Winter Nature Study

It seems to me that there are many nature lovers who choose to hibernate through the winter. While it is great to watch the birds at your feeders through the living room window, I want to encourage you to get outside, into the cold and snow. There is so much to discover.

Yesterday, I awoke with anticipation of the great time we were going to have on our hike. I wanted the kids to have a good, filling breakfast before we went, so I made a big pot of oatmeal. Then, all my plans began to unravel.

I usually put chocolate chips in the oatmeal to make it more appealing. We ran out. So I used maple syrup, which did not seem to appease my children. I spent the next half an hour force feeding them all that nutritional goodness.

That done, it was time to dress up. It was a chilly -13 Celcius (9 F), so we needed all our layers. That involved finding the long underwear that had strayed to the four corners of our house. After another 1/2 hour wrestling uncooperative children into many layers of clothing we were ready to go. Until they all announced they had to go pee. I was exhausted and we hadn't left the house yet.

We finally arrived at our favorite nature destination. We return to the same place, again and again, week after week. As we pulled in the long drive I heard one of them exclaim "It looks so different!"

It took the boys roughly 3 seconds to discover all the crunchy ice in the shallow ditch. They quickly set to work smashing as much as they could. Soon a large stick was found to help with the job of ice smashing.

We set off for the shore of the small lake. There were hundreds of Canada geese, some in the open water, and many were sitting on the frozen ice. Every now and then they would all start honking and a group would take off. We watched as they gradually formed themselves into a V shape and set off. Their wings whirred as they flew overhead.

Chickadee wanted out of her stroller. She looked rather comical with the oversized outfit I had put together to keep her warm. I recently ordered her new mittens (look at those fabulous gauntlets!). I bought them a little large so she would get more than one season out of them. I think she'll be wearing them for awhile, they probably come up to her shoulders!

We started our hike. Along the way we found that familiar summer and fall plants had changed.

Queen Anne's Lace

Goldenrod

Milkweed

Another favorite thing to do in the winter is to look for animal signs. There wasn't any snow that day, but the geese had left their footprints in the sand on the beach.

Goose track

Shrub gnawed by beaver (light wood is a fresh cut, grey wood an old cut)

Another highlight of our walks is the tea or hot chocolate I bring in a thermos.

It does take effort to get out in the winter, I won't kid you on that. By the time I have everyone dressed I am ready to give up and stay home. However, once we get outside I always find that it was all worth it.

Gearing up for Winter Nature Study

The weather has turned a bit chilly around here. This week has been cold enough that I have needed to get out all of our winter outerwear in order for us to enjoy being outside. I wrote about this topic at the end of February last year, this seems a more appropriate time.

We had a wonderful hike today. It snowed this week and there was about 5 cm still on the ground. We went to our favorite conservation area. I showed the boys some deer tracks I found and they spent the rest of the morning following the deer footprints all over the place. It was quite lovely. We were out for almost an hour in the brisk minus sixteen Celcius weather (3 degrees Farenheit).

Here's a little fashion show from the Bluejay, showing how we keep warm:

For his first layer he has on long underwear. They are made out of some sort of polyester, and they wick away moisture from his skin if he starts to sweat after making 27 snow angels in a row. My long underwear (photo not shown) is made out of silk. It is extremely light and warm, but too expensive for growing children.

Next layer is his regular clothes and a scarf. Soon he will also be wearing a wool sweater that I need to finish.

There's lots to talk about in the final layer. He has ordinary winter boots right now, he will inherit his older brother's (nice ones from Land's end) as soon as I buy the Nuthatch a new pair. He has on rain pants as a windproof / waterproof layer. I still need to sort out which snowpants fit which kid. He has an ordinary winter coat. His mittens are fabulous. They are waterproof and have a gauntlet that comes right up the sleeves of his coat. Snow does not get into his mittens and up his sleeves. Lastly he has a brightly coloured hat, which makes it easy to keep an eye on him!

Last year it took me approximately half an hour to suit everyone up to go outside. This year I'm hoping it will take a little less time because they are a little older and can get ready a bit more by themselves.

It is a bit of an investment in time and money to gear your kids up to be able to spend extended time outside in the winter, but it is so worth it. Make sure your kids stay dry with waterproof mitts and snowpants. Keep them warm with wool sweaters and long underwear. Then go outside and enjoy!

Snow and hail

Our school lessons have been interrupted by the weather quite a bit lately. First there was hail. They put dishtowels on their heads and ran outside.

Then a few days later we woke up to a blanket of snow. They grabbed their shovels and cleared the snow off the back deck in no time flat.

We love winter weather!

Sunny or Overcast?

An excellent photograph depends very much on the quality of light. You can take a great photo whether it is sunny or overcast, what will be different is what you choose as your subject.

Eiffel Tower, Paris, May 2006

Bright sunny days are great for photos that have the sky as the background. Days like these are great for photographing buildings, trees, landscapes. Think big. If there are some interesting clouds in the sky, even better. Photograph the clouds, include them in your composition. If you happen to be at the Eiffel Tower and it is overcast, you can still take the picture to prove you were there, but chances are it won't be the one you send out with your next Christmas card.

