Ken Lassman has been keeping this almanac for over a decade, He invites you to share your observations and photos in the comments section. You can find his book Wild Douglas County at The Raven Bookstore and The Community Mercantile in Lawrence.
Frost on inside of Lodge Moon: January
January is a Roman reference to the god Janus, the god of gates. This god has two faces, one looking forward and the other looking back, as we do at the beginning of a new year. While this sets the tone for this season, the vivid image of frost on the inside of the lodge is equally appropriate, particularly if you notice frost on the inside of your car or house windows on a cold morning. The Osage also called this month Moon that Stands Alone, which speaks for itself if you decide to take a brisk walk in the countryside this time of year.
This is the month when you can see bald eagles flying in the Kaw Valley as well as deer and other wildlife more easily due to the lack of leaves. Listen to the rustle of wind through the tallgrass prairie grasses, and look for rodent trails in the thatch, which become tunnels when it snows. A dry year means that water becomes a wildlife concentrator, with more species taking visibility risks to grab a drink in drought-lowered ponds, creeks and rivers that are made even more inaccessible by the presence of ice. Putting out water next to the bird feeders is more important this winter than most for this reason.
Enjoy the deep blues of the sky this time of year, whether it is duplicated in the subtle blues found in freshly fallen snow or not. While admiring the sky and looking for eagles and migratory waterfowl, keep an eye out for sun dogs and other daytime optical treats caused by the presence of ice crystals in the sky that refract and reflect the sun (and moon) light into circles, spots and other geometric forms. After dark, bundle up and enjoy the striking winter star constellations that can take your breath away especially if you know where to look with a pair of binoculars or a telescope.
Couldn’t get Jupiter to stop jiggling in my binoculars and decided against trying to tie them to something fixed and lined up. Oh well, But can you recommend a short source that describes bird behavior – specifically going from survival to territorial mode? I’m certainly observing birds in pairs lately. Keep in mind that I often tend to be happy seeing what I can without going to too much trouble, It’s at least interesting to me to look for things that I hadn’t thought about before. I appreciate the weekly nudge.
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Since Jupiter is almost overhead, I recommend laying on the ground and use the binoculars from that much more stable position–feel free to put down a blanket/yoga mat first! If you can’t stabilize the image enough that way, if you can find a place where you can lean the binoculars against the side of a wall/car top/something stable, pivoting them around from that point of stability, you can usually get it steady enough. Also, most binoculars have a tripod mount screw receiver that will secure it to most camera tripods–a very stable foundation indeed! If you do this, you’ll also notice that the rotation of the earth slowly shifts the image of Jupiter so it drifts out of the field of view. This is considered annoying to many an amateur astronomer; I find it kind of amazing to be able to see it as proof that we are rotating in space!
By being in survival mode, I was referring to the fact that they are tolerating each other’s proximity in the winter flock in order to line up to get food from the bird feeder. When in winter flock mode, they are also much more tolerant of members of their own species instead of driving each other off in a sign of territorial impulse. Another example is, of course, the winter migration flocks where dozens, hundreds, even thousands of the same/similar species gather together for aerodynamic/defense from predators reasons. I read somewhere that a predator hawk is oftentimes disoriented so much by the wall of thousands of birds flying by that they can’t focus on grabbing even one bird.
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Hi Ken…thank you for the Almanac. Recently I’ve been hearing a couple of owls in our neighborhood just east of Lawrence High. Several years ago I was able to identify a Great Horned in the neighborhood, but I’m not sure if what I’m hearing now is the Great Horned or maybe a Barred. Can you suggest how I might learn the difference and positively identify who is here now? It’s been almost like clockwork to hear them at 5:40pm and now probably 6:40pm with daylight savings time. Thanks for your help.
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Listen to the difference at this website: http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/spring/OwlDictionary.html
It has fairly decent recordings of both owls, which can be found elsewhere on the web as well, but this is the one that I usually go to first. Let me know which one it is; both have been found within the city limits of Lawrence before.
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Thank you, Ken…very helpful. This year it’s Barred Owls. The “like monkeys” was the ultimate identifier…
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