December 7

Temperatures in the low 30’s and sunny skies greet me as I begin my hike in Alma’s 50-acre Conservation Park. My first stop is the Eyer Learning Circle that has been renovated to include outward-facing benches for patrons to sit quietly and take in whatever nature has to offer. Nearby. I enter the bird observation hut to look at one of the feeders as a couple of Black-capped Chickadees stop by. I watch while they grab seeds and quickly fly off. Unlike birds with stronger beaks, like finches that can immediately open seeds and eat them on the feeder, the smaller-beak Chickadees move to nearby perches, gripping seeds with their feet while pecking meat out of the hulls. Working my way west through a late Autumn landscape, I come upon an Eastern White Pine tree with a large, unusual growth. This diseased or mutated mass of dense, deformed twigs and foliage, caused by fungi, insects, nematodes or viruses is called a Witch’s Broom. The name evolved in ancient times when they were often found in old trees in old cemeteries. It was believed this was the spot where a witch had rested during her nightly travels. Following a meandering trail through the woods, I look overhead to see a feeding Downy Woodpecker and look downward to notice needle-like ice crystals on green foliage. Once out in the open, I pause as a wind gust from the west passes through the leaves of a Black willow tree.  Also, I’m puzzled as to why these green leaves have not turned yellow and dropped like the rest of the willows in the park. Just ahead, bright red berries, still hanging from  a Viburnum tree, catch my eye. Working my way north, I pause on a high bank of the Pine River to scan the clear, blue water of the millpond, a far cry from what it looked like in July when covered by choking algae and pondweed (stock photo). Not surprisingly, I see and hear several gaggles of Canada geese swimming about. Most of them are resident geese that will stay around here through the winter as long as there is open water. Following a path eastward, I’m surprised to spot a single Common Merganser swimming far offshore. After spending its summer in the far north, this migrant is heading for warmer winter weather in the southern and western United States. 

 

Dawn of December

Pulse of nature slows

Decaying leaf litter 

Dusted by early snows

Down earthen tunnels

Retreat meadow mice

Over the vacant pond

Brittle layer of ice

Creature sounds are few

No buzzing of bees

Only a Chickadee’s call

Heard among the trees

 

D. DeGraaf