January Phenology

Currently, our wooly bear caterpillars are snuggled into leave litter piles and tree crevices sleeping the winter away.

Last fall the wooly bear caterpillars were extremely active and on every path one walked, there seemed to be another one begging to pick it up and examine it.

Some people once thought that the thickness of different colored bands of the bristle hair would tell how hard or cold the winter was going to be.  Turns out, those are old wives’ tales. So, the scientists say.

I beg to differ with them a little. I like to look at the thickness of the bristles that grow on multiple wooly bears throughout the fall. If the bristles have grown in thick and full, chances are fairly good that we should prepare ourselves for an extremely cold winter.

Last year our woolies bristles were thick and packed tightly!

I love the repetitious seasonal changes in nature. If you are out and about year after year, you get fairly acquainted with documenting the changes.

Like, December, January & February bring snowy owls to our area.

The owls come to our area to eat small mammals like mice, rabbits, and voles, which they find plentiful along bodies of water, farm fields, airports, and marsh areas.

If you are wandering around in woodland scrub areas in winter you might run into this hitchhiking pest, Arctium minus . It is more commonly known, as “burdock.” Did you know it is a wildflower?

It has rounded, spiny structures that many of us call burrs.  The burrs attach to clothing and animals so they can spread their seed to other locations.

The fall and winter seasons are important for this plant to spread its seeds. You will see deer and squirrels running around the woodland areas with burrs stuck in their fur.

The American Kestrel can be found year-round in Wisconsin.

One can pick this bird out fairly easily sitting on a high wire against the gloomy winter sky.

This is North America’s littlest falcon and it enjoys hunting down birds between sparrow and starling size.

The Eastern Gray Squirrel mates twice a year, once in January and February, and again from May through July.

The squirrels chase each other and pay little attention to humans while they are going about their business.

If you look halfway up or better in trees and see a pile of leaves all bunched together, those are your squirrel nests.

Mallard ducks will congregate anywhere there is open water. Females start looking to pair up for mating in October and November by choosing a male with the brightest colored green head.

Cue Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On. I watched a pair on the lake on 1-3-2022 – apparently, this female had chosen her male. That’s how they do it 🙂

After mating the male moves on. The female will make a ground nest, usually near a source of water, and lay her eggs. The female will incubate the eggs for up to 30 days or until they hatch.

The pine siskin is a winter visitor and rarely seen past spring.

Some winters in the state we see explosions in numbers. Others, very few.

Our winter birds at the bird feeder may differ from our spring and summer visiting birds.

Insert random thought – If you are feeding the birds, have you seen the cost of seed? UGH!!

The dark-eyed juncos and red-breasted nuthatches numbers have picked up this month. December was a slow month.

Male white-tailed deer drop their antlers during the winter months. The antlers become a food source for squirrels, mice, and porcupines.

Shedding occurs in the latter part of January and runs through February.

Many of our males are still running around the woodland areas with antlers at the end of January.

The full moon in January is often referred to as the “wolf moon” and is believed to have Native American origins.

Each full moon in a year has its traditional name, often tied to seasonal changes and behaviors of animals. The names of each moon can vary among cultures and regions.