by Carl Strang
November had been unseasonably warm. I heard Carolina and Allard’s ground crickets singing on December 1, the latest I have heard any singing insects in DuPage County. But it wasn’t to last. A major winter storm, complete with strong winds, a significant snowfall, and temperatures dropping to the single digits Fahrenheit, arrived in the second week of December.
Mayslake Forest Preserve, like most of the eastern U.S., received its blanket of snow, though only 2-3 inches accumulated locally. The low temperatures froze the lakes. Coyotes again could use the ice for quick short cuts.
The snow revealed that the coyotes were covering the entire preserve, though apparently singly; I saw no signs of tandem hunting. Birds in evidence were mainly consumers of seeds, like these mourning doves,
and this cardinal,
here caught in the act of reaching for fruit.
Nature Inquiries 