February in Nature

february in nature story and photos by Matt Perry

One of my favorite things to do in nature in wintertime is to follow streams. In February, following a woodland stream can be a rewarding and revelatory experience. One never quite knows what one is going to find. The frozen stream has always captured my imagination, primarily because of its beauty and the variations in the ice formations encountered. I’ve written about these “ice galleries” in a previous winter-themed article. Of course, despite its frozen appearance, the icy stream remains alive and moving. It courses through the arteries of our nature preserve in winter every bit as much as it does during the other three seasons. On a cool day in late February, I picked up the stream at our main-trail creek crossing and followed it as it meandered north and west. The stream had been encrusted with ice just two days before, but a warming trend and a few hours of overnight rain recharged the flow and melted some of the ice. There were a few inches of slushy snow along the stream banks and, as I walked, I examined the ground closely for footprints or anything

else of inter est. It wasn’t long before I found tracks of a pair of r a c c o o n s . That came as no sur prise since raccoons are closely associated with water and they usually become active during mild spells in winter. They love following creeks and they use their well-articulated forepaws to probe the shallows for invertebrates. Sure enough, their muddy footprints showed that they worked both sides of the creek before strutting back into the forest and disappearing.

Slowly crawling on top of the snow near one of our footbridges was a Stonefly. There are thousands of species of Stoneflies that inhabit regions throughout the world. The

Yellow-spotted Salamander in the snow – photo by Tim Johnston

one I found breeds in our streams and its adult form is only encountered on mild win ter days. When the temperature gets close to the freezing point or just above, you can find them out of water, sometimes in fair numbers, congregating on stream banks or even on woodland trails that intersect streams. After mating, the female Stonefly lays her eggs in the water. Once the eggs hatch, the Stonefly larvae attach themselves to something stable underwater and may live that way for years. Nutrients come to them in the moving water and they take their food

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as it floats by in the current. If you find stoneflies inhabiting a creek or wetland it can be an indicator of clean water, since the insects are unable to feed or breed in streams that are polluted or too clouded with silt.

I continued my walk downstream, but at one point I needed to divert around the stream to get around a downed tree. As I scampered up the bank, I was very surprised to see a Yellow-spotted Salamander sitting in the snow about 20 feet away from the stream. The eight-inch-long creature was not moving but appeared to be alive. Salamanders are coldblooded animals that can’t survive being ex posed to cold temperatures for long. Shouldn’t this one have been hibernating in an underground burrow? I believe it was lured out by the rains we had overnight. Following more than 24 hours of unseasonably mild temperatures, the warm rain fooled this guy into coming out of his torpor and making his way to the spawning grounds. The vernal pond where this

The woodland stream in February

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species (as well as other salamander species and Wood Frogs) breed was almost a quarter-mile away. The change back to wintry weather in the early morning hours assured that he wasn’t going to make it that far. I picked him up and brought him closer to the stream where some softer dirt was exposed. He should have been able to climb into it and get back to hibernating. Hopefully, a raccoon wouldn’t find him first!

After leaving the salamander, I continued following the creek as it flowed downstream and dropped into a deeper gorge. In some places, the steep banks were deeply dug out about four feet above the stream bed. That gouging out of the banks happened during a major flood when the stream was at the

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Raccoon footprints in the snow

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highest flood stage. Even if I hadn’t known about the historic flood (known by some as the “one-hundred-year flood”) that occurred in July 2017, I would have been able to infer that such an event took place based solely on the appearance of the stream and its banks. As February comes to a close, migrant birds start to become more common in our skies and the region’s various habitats. Their arrival heralds spring and the awakening of nature in the Mohawk Valley. We will celebrate the emergence of the earliest wildflowers and the first mass arrival of birds in the March installment of this column. For now, go out and enjoy the streams and everything else associated with the February forest. •

An adult Stonefly on the snow

Wild Turkey footprints

A freshly shed deer antler

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