My Life on the Mississippi
February 2024
My Life on the Mississippi
February 2024
What a strange, drab month, unseasonably warm and then some days of cold. It has been a month of brown grass in the yard,
and of bare trees, although some of the oaks still have a few brown leaves.
****************************************
Last February (2023)
***********************************************
Even with this strange weather, there is always variety in the yard, on the river and in the small woods beside our house.
In the yard, birds, lots of birds: flocks of turkeys in the yard on many mornings, sometimes even toms.
Birds at the feeder: finches, chickadees, nuthatches and a variety of woodpeckers (even a piliated woodpecker that sometimes attacks our redwood house). There are also crows on the ground and sometimes even a couple of doves. On the river, which is also a major American flyway, we have eagles, a few ducks, often geese, and perhaps even a swan or two.
Other animals: we have deer as usual and an abundance of squirrels, gray, red and occasionally a black squirrel.
The river, itself, has had only a few days of being nearly frozen over. Mostly it has been open, sometimes with ice flowing down the river, but most days open with just some residual ice near the shores.
Our concern is about the health of the natural habitat that is used to freezing temperatures and a more secure dormancy. It has also been very dry which will have its effects in the spring. Hard to figure out the consequences of climate change. We will have to wait and see.
March will soon be here and then spring.
The days are getting longer, the seasons continue to change, and we will see what kind of new Minnesota we will wake up to this year.+