Footprints

Even though we had our first real snow last Saturday (and for the purposes of this post "real snow" is defined as snow that has to be shoveled, and won't just melt in the sun within a day of falling), there was a breath of spring in the air the last two days. I don't just mean because it was a little bit warmer (and for the purposes of this post, "a little bit warmer" means the high temperature got into the low 40s), but there's a certain quality to the air, not really a smell, but almost one, if your skin could smell, just something you feel that tells you that winter won't last forever. Now, I have no delusions that spring is nigh. Yes, January is the coldest month, and it wasn't that cold, but that doesn't mean that February, usually the snowiest month, won't be snowy. Still, the springiness led me to go outside looking for bugs today. My expectations weren't high, but I was hoping maybe to find some snow fleas, which, as you know, are not really fleas, but a species of springtails (I know you know this because you have read it on this blog). And in other winters I have been able to find bugs when the temperature rises above 40, even when there's a ton of snow on the ground (which there isn't now, by the way. Most of the 6 inches we got on Saturday has melted, and there are just a few blotchy areas in the backyard, and in places where the sun can't get to it). (I have used a lot of parentheses in this post. I should probably stop doing that). However, I probably waited too long to get out there, because the sun was quite low by the time I went out, and the one thing I have realized is that bugs like sunny weather even more than they like warm weather (though they do definitely have lower limits on temperature. Oh, drat, here I go with the parentheses again). So, all I found was a few springtails on the front walk.

 Not snow fleas, but related. They were very springy, though, and this was the only one I got a picture of. So unbelievably cute.

So, those were the only bugs I saw today, but this blog isn't JUST about the bugs, it's about other things I find in the backyard. Like...

Coyote footprint? It looks canine, and there are definitely coyotes in the area, and I have seen other... errrr... evidence that coyotes have been in the backyard. But I have seen that kind of evidence before. This is the first possible footprint, thanks to the fact that the snow has melted and left a bit of mud on one of the paths. There were several footprints along the path, but I did not come upon the a coyote by following them, like I did with the turkeys last week. What's funny is that for a couple of days after the snow fell, there were no animal footprints in the backyard other than the bird footprints around the bird feeder, and I was feeling a little sad that there were no animals in the backyard. But today I saw these coyote prints, deer prints, tunnels from some kind of small creature... all in the mud. Well, the tunnels were obviously dug under the snow, but now the snow is gone, there is just the muddy track.

Anyway, between coyotes, turkeys, and rabbits, you really have to watch where you step in the backyard lately.