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It’s all about the ears.

3/30/2024

Regrettably, not one member the Applegate fur family won the 2024 Cadbury Bunny tryouts. None of them entered the contest, but that was beside the point. The real winner was a raccoon, Louie, who would be donating his winning to some wildlife rescues and rehabs.

Nonetheless, a few not-so-willing participants donned rabbit ears for their annual Easter photo shoot. I was surprised when I was able to get a photo of all three dogs together. Unfortunately, I only had one pair of rabbit ears.

This pair of ears has apparently been used for the humiliation of Applegate pets dating back nine years. Nine years ago, there were still real rabbits here at the Applegate homestead. Time was not kind to the bunnies, and they all have passed on.
So, some of the rest of the fur family has had to act as Easter bunny stand-ins. This year with Sherman’s passing; Gus, Sadie and Clem were left to suffer the humiliation alone.

Nonetheless, they took the abuse in stride.

Treats were involved.

Clem, of course, struck a regal pose despite having rabbit ears on his head. He even stopped for a photo with the daffodils after his daily swim in the neighbor’s pond.

Sadie was smiling, sort of, when she was captured.

However, the well-worn rabbit ears had trouble standing erect during her session.

Gus was a different story. I knelt to get a better angle.

Gus saw this as a signal for petting.

It was very difficult to get him to stay and get a photo in focus before he made it to me.

Kennedy took off into a run when he saw me with the ears.

I was able to catch up with him while he was enjoying some spring grass.

I quickly affixed the shunned Easter headband and snapped a few shots.

I didn’t have ears small enough to fit feline Lil’ Bit. He was content to pose with the stuffed bunny decoration on the front porch. I may need to check the internet for some cat-sized ears so that I can extend the torture to another species.

Meanwhile, he wasn’t impressed with the fake tulip display.

Outside, more spring posies were opening. The forsythia here had a few flowers on their spindly branches.

My mother’s tiny grape hyacinth finally added some color to the edge of the woods.

The previously tightly closed trailing arbutus buds had opened to display their flowers.

On the sunnier and warmer days, more mourning cloak butterflies appeared.

The wood frog eggs were starting to form into a more tadpole-like form.

I was able to capture another spring returnee from the birding kingdom. An eastern phoebe was kind enough to perch on a branch while I got in range for a photo.

However, one spring returnee was a not so welcome sight. Early last Tuesday morning, the dogs were carrying on something fierce. I went out to check the bird feeders on the other side of the house only to discover a large bear about ready to scale a tree. I was able to spook it out of the yard without any feeder damage. Even though it had been some years for a bear in the yard, we decided to take the bird feeders in at night.

A trail camera photo from the night after the bear’s visit revealed a bunch of confused deer who were looking for feeders that were no longer there.

The Nature of Things gang wishes everyone a Happy Easter, except for the bear. It can celebrate spring somewhere else other than in the yard.

That’s just the nature of things ‘round here.

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Wait for it!

3/23/2024

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“Spring will come and so will happiness. Hold on. Life will get warmer.” ‑ Anita Krizzan

The official start of spring or Vernal Equinox was at 11:06 p.m. Tuesday, March 19. However, the weather last Wednesday and Thursday was not very springlike at all.

The Vernal Equinox is “the time when the day-to-night line, called the terminator, intersects both of the Earth’s poles and the Sun is directly over the equator,” said a Facebook post by the National Weather Service Office in Pittsburgh.

“The equinoxes mark the times when the sun passes directly above the equator. In the Northern Hemisphere, the summer solstice falls on or around June 21, the winter solstice on or around December 22, the vernal or spring equinox on or around March 21, and the autumnal equinox on or around September 22,” according to a post by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

I was wondering why this year’s first day of spring was on March 19. It turned out that the recent Leap Day was responsible for the calendar change.

“Because Earth actually travels around the sun in 365.24 days, an extra day is needed every fourth year … This also causes the exact date of the solstices and equinoxes to vary. Additionally, the elliptical shape of Earth’s orbit around the sun causes the lengths of the astronomical seasons to vary between 89 and 93 days,” the post continued.

The administration additionally went on to describe the difference between astronomical and meteorological seasons.

Meteorologists and climatologists break the seasons down into groupings of three months based on the annual temperature cycle as well as our calendar …

Meteorological spring in the Northern Hemisphere includes March, April, and May…, the post said.

“The length of the meteorological seasons is also more consistent, ranging from 90 days for winter of a non-leap year to 92 days for spring and summer.”

The administration said that this beak down of the seasons makes it easier to calculate weather statistics.

While the calendar date of spring appeared a little earlier this year, some spring flowers seemed to be ahead of schedule as well.

In the yard this year, I had crocuses that were done blooming by March 16. Last year, they only started to boom on March 26.
Back in a snowy 2015, it was March 22 before the snow drops and snowflakes began to pop up. This year by March 22, they were already done and gone to seed.

A Facebook post of mine from March 2012 showed spring blooms on par with this year’s blossoms. The daffodils were out and the maple trees were in bud.

Post from March 2012 showed blooms on par with this year. Daffodils were out, maple trees in bud and the lilacs were showing some green.

Mourning cloak

Comma butterfly. Photo taken 2023

Also, out and about were some mourning cloak and comma butterflies. The first photo I took of a mourning cloak this year was on March 16. My first actual sightings of mourning cloaks and commas were during the 70-degree days on March 6 and 7.

Mourning cloaks and commas overwinter as adult butterflies and are the first butterflies to appear in the spring. They mostly consume tree sap.

