Archives for The Nature of Phenology

Producers: Hazel Stark & Joe Horn
Host: Hazel Stark

There are few sounds that conjure up a feeling of profound wilderness quite like the yodel and cry of a lone loon in the pitch black of a summer night. But now, across our frozen lakes and ponds, echoes not a single mournful wail of a loon. Surely the air-breathing loon isn’t hiding under the ice like a fish, nor is a loon nest as fortified against the elements like that of a beaver. So all this begs the question: Where do our loons go in the winter?

Photos, a full transcript, references, contact information, and more available at thenatureofphenology.wordpress.com.

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Producers: Hazel Stark & Joe Horn
Host: Hazel Stark

Snow flies spend most of the year in the dark subterranean world, but on some of our coldest winter days, these adult flies come out to enjoy some sunshine and a brisk walk on the snow’s surface.

Photos, a full transcript, references, contact information, and more available at thenatureofphenology.wordpress.com.

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Producers: Hazel Stark & Joe Horn
Host: Hazel Stark

Learn about the science behind the delicate ghostly wisps of sea smoke appearing and disappearing in the arctic cold just above the ocean’s surface.

Photos, a full transcript, references, contact information, and more available at thenatureofphenology.wordpress.com.

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Producers: Hazel Stark & Joe Horn
Host: Hazel Stark

Like their local weasel relatives, minks stay active year-round. They are adept swimmers, allowing them to hunt for fish, frogs, and other aquatic animals underwater. But like us, they know the value of stocking up food for the winter and taking advantage of a big meal when they can.

Photos, a full transcript, references, contact information, and more available at thenatureofphenology.wordpress.com.

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Producers: Hazel Stark & Joe Horn
Host: Hazel Stark

Needle ice can take the rather banal form of crunchy ground on a cold morning, but it can also heave and deform the surface to reveal an explosion of ice crystals making elegant curls, sweeping arches, and even hold up a cap of frozen gravel.

Photos, a full transcript, references, contact information, and more available at thenatureofphenology.wordpress.com

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Producers: Hazel Stark & Joe Horn
Host: Hazel Stark

Picture a wet duck standing on ice or paddling through sub-freezing ocean waters. How is it that their skinny feet, without fat or feathers for protection, don’t freeze? And what about the legs and feet of hooved mammals?

Photos, a full transcript, references, contact information, and more available at thenatureofphenology.wordpress.com.

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Producers: Hazel Stark & Joe Horn
Host: Hazel Stark

As our calendar draws near the darkest day of the year, night sets in early and I can see one constellation that signifies that it is time to do a little more early evening stargazing: Orion.

Photos, a full transcript, references, contact information, and more available at thenatureofphenology.wordpress.com.

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Producers: Hazel Stark & Joe Horn
Host: Hazel Stark

We mostly see red foxes in Maine, but southern Canada all the way to northern South America is also home to gray foxes. Here, these ten-pound gray foxes are more common in southern and midcoast Maine, but they are expanding their range northward. Red and gray foxes can look a lot alike, even though they are classified in different genera, but there are a few signs that can help you determine which one you might be looking at.

Photos, a full transcript, references, contact information, and more available at thenatureofphenology.wordpress.com.

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