Notes from a Nature Watcher
BY JOHN ROBERTS

Winter nature watching is done from the inside out a good bit of the time. One of my favorite pastimes is using the internet to watch the weather. My favorite sites are: Weather Underground, http://www.wunderground. com and The University of Georgia Automated site, http://www.griffin.uga.edu. These two sites offer a wealth of information and provide both current and historical weather data plus one even sends email alerts to warn of pending winter advisories and other important updates.

A specific highlight for me is when I check the sunrise/sunset page and see on December 23 that "tomorrow will be three seconds longer than today." This tells me that we have rounded the corner and are now officially on the road to spring. Each day the length of daylight gains a bit, pushing winter a little behind us. As I write this, it tells me that tomorrow will be one minute and twenty-three seconds longer. Soon, it will still be light when we eat supper and we will have our bird friends joining us just outside our window. The difference is already noticeable and appreciated by us and the birds that now have a steadily extending dinner time.

Several other positive things are linked to the lengthening daylight time. I understand that honeybees have patiently waited for the start of longer daylight to begin queen production. Many other organisms are turning their fancies to thoughts of insuring the survival of their species. The birds and the bees are obviously pleased to welcome this enlightening period. We see our feeder customers in pairs more often now and look forward to seeing their youngsters later.

Another part of weather watching I enjoy has to do with noting the differences between predicted and actual temperatures. For the most part they are pretty close but it is considered a small triumph when the actual exceeds the predicted and a defeat when the opposite occurs. So far our decision to stay in the mountains this winter has been a very good one. Watching the season changes and how the time effects natural things make a bit of shivering well worth it.

One more note on the effects of the Great '07 Easter Freeze and the extended drought. I have observed many of the oaks that normally hold their leaves until the spring buds push them off have already lost many of them toward the top of the trees. I suspect that drought-related water shortages may have weakened the formation of the bonds between the leaves and twigs particularly those most distal from the meager water supply. It will be very interesting to watch for evidence of other consequences as spring moves in.

John Roberts is a Georgia Master Naturalist who is Camp Host at Trackrock Campground near Blairsville, Georgia. He is also a retired USDA-ARS Research Plant Pathologist having spent over 40 years as a scientist in wheat breeding and pathology.