A Warm November to Remember

With the skiff of snow, and lower temperatures yesterday and today, it seems winter may finally have arrived at FortWhyte Alive.

Until now, I (and my colleagues) have been wondering when the inevitable cool-down would occur.  We've been enjoying above average temperatures this month - some days, as high as ten degrees above normal!

Our non-human FortWhyte neighbours have been affected by the warm weather, as well.  Though the ground in the forest is starting to freeze, some of our bedding plants seem a bit confused about the season, and have held on to flowers longer than normal.  Certainly, the trees were late in dropping their leaves.

Our song bird migration seemd late.  Having only been here at FortWhyte Alive for two previous autumns, I must admit I lack a deep frame of reference, but warblers, vireos, towhees, and all their feathered friendsmoved through a few weeks later than I expected.  Until our lakes starting freezing over at night (which only began a few days ago) none of the geese staging here showed any urgency in continuing migration.  With the arrival of ice, their behaviour has changed, with fewer flocks returning to roost here at night, presumably having left for fresher, frost-free fields and liquid lakes.

The deer have not been moving around as they have the past few falls, either.  The herd seems to be most active in the middle of the night - two or three in the morning - instead of the dawn-and-dusk pattern we would expect from deer in November.  This seems to be the case right across Southern Manitoba, resulting in many a frustrated hunter (and, I would imagine, happy deer!).  I've heard many theories as to why this might be, but I subscribe to the "with a winter coat and stored fat...it's just to warm to move in the daytime" theory.  As we've seen temperatures drop a little bit, we've seen the deer become a little more active in the morning and evening.

If you're seeing anything unusual, and suspect the warmer temperatures we've seen this fall may be the cause, let me know!