Bright days are not very good for taking pictures of flowers or anything else that you want to capture a lot of detail. The bright sun washes out the colours and will make your photo too harsh. Sometimes shadows can be distracting as well. The shadow of the truck does not add anything to this picture. Notice the fresh snow in the background, this picture was taken this afternoon in my backyard. Spring is on its way around here, but it hasn't quite arrived yet.


Cloudy and overcast days provide you with even lighting. On overcast days the sky is dull, grey and boring, so don't put it in your picture. Think small. It is a good day for close ups (bring your tripod). Notice the difference in the colours of the truck. I moved the truck two feet to the left so it was in the shade.

Taking portraits of people is worth its own separate blog post. However, in general it is a good idea to keep people's faces out of the bright sun. I'll write more on that later.

Knowing the weather helps me choose what equipment I should bring when I'm heading out. If it's sunny, I'll want a wide angle lens. On overcast days I'll bring my telephoto lens and my tripod. If it's raining (or still snowing!) I'll bring a large ziploc bag to put my camera in.

Making Suet for the Birdfeeder

Today we tried making suet for the cage birdfeeder. It was very easy and did not take long. The boys enjoyed helping, they did everything but melt the peanut butter and suet.

I searched around on the internet and found a no melt recipe. I was looking for something that wouldn't melt when the weather gets warmer. It's still cold here, I'll let you know if our concoction melts when the weather warms up. I've always put the cage feeder away in the spring. I'm looking forward to see who visits it later in the season.

I didn't do the math, but I think it was probably a lot cheaper than purchasing the suet cakes. I've placed the tray in the freezer to harden it, and then I'll cut it into 4 cakes and store in the freezer between wax paper until needed. The squirrels are sometimes interested in the suet feeder, so I added some cayenne pepper to the mix to deter them. We'll see how well that works.

I've been stocking up on all my different birdseeds so I will have lots of food available as more birds begin to arrive this spring. We have had a pair of Hairy Woodpeckers visiting our suet feeder recently, and I wanted to have some extra suet cakes on hand for them.

Homemade Sundial

Materials required: A stick, a cup, and a bright sunny day.

Actually, I didn't even need the stick, the shadow of the tree would have worked just fine. I was soaking up the sun in my window and it dawned on me that the snow would make a great backdrop for a sundial. At noon I placed the cup on the line made by the shadow of the stick. This photo was taken at about 12:30.

The kids have been enjoying checking up on it every now and then. We did a similar activity in the summer when we traced their shadows on the deck using chalk. It was fun to see the shadows lengthening as the day went on.

I'm really searching for any last reasons to enjoy winter before all the snow melts. I prefer having the fresh snow on the ground. When all this beautiful clean white melts we will be left with mud and garbage and brown for a little while before the green new growth of spring arrives.

This second photo was taken at about 2:30 pm. We'll keep tracking it for the rest of the day. It would have been better to have started first thing in the morning. It also would have been better if the snow hadn't been trampled. Both photos were taken with the Canon G7.

Tobogganing

I'm just trying out the video upload feature of blogger. The first video is my 3 yr old enjoying tobogganing on a small hill near our house and the second is my five year old (he was fine at the end where he fell off). Click on the video to select it, and then click on play to watch.

This week I realized we had been tobogganing only once this winter. Considering we have had at least twice as much snow as we usually do for this part of the country, I thought this was terrible. The problem has been what to do with Baby Cookie while the boys are sledding. It was difficult to get her stroller near enough to the toboggan hill. It was also challenging helping the boys drag their sleds to the hill while pushing Cookie in the stroller at the same time.

Also, figuring out which sled works best with which kid has been tricky. We have many many sleds. At the moment, the favorite is the red disc. It is light and fast. On the downside, it has no steering. The old fashioned toboggan is not as fast and is heavy to pull up the hill. We also have a black one that you can steer, but it is tough for these little guys to pull it back up the hill again. We have a plastic carpet that we haven't tried yet, I think the kids will find it frustrating trying to unroll it and sit on it at the same time. Lastly we have a large old fashioned toboggan, also untried this year.

Well, the video uploads worked, but they took a long time. Maybe there's a better, faster way? Perhaps I need to make my videos smaller somehow. The video was taken with my Canon G7.

Winter gear

My boys drinking hot chocolate

With a little magic from photoshop, you can make your child look like you have chained them to a bench.

Jokes aside, our local groundhog announced an early spring, but it hasn't arrived yet. I know it's the end of the season, but I'm going to do a post on how I dress my kids for the cold weather. These photos were taken today, it was a balmy minus two degrees Celcius (28 F).

A few things have made all the difference this year. First, all the kids have fantastic mittens. They're water repellent, and they have a gauntlet that covers their wrists, keeping the snow out of that space between their mittens and coats. Mittens are also warmer than gloves. After I got these mittens my kids were happy to stay outside in very cold weather for a few hours, their only complaints were about being tired.

