JANUARY
3rd Watch for fox tracks in fresh snow.
8th New moon.
13th Observe your shrubs and fruit trees after the first snows. Nipped-off twigs with ragged edges are a sign of deer. Rabbits chew the twigs off cleanly.
14th Depth of the natural year; very little activity. This was the traditional hunger season of the Eastern Woodland Indians.
15th Look for the bright stems of red osier dogwood along stone walls and roadsides, like Spanish dancers against the snow.
19th A general warming trend known as the January thaw occurs about this time. Look closely and you may see flights of bees and listen for the possible chirp of spring peepers.
22nd Full moon. The Hunger Moon.
28th Great horned owls begin to nest about this time. Listen for their hooting from deeper woods. Bald eagles are beginning to build nests.
FEBRUARY
2nd Groundhog Day. In Europe, the remaining days of cold were forecast on this day by the emergence of hibernating badgers or bears, not by groundhogs.
6th New moon.
9th If there is a snowmelt, look for the traces of tunnels dug by voles and shrews.
11th Skunks emerge to mate about this time of year. Listen for their fights and squabbles late at night. Look skyward for red-tailed and red-shouldered hawks beginning to mate.
14th Starlings begin their spring whistling about this time. Listen also for the spring songs of chickadees and titmice.
17th On warm sunny days, look for signs of snowfleas at the bases of tree trunks. They look like a sprinkling of pepper on the snow.
20th Full Moon. The Snow Moon.
24th Maple sap begins running. Watch for little icicles at the tips of sugar maple twigs.
26th Purple finches begin singing their spring songs.
29th Holbrook’s Birthday
MARCH
5th On warm days watch for flights of mourning cloak butterflies, among the few hibernating insects. They emerge to sip the running sap. be heard a mile away.
9th On rainy nights in March when temperatures reach at least 40° F, Salamander migrations begin. Watch for them crossing roads in wooded areas on the first warm rainy nights. Spring peepers are beginning their annual chorus to attract
mates. The Spring peeper is a barely an inch, but their mating call can be heard a mile away. They light brown or gray with a distinctive x mark on their back, and hibernate under leaf litter until the spring weather warms. The males emerge and will gather at small pools by the hundreds, each establishing a small territory. Each begins calling quite frequently, about one peep per second, to attract their mates. The breeding period lasts from until June, with 800 - 1000 eggs per female laid in shallow ponds, called vernal pools. The eggs hatch within 6 to 12 days, and tadpoles transform to adults during July, although many of their eggs will be food for salamanders and other creatures.12th Pussy willows are fuzzed out.
14th Woodcock nuptial flights begin about this time, as the snow melts in open fields.
Listen for the nasal, peent call preceded by a soft took-oo and the whistle
of their wings.
16th Skunk cabbages have emerged in wet areas by this date.
19th Red-winged blackbirds are back.
Watch also for flights of grackles and cowbirds.
20th Vernal equinox, first day of spring. Days and nights are equal length.
Full moon: The Worm Moon so called because earthworm casts appear now,
heralding the return of the robins!
From http://www.massaudubon.org/Nature_Connection/almanac.php