Male ruby-throated hummingbird. Photo taken April 17, 2023.

Other critters seemed to be making a later appearance.
This past week I had been seeing red-winged black birds at the feeder and turkey vultures in the air.

The earliest sighting for red-winged black birds was recorded at Feb. 10 and the early date for vulture sightings was listed as Feb. 18 by longtime area birder and author Gary Edwards.

Edwards wrote in his book that the vultures arrive in late February and depart our region by mid-November. Edwards’ Spring Bird Schedule can be found in the Spring 2024 newsletter of the Seneca Rocks Audubon society on their website.

Edwards’ list included the first date for the arrival of the ruby-throated hummingbirds as April 19. I had one stop by here on April 17 last year. He stayed for a couple of days. My regular hummingbird residents didn’t return until May 7 along with some Baltimore orioles.

Meanwhile, during the warmer spring days several wood frogs made an appearance. However, as the cold moved in, the only things visible were their eggs.

The eggs were a sign of things to come along with trailing arbutus buds. My observations found that the flowers don’t appear until April.

As the winter-like weather still hung around, so did some of the region’s winter birds. Meanwhile, the arrival of some of our spring birds heralded a sign that spring warmth was surely on the way.

There was more spring on the way. We just simply need to wait for it.

That’s just the nature of things ‘round here.

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Up, down and all around

3/10/2024

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The only thing certain in life is change. That statement has no truer meaning when applied to the recent weather. Snow, rain, wind and sunshine all happened within a 24-hour period this past weekend. Sunday’s weather was especially fickle. Passing snow squalls made it look like winter and then the sun would come out and the coating of snow would melt. March was said to come in like a lion and out like a lamb or vice versa. This year the lion and lamb were leapfrogging all over the place.

February closed out on a rather high note with 60 degrees on Leap Day. However, that was nothing compared to the 72 and 73-degree days on March 4 and 5 respectively.

According to National Weather Service data, the normal high temperature for March is 40.9 degrees. However, I did notice a small discrepancy in the data dates between the monthly and the daily totals on the weather service sites. So I was a little concerned about accuracy.

The National Weather Service Office in Pittsburgh weighed in on the warmer temperatures on its Facebook page earlier this month.
“We are forecasting a high on Monday of 72°F for Pittsburgh; the record high on March 4th is 74°F. For perspective, that'll have the area feeling more like Tucson, Arizona at this time of the year. Locally, that's Pittsburgh's normal high in mid-May. “

Sunday’s weather was a different story all together.

Originally some of the forecasts called for snow showers and breezy conditions. Later the adjective was changed to blustery. In my humble opinion that was a far more accurate description. Breezy conditions don’t kick up snow devils. I’m pretty sure I got windburn from Sunday’s walk in the woods despite the fact I had my face covered.

“Intense snow bands this morning created significant drops in the temperature in five minutes! For example, in Mercer County this morning along I-80, the road surface was 36°F....at 8:05am it was 30°F and was coated. Please use caution when traveling today. … at 10:25am the road temperature in Evans City, PA (Butler County) dropped from 42.1°F to 34.7°F in the last 20 minutes,” the office posted on Facebook on Sunday.

As for the rain, according to one weather service site Franklin receives .85 inches of rain on March 6. I was a little confused by the numbers for March 9 and 10. They were listed as .40 inches for March 9 and .55 for Sunday, March 10.
Meanwhile, there was a change coming for the weather. Forecasts called for sunnier skies, a high near 60 on Tuesday with sprinkles later in the week.
Nonetheless, there were signs that spring was approaching. However, getting photos of those signs greatly eluded me this past week.
I heard robins clamoring every evening and had seen them while driving. However, none seemed to appear close enough for a photo opportunity.

Some Facebook folks reported hearing peep frogs during the warm spell. I didn’t hear any in my recent vicinity, but there were some calling in the early morning when I arrived to work in Sandycreek Township.
I have seen a few frogs out, mostly wood frogs. In fact, before Sunday’s snow they were clucking very loudly at the neighbor’s pond. When we approached, the area became silent and no frogs could be seen. I did find some wood frog eggs in a vernal pool.

In addition to the frogs, there were some waterfowl. A pair of Canada geese, who didn’t enjoy our company and a wood duck couple who also left post haste.

More and more skunk cabbage blooms sprouted forth. Most of them donned a maroon hue.

Back in the yard, some crocuses joined the already blooming snowflakes and snow drops. The crocuses opened to greet the warmer weather but closed up tightly against Sunday’s snow.

The daffodils and tulips made appearances above ground as well.

The daffodils were budding, but folks shouldn’t get excited.

Weather lore says it must snow three times on daffodils in bloom before it is truly spring.

The tulips were just leaves.
The flowers take until late spring to burst into color.

I discovered some emerging catnip leaves in the garden. I delivered the goods inside to a few frisky felines and some shenanigans ensued. Interventions may be needed.

There were subtle signs that the region is getting closer to spring. However, we will need to be like the crocuses … opening up in the warmth but preparing to close up tight against the cold when it returns. That’s just the nature of things ‘round here.

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"The Nature of Things" features the writings and photographs of Anna Applegate, who is a lifelong resident of Pinegrove Township, Venango County. She is a graduate of Cranberry High School and Clarion University. After a 15-year career in the local news industry, she made a change and now works at a steel finishing plant in Sandycreek Township. She is a avid lover of animals and nature, and a gifted photographer.

Very happy to be able to share Anna's great "The Nature of Things" blog.

Check out Anna's other artwork here!

It’s all about the ears.

Wait for it!

Up, down and all around

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