January has gotten off to a bad start. Here’s what a local woods trail looked like yesterday, New Year’s Day: wet, warm, and soggy from all the rain and fog.
It reached 46 degrees (F) here. The snow is long gone, and the ice was almost out of the cold, spring-fed streams:
Today is more of the same. Soon, freezing weather will return. Seasonal seesawing is not good. Among many other effects, less snow and ice mean less insulation to protect wildlife that hibernate just below the frost line, such as toads and bumblebees. When the cold returns, they can freeze to death.
On the other hand, ticks have a greater survival rate and a longer questing period during warm winters. They can reach infestation rates great enough to suck the life out of moose, especially calves. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on January 1, 2022.)