A Great Blue Heron hunts in temperatures that hover around 0 F. Note the ice forming on its plumes. Ohio and the Midwest has been in the midst of a cold snap the likes of which we have not seen for some time. As I write, the temperature is about 14 F and dropping. We could see wind chills hitting 20 below within the next 24 hours or so.
Frigid temps have been par for the course this winter, and I do not speak in a vacuum when I say I'm tired of it.
I, and many others I'm sure, long for the return of warm temperatures and the bursting forth of flowering plants and all that they bring. Such as this Orange-patched Smoky Moth,
Pyromorpha dimidiata, nectaring on Dogbane,
Apocynum cannabinum.
The cold and snow of winter is a necessary part of the shift of seasons; a forced dormancy before the resurgence of spring. But it does grow old after a while.
_edited-1.jpg)
