Prey

Date: Jan 29 2015
Time: 12:50pm
Location: Steamboat Park
Temperature: 36°F

Wind: ~15mph
Skies: Scattered cumulus

On my walk I came across this cluster of feathers.  I assume they belonged to a pigeon, a flock of which seems to live around the apartment house across the street from where I took the picture.

Perhaps a raptor sat in the tree above and enjoyed a nice meal.

Feathers appearing to belong to a pigeon.

The branches above where the feathers were found.

Controlled Burn

Date: January 26, 2016
Time: 4:35 pm
Location: Mickelson Pond 4th St Pierre, SD
Temperature: 57°
Wind: ~8-10 mph
Skies: scattered cirrostratus.

The city did a controlled burn of cattails around Mickelson Pond. Since it was a fine day, I took a walk to check it out. I arrived just as the fire trucks were leaving, sadly.

South side of trail

South side of trail

North side of trail

North side of trail

Nature Journal: Sunset

Date Jan 25,  2015
Time: 5:50pm
Location: Backyard, Pierre
Temperature: 45° F
Skies: Overcast stratus

The January thaw continues and probably will for the rest of the week.

The sunset was at 5:41pm.

Sunrise

Date: January 23
Time: 8:23am
Location: Causeway
Temp: ~30°F
Skies: broken altocumulus

Sunrise is still happening relatively late, after 8am. We now have over 9 hours of daylight but the days still feel dark even though they are not particularly cold. Happily, I can tell they are getting longer.

Many geese in the water. There are ducks too. They look like mallards though hard to tell in the early morning sun. The ducks are swimming in the current coming through the culvert under the causeway.  There must be food. 

Nature Journal: Sunset

Date: Jan 20, 2015

Time: 5:18pm

Location: Steamboat Park, Pierre, SD

Temperature: 36°F

Wind: ~10mph

Skies: Isolated Cumulus w Broken cirrostratus. Contrails present

According to the website timeanddate.com, sunset for Pierre on Jan 20 was at 5:34pm. I took the pictures below at 5:18pm. The first picture demonstrates the length of my shadow just before sunset and the second to the show the sun about 16 minutes before setting.

I didn't look directly at the sun, even through my camera, which made taking the picture interesting. I didn't know what I was going to get in the picture.

What is your preferred site to get astronomical, seasonal info?

Nature Journal: The sound of Chickadees

Date: Jan 19, 2015
Time: 4:02pm
Location: Farm Island Trail, Pierre SD
Temperature: 50°F
Skies: Sunny, clear

According to the Wisconsin phenology calendar I have at hand, black capped chickadees began their spring courtship song on Jan 7.

As with most events of this nature, I think it is more accurate to say that black capped chickadees begin their spring courtship song January 7th-ish.

I took a walk around Farm Island yesterday and recorded some video of the black capped chickadee, mainly to capture the sounds. My phone is not of sufficient quality in either sound or video to do justice to the moment but it's enough to give you the idea. You should crank the volume or listen through headphones.



Scientists recognize that sound provides critical information about ecosystems. Science Friday has several articles  that I have linked below that explore this idea. And of course birders and birdwatchers know that the first time they encounter a bird is usually through sound rather than sight.

Note: If you aren't a birdwatcher, you should begin. Immediately. Birding is a big step and a different thing all together so I will give you a hall pass for that one.

Sound is an important part of experience, any experience. Along with smell and touch (which includes physical movement), sound enriches an experience and helps us "own" it. In my opinion, virtual field trips and experiences will never replace actual field trips and experiences mainly because the sound component is compromised even with "surround sound" and there is a complete lack of smell and touch engagement.

Nothing replaces doing.

http://www.sciencefriday.com/segment/07/19/2013/capturing-the-sounds-of-biodiversity.html
http://www.sciencefriday.com/segment/04/22/2011/listening-to-wild-soundscapes.html
http://www.sciencefriday.com/blogs/06/21/2012/tune-in-to-the-biophony.html
http://www.sciencefriday.com/segment/04/25/2014/recording-the-global-soundscape.html

Nature Journal: Geese

Date: Jan 18, 2015

Time: 2:15pm

Location: Steamboat Park bike trail; Pierre, SD

Temperature: 45°F

Wind: 5mph

Skies: Scattered Cirrostratus

I took a long, ambling walk on the bike path along the river. I'm enjoying the January thaw, even though it's not a singularity.

Canada geese are winter visitors in Pierre. They number in the thousands in the area due to the open water and, it must be assumed, abundant food.

The geese normally arrive late October, usually showing up just before Halloween. This year they were late, arriving mid November. 

