Phenology - February 2013

By Kelly Amoth, Interpretive Naturalist

The groundhog weather prognosticators have come out of their burrows with a split decision for the remaining length of winter. Punxsutawney Phil of Pennsylvania declared an early spring. The lesser known groundhog, General Beauregard Lee who lives close to where I grew up in suburban Atlanta, declared more winter to come. I think I'm going to have to vote on the side of my southern groundhog in this case. I haven't had my fill of snow yet!

• With the melt and freeze pattern we've seen this winter, I've already spotted a peppering of springtails or snow fleas on the surface of the snow. Snow fleas aren't actually fleas but rather belong to the group of wingless arthropods called springtails. They survive the winter in the leaf litter under the snow, but come out on warm winter days to feed on sap oozing from trees or the exposed decaying leaves. Snow fleas often appear to jump around the surface of the snow, but they are actually catapulting themselves using their spring-loaded "tails" that are tucked underneath their bodies until they want to move.
• It's too far in the future to forecast the rest of the winter, but February marks the third and final month of meteorological winter (the three coldest months of the year, which are December, January, and February). While we're in the thick of cold and snow right now, by the end of the month, days will be an hour longer. We will also be tapping the first of our maple trees by the end of the month (unless we have another unseasonably warm February like we did last year). It's not uncommon to have a very big snowfall this month either, like we did two years ago when we had a 16-inch snowfall. Whether the end of winter makes you happy or sad, be sure to enjoy the season.

What is phenology?

Phenology is the study and science of appearances and how they change over the seasons. The word itself is related to the word phenomenon. Think of phenology as recording and studying the natural phenomenon that occur around us every day.

Phenology can be as easy as recording what day you see birds returning to your feeders each year or when you see flowers blooming but make no mistake, phenology is serious science. By studying phenology we can better understand how the earth changes. Phenology records going back hundreds of years for the same location have even supported global warming research by showing that spring is arriving earlier than it used to historically.

At Warner Nature Center, groups help us fill out our phenology calendar each year and naturalists enter the data into a computer database.