FEBRUARY NATURE HAPPENINGS

• Be a Citizen Scientist and participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count, Friday 2/14 – Monday 2/17, www.birdsource.org/gbbc

• Project FeederWatch continues, www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw

• February is National Bird Feeding Month

• Listen for the mating calls of many songbirds such as the Black-capped Chickadee and Northern Cardinal, signaling the onset of mating season.

• Migration is beginning:  Killdeer, Red-winged Blackbirds, Great Blue Herons, Grackles, begin showing up at feeders and around ponds and lakes.

• Listen for the “Who, Who, Who cooks for you?” call of the Barred Owl or the soft whinnies and trills of the Eastern Screech Owl

• Barred Owls, Barn Owls and Eastern Screech Owls are courting, do you have nesting boxes up?

• Bluebird, Purple Martin Houses and other nest boxes need to be cleaned out this month. Begin mounting new nesting boxes, for all cavity nesting birds.

• Look for early waterfowl migrants at Lake Frederick and Abrams Creek, such as Bufflehead, Common Goldeneyes and Redheads as lakes thaw.

• Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers are working the trees late in the month, and the maple syrup is beginning to run. Schedule a trip to Highland County, Virginia in early March for the Maple Syrup Festival.

• Skunk Cabbage flowers are emerging, generating heat to melt the frozen ground surrounding them.

• Common chickweed appears.

• Eastern Grey Squirrels are having their first litter this month.

• Raccoon, woodchuck, beaver, skunk, opossum and rabbit mating seasons.

• Hibernating butterflies (Morning Cloak, Comma) emerge on warm days.

 SPECIAL DATES

 • February 2, Groundhog Day.

• February 3, Feed the Birds Day.

• February 7, Right before sunrise look in the eastern sky.  That bright star-like dot is actually the planet Mercury. The best time to view this planet.

• February 9, Full Moon, also known to the Native American tribes as the “Full Snow Moon”, as this is when the heaviest snows fell during the winter, making hunting difficult, thereby also known as the “Full Hunger Moon”.

• February 17, Final Day of Winter Seed & Suet Sale

• February 14, Valentine’s Day.

• February 14 – 17, Great Backyard Bird Count.

• February 23, New Moon.

• February 27, International Polar Bear Day.

• February 29, Leap Day

INTERESTING HISTORICAL DATES 

• February 1, 1905, U.S. Forest Service Established

• February 21, 1918, “Inca” the last Carolina Parakeet dies at Cincinnati Zoo making the species officially extinct.

• February 22, 1913, introduction of the Buffalo Nickel which lasted 25 years until 1938, also known as the Indian Head Nickel.