February

When I moved to Maine from Virginia (nearly 30 years ago) somehow I expected that spring would arrive about the same time that spring came in Virginia (sometime in March). Well, I had to wait a bit. Oftentimes I will look for early signs of spring (just to make sure that it is coming). One of these signs occurs when the sun is higher in the sky and the days (daylight) become longer. Then the tree trunks will warm, melting snow rings around the tree base. Spring is coming. But we will need to wait a few more months for the snow to melt (the real sign of spring).I thought that I would include a few photos of animal tracks. They are much more apparent in the snow than on the ground. The next two photos are the same animal. The front two impressions are about 3 inches long and the depression is not very deep in the snow. Can you guess what it is?

These are snowshoe hare tracks. I have only seen one snowshoe hare in the winter. It was a beautiful white and the hare was so shocked to see me that it jumped nearly a foot in the air, then immediately returned to its hole.

I'm not sure about the above tracks. I know that they are bird trackes. I believe that the tracks are made by spruce grouse. I thought they might be turkey tracks at first, but each track is only 1-2 inches long.

Thanks for reading and happy Valentine's Day.