Naturally

 The day was not strikingly perfect, but it was the best day available. Dick Van Dyke said, “We should never judge a day by its weather.” That’s good advice, but advice that’s not always easily taken.
 Three young opossums fed on snow-covered ground on a gelid day. Opossums are omnivores and eat eggs, grains, nuts, fruit, birds, snakes, frogs, mice, carrion, berries, garbage, insects, crustaceans, pet food and bird seed. Claims of them eating large numbers of ticks are dubious at best. A group of opossums is called a passel. I cracked open a window of the house and tossed an apple gently in their direction. The apple hit the frozen ground and took a big hop before rolling into one of the three animals. After being bumped, the opossum jumped into the air and, upon returning to Earth, scrambled off into the woods. The second opossum sniffed the apple and then ran away to safety. The third grabbed the apple with some of its 50 teeth and, smiling like an opossum eating an apple, ran off to that secret hiding place where it goes to eat apples. The three different reactions by the opossums remind me that not everyone wants the same present. None of the opossums wanted money or gift cards.
 I saw a muskrat. Muskrats don’t hibernate or cache food, so they feed all winter. They spend much of their time in a sleeping lodge, which they often dig into a steep bank with an underwater entrance. In early winter, muskrats create small shelters called push-ups by chewing holes in the ice and covering them with a mound of mud and plant debris. These mounds are often 3 feet high and up to 300 feet from the main lodge. Muskrats can stay underwater for about 10 minutes and use the push-ups to catch their breath out of the weather and away from predators. Muskrats have stiff fur around their back feet and toes, which works like webbing to propel them through the water. Their front feet are smaller, and they hold them under their chins while swimming.
 I had detected the hooting of owls during the night. A pair of great horned owls exchanging “Who's Awake? Me too” calls. A great horned owl doesn’t build its own nest and isn’t a significant remodeler of purloined nests. An owl can turn its head 270 degrees.
 I watched a rough-legged hawk balancing in the air. It was hovering. Rough-legged hawks are circumpolar birds that breed in the arctic tundra and have feathered legs that help conserve heat. Rough-legged hawks hover in stationary flight while searching the treeless tundra for prey and continue that practice when they show up here in the winter. They are similar in size to a red-tailed hawk but have smaller bills and feet. Red-tailed hawks can wind stall, remaining steady in the air by using an oncoming wind to accommodate hovering. Rough-legged hawks soar and glide with their wings held in a dihedral or “V” shape. If you see a hawk perched on the tip-top branch of a tree surveying the land for prey, it’s likely a rough-legged hawk. Red-tailed hawks prefer lower and larger perches for hunting. Rough-leggeds primarily prey on shrews, mice and voles during the winter.
 A sharp-shinned hawk hit the window of our house while pursuing a songbird. It didn’t survive the collision. Aptly named, its shins were sharp. The small accipiter had a square-tipped tail. Its yellow eyes identified it as an immature bird.
Getting to know your local birds is rewarding (sad in the case of that accipiter), but it’s good to look at birds while traveling. I watched ravens pulling discarded food items out of trash containers near a McDonald’s in Juneau, Alaska. One freed a paper bag filled with french fries. It was a nest of fries raided by a raven.

Q&A

 “Are ants found on every continent?” Ants are found almost everywhere. The only areas that don't host populations of ants are Antarctica, Greenland, Iceland and some island nations. What? No ants in Antarctica? Most ant species live in soil, leaf litter or decaying plants.
 “How can I tell the leaves of white oaks from those of red oaks? Red oaks have pointed leaf tips, and white oaks have rounded leaf tips.

Thanks for stopping by

 “Acts of creation are ordinarily reserved for gods and poets, but humbler folk may circumvent this restriction if they know how. To plant a pine, for example, one need be neither god nor poet; one need only own a shovel. By virtue of this curious loophole in the rules, any clodhopper may say: Let there be a tree and there will be one.”—Aldo Leopold.
 “No one can look at a pine tree in winter without knowing that spring will come again in due time.”—Frank Bolles.
 Do good.

©Al Batt 2024

Robins depend upon fruit and berries for food in the winter. They gather in flocks that don’t have frequent meetings with required attendance. A flock enhances an individual’s ability to find food and spot predators. Robins are hardy survivors that can take the cold as long as they eat right. They dress for a frigid day by fluffing their feathers. Photo by Al Batt.