In mid-February, as I write this article, the ground is covered with snow and the weather service is predicting that another 6” to 9” is on its way. Today, the temperature was a chilly 4° F at 7 AM.
Yet there are signs of spring. Larry Chase was the first of many to report the return of robins. He sent me a photo taken on January 28 of robins under his apple tree on Chase Hill Road.
Perhaps the surest sign of spring is the lengthening of the days. And the reason we notice it now is because in March, the hours of daylight are increasing at their fastest rate. What does that mean?
In dark mid-December, we experience our shortest days: about nine hours of sunlight. Then the hours of daylight start to increase toward a maximum of about 15 hours in June.
However, the increase in daylight is not a steady, constant change. It begins s-l-o-w-l-y, and that’s why January seems to share December’s darkness. You hardly notice any change.
In February, the lengthening of days begins to grab our attention because the pace is picking up. By mid-March, at the spring equinox, the change is as fast as it gets; the difference from day to day is noticeable.
The rate tapers off after that, so that while the number of hours of daylight continues to increase, it’s less obvious. By late May the changes are happening s-l-o-w-l-y again as the first day of summer approaches, after which the length of a day begins to decrease.
This kind of repetitious behavior is modeled by the sine curve, which you may remember from high school mathematics. Another familiar example of this kind of periodic behavior is the motion of the ocean tides, or your height above the ground as you ride a ferris wheel.
Winter Hikes
East Andover resident Frank Baker III led a snowshoe hike for the Sunapee-Ragged-Kearsarge Greenway Coalition in late January. Starting at the end of Tucker Mountain Road, Frank took the group on a bushwhack adventure through the woods he knows well from years of hunting and exploring.
Over several miles, Frank identified tracks, pointed out a porcupine den, and led the hikers to the shore of remote and beautiful Weeks Pond. Within minutes he had a nice little fire going.
Everybody in the group was dazzled by Frank’s wealth of knowledge and outdoor skills. The SRKG is grateful to Frank for a terrific day.
About 20 people showed up on February 9 for an outdoor event organized by Andover’s Conservation Commission. Dave Pilla of Proctor Academy led a snowshoe walk in the woods behind Proctor’s campus, looking for signs of wildlife. They saw places where deer had bedded down for the night as well as tracks and feather evidence at a scene where a fox had eaten a bird.
According to Mary Anne Broshek, chair of the Conservation Commission, the participants enjoyed the outing thoroughly.
Please send your photos, questions, or news from the natural world to me at AndoverNaturally@nullgmail.com.