January 26th, 2007
cold days & coyote
We’re finally into a stretch of cold weather now, with temperatures dipping to -18 C. (0 F.) or further by nightfall. By day, the skies are usually a clear, cold blue with near translucent ribbons of clouds. What little snow we have is dry and powdery, but when packed, it becomes crunchy so that it sounds like we’re walking on styrofoam. The surface glitters as though carpeted with mother-of-pearl sequins. At high noon on a sunny day, the cold and brightness combine to bring tears to your stinging eyes. Contrast between light and dark seems more vivid. You notice subtle gradations. The waxy-smooth bark of the poplar trunks now seems to possess a dozen gray-tones instead of one.
Yesterday, Sabrina and I hiked around the trails looking for signs of the Coyote (Canis latrans) that sang for us the night before last. We found a network of tracks leading from the edge of our back yard, out along the many pathways through the fields and woods. It seems the main runway is along a wide, cattail-filled drainage ditch, but they’ve also been making the rounds of the hiking trail we walk each day. They’ve marked their territory on top of the snow-covered ant hills – and then scratched through the surface, churning up the underlying leaf mulch and dried grasses. Of course, all of this is of great interest to Sabrina. She almost appears to be scowling as she looks to me after inspecting the latest markings. “Who scratched this up since we passed by this way yesterday?” I watch for distinct footprints. In this dry snow, there aren’t many, but every now and then I catch sight of one just before stepping on it. I carefully step back a pace and shoot the odd photo (see inset – click on image for larger view). Their prints are compact, narrow, with center toenails close together.
On our way back across the fields, I thought to make a little .mpeg movie clip to show how it looks and feels to walk on cold, dry, crunching snow. Of course, I made the mistake that I so often do, of turning my camera to the vertical instead of the horizontal (a thing I often do when shooting still photos). There’s no way to “turn” a vertical film clip to horizontal. I wasn’t going to bother posting this clip but it’s really the sound that matters most, so I’ve uploaded it. It’s short (about 18 seconds) and small (about 850 kb). You’ll have to turn your head to one side if you really want to watch it, but do listen to the crunching snow (and me mumbling “C’mon”). That’s what it’s like to walk in cold snow — for those of you who haven’t had the pleasure yet. It seems, the colder it gets, the louder the snow.
Tonight is the weekly Mudpuppy Night at the dam in Oxford Mills (you can read all about it here). It takes place each Friday night throughout winter. If we can muster the energy and brave the cold, we’re hoping to drag ourselves and my camera gear out to shoot some new photos of mudpuppies. Assuming that there aren’t any technical failures, I’ll post some photos over the weekend.