The majority will leave in mid-late March, migrating north. There will be flocks that remain of course. Canada geese here as in most of the rest of the country are opportunistic, establishing themselves wherever there is appropriate habitat.

The wavering, honking, flying Vs are a part of winter here.  At sunset near the water the sound of the geese is loud enough to be heard several blocks away.

Nature Journal: January Thaw

Date: Wed. Jan 15, 2015

Time: 5:48PM CST

Location: Parking Lot, SD Discovery Center, Pierre

Temperature:~ 30°

Wind:5mph

Skies: Broken altocumulus

After several weeks of cold weather where the temperature did not get above the mid 20's, we are finally having a little bit of a January Thaw. I stepped outside of work and snapped this picture mainly because I was struck by how much melt had occurred in the parking lot.

Figure 1: Parking lot. A result of January thaw?

This got me thinking about the January Thaw. January Thaw  was defined in the 1954 Glossary of Meteorology by the American Meteorologic Society as

"A period of mild weather, popularly supposed to recur each year in late January in New England and other parts of the northeastern United States....Statistical tests show a high probability that it is a real singularity." (1)

Elsewhere on the Internet, it is defined as a rise of 10°F over previous weeks' weather (2) or normal highs (1) . There is some discussion over whether the January Thaw is a legitimate weather singularity, i.e a  "characteristic meteorological condition that tends to occur on or near a specific calendar date more frequently than chance would indicate".

I wanted to see for myself what the data in my community said about a January thaw. So I found daily maximum temperatures at the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center  and looked at the daily average  (blue line) and median temperatures (red line)  in Jan from 1934 to 2013 and compared them to the normal January highs (green line).

Figure 2: Average, Median, and Normal January Temps in Pierre by date

The first thing I noticed was that there was not a 10°F spread in either average or median temperatures. The highest average temperature was 30°, the lowest was a smidge below 26°. The median temperatures had a similar spread of 32° and 26° respectively.

There did seem to be some rises above normal on the 10th and 21st of January. But...

All data has variation so it is hard to tell if the rises in the graph above mean anything. The median temperature does go above normal during January but did it happen on a specific date or dates frequently enough to qualify as a singularity?  

So my question became "Is it 10°F greater than an averaged normal of 30°F on a certain date more than 50% of the time?" To find that out, I looked at the number of times that 40° or warmer occurred and on which dates it happened.

Figure 3: Number of times temperatures reached 40° in January by date.

Each of the dates in the data set occurred 79 times between 1934 and 2013. For example, Jan 1 occurred in 1934, 1935, 1936 and so on. For a singularity, the temperature range of 40°F or higher would have to occur 40 times or more on a date.

When you look at our data, there were not any dates that had temperatures of 40°F or higher more than 40 times. 

Ok, maybe I am being too strict with wanting a temperature of 40°F, which you recall is 10°F higher than the averaged normal temperature. Maybe I should dial back my expectations a bit.

So I looked at how many times temperatures above 33°F occurred and on which dates as 33°F is, technically, a thaw and can feel pretty darn good after really cold temperatures.

Figure 4: Number of times temperature reached 33° or above in January by date.

Still the same result. No date had temperatures of 33°F or higher at least 40 times.

Does this mean that the January Thaw is not real?

As far as Pierre SD is concerned, the analysis of this data would indicate the January thaw is not a singularity, a meteorologic event associated with a specific date.

What we do know is that temperatures in January rise above 33°F often enough that our "rule of thumb maker" recognizes a thaw happens frequently, even if it doesn't always happen on or near the same date.

Figure 5: Number of January days above 33° by year.

This chart shows us that temperatures at or above 33°F have happened almost every year. The only year that did NOT have a "warm" day was in 1940. 1937 and 1978 were pretty cold as well, with only one day at 33°F or above.

When you look at the data it is also interesting to note that the number of days at or above 33°F seem to be increasing. 

But that is a question for another day.

(1) The Weather Doctor. Weather Almanac for January 2002. January Thaw: Winter Cold Relief. http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/almanac/arc2002/alm02jan2.htm. Last accessed Jan 15, 2015.

(2) What is January Thaw - Farmer's Almanac. http://farmersalmanac.com/weather/2010/01/25/what-is-a-january-thaw/ Last accessed Jan 15, 2015.

Nature Journal: Robins

Date: Tuesday, Jan 13, 2015
Time:5:29 pm CST
Location: Hilger's Gulch, Pierre SD
Temp: ~25°F
Wind:~ 5 mph
Skies: Scattered altocumulus

 I took a walk through Hilger's Gulch and first heard then saw a flock of American robins. I estimate that there were several dozen. For most people in this part of the world, robins are the quintessential bird of spring, who appear on the scene after returning from their migratory trip to the south for the winter.

