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6 days ago | 
duluthnewstribune.com | Larry Weber
Each spring, as winter reluctantly exits from the scene, we experience a snow melt along with the ice giving way to the chilly water. The daylight quickly lengthens from 11 hours in early March and is more than 13 hours in mid-April, accompanied by warming temperatures, ushering in the migration of birds. Much of this avian activity is anticipated, and we are eager to see these migrants. The first to arrive are the hardy raptors.
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1 week ago | 
duluthnewstribune.com | Larry Weber
The pre-dawn is clear, cool and calm when I step outside. In the fading darkness, a barred owl calls from the nearby woods. In the growing light of a new day, I hear songs of a robin and a phoebe, both in the yard where I expect they will nest a bit later. Conditions are great for a morning walk. I go onto the road that I will follow for about a mile, going past ponds, swamps, woods and fields until I reach a river. The usual crows, ravens and blue jays greet me.
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2 weeks ago | 
duluthnewstribune.com | Larry Weber
The Northland is home to several large maple trees. Growing big with very colorful leaves, they dominate the forest in fall. It is hard not to notice their dynamic blended colors at that time. But in spring, they again put on a show of sorts, though not as dramatic. Late March and early April is the beginning of the flowering season for maples. Though some trees produce large flowers with showy petals, these early maples have less-noticeable flowers.
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1 month ago | 
duluthnewstribune.com | Larry Weber
The vernal equinox is when the amount of daylight equals the amount of darkness and is also the first day of spring. As we have seen earlier this month, the first day of spring does not mean the first spring day. We had a few days when the temperatures climbed to 50s or 60s. Conversely, springtime does not mean we will not have some winterish type of weather in the coming weeks.
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1 month ago | 
duluthnewstribune.com | Larry Weber
The “pseudo-spring” of the last week of February brought about many happenings in nature. After the first three weeks of the month that averaged a temperature of only about 4 degrees above zero, the final week recorded an average of 35 degrees. Each of these seven days was near or beyond 40 degrees. (The highest was 45 on the 26th.) Before this week, February had only one day in the 30s. The response to this warmth was amazing with many changes.
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1 month ago | 
duluthnewstribune.com | Larry Weber
Maintaining and observing a bird feeder throughout the winter can sound like a generous and kindly activity to help birds cope with the cold season. Though the seeds that we place on the feeder and get consumed by the local avians can help them, they would probably survive the season without us. This may become apparent during mild winter days. When temperatures climb above freezing, with or without sunlight, many birds will go elsewhere for meals, taking seeds and insects from trees.
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1 month ago | 
duluthnewstribune.com | Larry Weber
March in the Northland is a month of great changes and a plethora of nature happenings. It is another month when the weather seems to get the most attention. In the beginning, it is still winter; cold and snow are frequent. As we proceed through the month, the daylight stretches from 11 to 12 hours (at the vernal equinox), and by the end, we have more hours of daylight than darkness — the first time since mid-September.
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2 months ago | 
duluthnewstribune.com | Larry Weber
My daily morning walks are often taken on the same or similar routes and may not seem like they provide much news or variety. But every time I go out, I find some nature news of note. During winter, the temperature and other weather conditions such as wind and snow cover are hard to ignore. As we go through this month, lengthening daylight gets plenty of attention. As I look around, I see more. There’s a new story here every day.
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2 months ago | 
duluthnewstribune.com | Larry Weber
By the time we reach mid-February, we have longer daylight. Often, temperatures have started to moderate and we have had a snow cover for about 90 days. It has varied much in depth, but this white substrate has been a good site for finding animal tracks. Probably not a day has gone by that we don’t see footprints or gaits of active mammals, most showing night movements. And usually, we do not see the track makers.
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2 months ago | 
duluthnewstribune.com | Larry Weber
January became a month where we could not ignore the weather. December ended with mild days and though we received rain, we had much less-than-normal snowfall. The rain dissipated much of the snow on the ground. We ended the month with a seasonal snowfall total less than half of what is expected. January began with several days of cold, including subzero temperatures. This came on our largely snowless scene. Some critters that depend on snow cover suffered.
