be some of the most loud and squawky birds you can ever imagine but they are so pretty when they hold still for a photo. Click the link above and scroll down to where you can listen to the call of the Steller’s jay….squawk indeed.
That was our Winter Wednesday this week. We are going to make sure to remember to actually do the activities we planned from chapter two when it snows here next….maybe soon.
There is much to be said for a walk in the woods in the snow….no trails to follow and no one else to distract you. The crunch, crunch, crunch of the snow under your feet and the bite in the air that reminds you that it is winter. I know these woods well but something about the whiteness or the stillness captures me and draws me to go deeper and farther and find something new each time. You know by the tracks that someone has been there before you….human types and mammal types and probably some rodents too. That is okay since all they left behind are some prints and dents in the snow and you can choose to follow or you can choose to meander. We did a little of both.
We were alert to the many different kinds of tracks in the snow and it was fun trying to guess who they belonged to. It didn’t really matter if we were correct or not because it was fun to imagine who the creatures were and what they were up to. Tracks inspired talk of bears, foxes, rabbits, mice, coyotes, and beavers. It is a fun game to play as you walk through the snowy woods.
This was the most surprising find of the day…a beaver dam in the creek. We have seen evidence of a beaver here before with trees gnawed on and sometimes even a tree cut down but this dam was magnificent. Be sure to click the image to get a better look. You can really see it clearly now that the leaves are gone from the trees and bushes. This is almost the same spot that we saw a bear last fall when the salmon were spawning in this creek.
Have you ever seen something so colorful as this lichen? It really stands out against all the winter drab. Just beautiful.
I never fail to look up as we hike along and this was what I was given for the effort, a brilliant blue sky with fast moving clouds overhead. The trees were perfectly silhouetted as you looked across the horizon.
We had our eyes out for interesting things to discover and here are some little cones we found hanging on a bush.
Reflections have a way of creating a different dimension to a landscape. The stillness of the water made me feel peaceful and I took a few moments to say a little prayer of thanks to the one who created all these wonderful things for us to enjoy. What a gift…what a gift to enjoy as a family.
I told you on this afternoon we had the place to ourselves but there had been others before us. This area leads down to the lake but right through an eagle habitat and we decided to steer clear…are the eagles still here or do they migrate? I know, so many questions to answer. These tracks are probably all covered over by now since a storm blew in overnight.
This short video shows the creek where it is moving fast over the rocks. There were birds wading around in the water above this spot but we saw no real signs of life right here on the bridge.
Just so you know it wasn’t all peaceful and idyllic on this walk, one last photo of what happens when a teenage son nails his dad with a big snowball….a little of what my family affectionately calls “snow tussling“.
Boys will be boys. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Recently I have become acquainted with a man who seems like a kindred spirit. He lived a long time ago but I think we both share a fascination with nature, snowflakes in particular. He had a mother that encouraged him in his interests and gave him a great gift. May we all give our children this same gift….one of helping to feed their passions.
Here is a YouTube video with Bentley’s own words and story. I invite you to watch this short video.
This is another video you may enjoy watching too.You will have to click over to YouTube to watch this one. I have not watched all the videos that come up after this one so please preview any other videos that may pop up. Masters of Photography: Wilson Snowflake Bentley
Edit to add: My daughter on her blog, Hearts and Trees, shared a short video on how to catch snowflakes last year. Here is your link: Snow Day Science
Just like many parts of the country, we are experiencing very cold weather. In the Sierra Nevada foothills where I live, the snow is rarely the fluffy flakes you see in winter storybooks. The snow we experience is very wet and is lovingly called Sierra Cement by skiers (watch the short video for an explanation). We had a few snow showers yesterday and that left behind a nice layer of snow and ice….brrrrr it is cold, well for this California girl anyway.
On my morning walk I was entranced by the ice on the deck railing. I could see with my naked eye the beautiful crystals.
So I brought out my camera with the macro lens and was able to capture the ice to share with you.
It really is like a whole little icy world down there.
“The ice on the surface of a still pond usually begins to form around the edges first, and fine, lancelike needles of ice are sent out across the surface….It is equally interesting to watch the formation of the ice crystals in a glass bottle or jar. Water, in crystallizing, expands, and requires more room than it does as a fluid; therefore, as the water changes to ice it must have more room, and often presses so hard against the sides of the bottle as to break it.” Handbook of Nature Study, page 811
Ice, snow, hail, sleet….all great subjects for winter nature study.
This was an outdoor weekend spent in the Sierras. We spent an afternoon taking a hike on snowshoes. It looks really cold and dreary in this photo but it was really not all that cold…above freezing by a few degrees. I could have done with a few less layers. 🙂 I took off my gloves for awhile and that helped. Most people we saw on the trail were on cross country skis but we enjoyed the crunch, crunch , crunch of snowshoes. I was on the lookout for mammal tracks.
We saw lots of canine tracks beside the trail but as we worked our way up from the lake into the conifers, we were rewarded with these tracks.
In this area there were many little “rabbit trails” giving us a clue as to what sort of mammal was in the area. I came home and discovered that they are more than likely Tahoe Snowshoe Hare tracks. (Lepus americanus tahoensis) See snowshoe hare.
We are new to identifying tracks so if anyone thinks they are from a different animal, please leave me a comment.
Not only did we see some mammal tracks but we were treated to a “new to us” bird. The red-breasted nuthatch. He was seen clinging to the side of this pine, sticking his head into little holes looking for some bark insects. He moved easily in all directions while clinging to the bark. Amazing.
Red-breasted nuthatch
I was busy taking photos when a bunch of ducks flew into view. We saw them later eating some seeds that a fellow hiker had left along the shore. They were later joined by a few Canadian geese.
So I think we had a successful outing….we did manage to find some mammal tracks in the snow and that was our aim.
From the Handbook of Nature Study, page 217, ” An interesting relative of the cottontail is the varying hare or snow-show rabbit that lives in the wooded regions of north-eastern North America. Of all animals he is one of the most defenseless; foxes, mink, and other flesh-eating inhabitants of the woods find him an easy prey. He has not even a burrow to flee to when pursued by his enemies…..He has one important advantage over his enemies: twice each year his heavy coat of fur is shed. In the summer the coat is a reddish brown that so blends with his surroundings that he is hardly noticeable; in the winter it is perfectly white so that against a background of snow he is nearly invisible.”
Anna Botsford Comstock has included pages 215-219 with information on the cotton-tailed rabbit. I found these pages very useful in coming up with a way to study our snowshoe hare. Even though the information doesn’t completely apply to our hare, we can adapt her activities to our study.