 There are flocks of robins that overwinter around Pierre and you can usually find them in areas with dense vegetation. I don't know if these robins are local robins that just flocked up and moved to vegetation or if these are robins from farther north who decided that this was as far south as they needed to come.

 I suspect the former but it could be the latter.

Despite this do they/don't they confusion around the migration of these robins, robins are still the heralds of spring as they very clearly exhibit winter and spring behaviors. Robins in winter will be in flocks and have very limited vocalizations, mainly cheeps.

Robins in the spring (actually the late winter) will start slowly spreading out from the flock to claim and defend territory through singing. Around here, this means that they will start moving into town, usually a fine February day when the temperature reaches the upper 30's. A cold snap will send them right back to the flock and silence them again except for their quiet cheeps but it won't be long till they again move out and start singing.

Robin song cheers my winter weary heart. Every year.

I like robins because they are easy to watch, gregarious, and easily habituated to human presence. I like best to watch awkward fledglings learn to fly. They often are not very good and do so with much flapping of wings.

Plus, the Latin name for robin makes my inner 3rd grader snicker. Turdus migratorius.

Nature Journal: Wind

Date: Monday, Jan 12, 2015
Time: 4;54PM
Location: Outside of YMCA, Pierre SD
Temp:  ~10°F
Wind:~ 15 mph
Skies:  Clear

I took this picture to document the wind. The wind is a constant in central South Dakota so learning how to tell wind speed without an anemometer is a handy skill. Probably the easiest way to do this is to learn a modified Beaufort scale which was invented as a visual way of determining wind speed while at sea. I like the one from Wikipedia. I have even further simplified it for my own purposes to be able to form a rough estimate.

Keep in mind that a rough estimate is not the same as taking a reading. The purposes of rough estimates is to stand in for when you don't have equipment. The more estimates you take and compare with readings, the better your estimates will become.

The flag in this picture was flapping which means it drops from time to time. A flapping flag is somewhere between 10 and 15 miles per hour.

~  5 mph: Feel a breeze, leaves moving. (This only works when the trees are in leaf, obviously)
~10 mph: Twigs moving on trees, ripples on water
~ 15 mph: Small branches moving, flags flapping, waves on water
~ 20 mph: Small trees sway, flags waving, waves break with white caps
~ 25 mph: Large branches moving, large flags straight out, large white caps

Nature Journal: Eagles

Saturday, January 10
4:30pm - 5:20pm CST
Below Oahe Dam in Downstream park
Temp ~20°F
Wind - < 15mph
Skies - Broken altostratus


Over the weekend, I went up to the Oahe Dam to look for eagles. Eagles will over winter at the dam as there is open water, cottonwood trees and many Canada geese and ducks. I'd heard rumor that over 60 eagles had been spotted so I had high expectations.

While I didn't see 60, I did see well over a dozen which is usual for this time of year. The best time to see eagles is starting about an hour before sunset as they will start returning to the cottonwoods to roost after feeding.

I saw adult and juvenile Bald Eagles and for the first time ever heard eagles chatter and peal.

Close up of juvenile and adult Bald Eagles. Taken entering park.

Eagles in Cottonwoods. Taken on birding point on East shore.

Introduction!

Hello!

My name is Anne Lewis and I am the facilitator for this Earth's Explorations online professional development.

When I facilitate a professional development opportunity, I always learn something from the participants. Through this class I want to:

• Improve my understanding of what teachers and out of school program staff need to help students explore the Earth.
• Discover new resources and ideas.
• Learn from the stories and voices that people will share about teaching.

A little about me professionally and personally. I work at the South Dakota Discovery Center as the Special Projects Director. This means I have a lot of varied projects on my plate; everything from overseeing the traveling exhibit program to doing a lot of the IT work. My major responsibility, however, is the environmental education outreach both to teachers and students.

I have my Master's in Natural Science and Environmental Education from Hamline University in St. Paul. I like to trail run (slowly), hike, and kayak. In the winter, I do home improvement projects and read. I like to blog as well, mainly as a way to get my ideas and thoughts out of my head so I can make more sense of them.

I am sharing a picture taken Nov 1, 2014. I went paddling and came upon a beaver dam. This is the downstream side of the dam. I saw other sign of beavers (a slide along the bank, holes in the banks, a few chewed branches with the characteristic point) but no actual beavers. The concern when beaver are present is bacterial contamination of the water.