They also have water repellent snowpants. They're fairly thin, which lets them move around easily. These ones happen to come over top of their boots, keeping the snow out.

Lastly, they all have a good set of long underwear. Cookie has an infant's long underwear set, I especially want her to be extra warm since she is not active when we are out. I put her in a one piece fleece sleeper to keep the heat in as well. Her mittens are on top of the stroller, she's drinking hot chocolate out of her sippy cup.

Cookie has been in the jogging stroller all winter. It has large tires and can handle snow that is a few inches thick. When the snow was too deep I used my frame pack, although I'm finding she is getting rather heavy. I should have tried putting her in a small sled. She's young enough that I really needed something I could strap her into so she didn't crawl out when I wasn't looking. She seemed very comfortable in the jogging stroller so I stayed with it, although it limited our explorations at times.

Sunglasses for the kids would have made today's trip more enjoyable. The sun on the snow was very bright. We used to have 4 pairs and now we only have one.

My friend Woman North, living north of the arctic circle, has highly recommended wool to me. She says it's even better than fleece. Next year I hope to knit some wool sweaters, and maybe socks, for the kids.

I have a very warm and soft sweater from New Zealand that was knit using possum wool. Apparently there is a possum epidemic in NZ, and making sweaters out of them is good population control.

These pictures were taken using my digital point and shoot, a Canon Powershot G7, which I got mostly so I could take small videos of the kids, something I couldn't do with my digital SLR. It also fits in my pocket, something else I can't do with my SLR.

Snowflakes

The right kind of snow was falling today so I tried again to photograph snowflakes. The snowflakes are not as sharp as I would like, but I think this might be the best I can do with the equipment I have.

I used a piece of dark blue velvet as the background. I set my camera on a tripod and used my macro lens. It was cloudy, and the dark background with the large lens meant there was not alot of light for the picture, so my shutter speed was long, about 1/6 sec.

On my last attempt to photograph snowflakes Steph left me a comment mentioning Wilson Bentley. I have his book on order from the library but it hasn't arrived yet. I'm looking forward to reading about his techniques. He used a microscope to take his pictures. There's a book for children about him that I am also trying to get from the library.

On Quiet Cat Feet

I used to be a naturalist at Point Pelee National Park, here in Canada. You would think that I would have my kids out in nature all the time. Sadly, I have been terrible even at getting them outside, much less anywhere natural. This year I resolved to change all that and we have been out exploring and discovering what winter has to offer.

Lately we have been learning about animal tracks. Having children has taught me just how little I know. Even about nature, where I was supposed to be an 'expert' to some extent, I don't really know much at all. One thing I do know is that you start learning about what is very common to your area, and then you can start to figure out the rare and unusual species.

So, here are some tracks of the common house cat.

"The cat's track is in a single line as if it had only two feet, one set directly ahead of the other. It accomplishes this by setting its hind feet exactly in the tracks made by the front feet."

from The Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Comstock

Dogs don't step onto the track they left and they leave claw marks at the tips of their toes. In this way you can distinguish between the tracks of a very small dog and a cat, (or a very large dog and a panther).

When we're out on nature walks I try to point out things to my kids, but I often feel they aren't listening to me. Sometimes a few days later they'll make a comment that shows they were listening after all. Yesterday my oldest son was looking at a footprint and said "This is an old footprint, see the light dusting of snow that is covering it." There was my reward for going outside this winter.

I've been on the lookout for a good opportunity to photograph some animal tracks. It snowed a bit last night and this morning I saw these tracks on my driveway. The black from the driveway gave them enough contrast to show up when I took the picture.

Snow face

My middle child

I like taking pictures of my kids when they are crying. Somehow, it represents our day to day life a little more accurately than all those happy, smiling pictures.

This is my middle child. This year he has discovered that snow is tasty. At the beginning of the winter I did not mind letting him eat the snow in our backyard. It was fresh and fluffy. I foolishly let him feast to his heart's content. Now, when we are out and about, he does not listen to my pleas to stop eating the dirty, salty mounds at the edges of parking lots. Hindsight is 20/20.

On my last post womannorth asked about the difference between jpeg versus raw images. I have been shooting using a digital SLR, which gives me the option of saving my images in the camera as jpeg files or raw files. The only reason I have been shooting in raw recently is that I can easily adjust the exposure of my image on the computer using photoshop. I talked about how pictures of snow can be underexposed here.

I also have a very good digital point and shoot. I looked through my manual and it does not shoot raw files, only jpeg. Look in your manual under 'image quality' or 'compression' to see what options are available on your camera.

When I shoot jpeg files, I almost always select the setting for the highest image quality (which is also the largest image size). It will say 'fine' or 'superfine' or 'large' or something along those lines. You never know when you will get a great shot that you might want to print and enlarge. The drawback is that the larger files take up more room, and fewer images will fit on your card. The only time I would reduce the image quality would be in a situation where I was running out of room on my card and I was nowhere near a computer to download them. Even so, I would probably go through my full card and delete some images that I knew weren't good before I would switch to smaller files. If I was running into this problem often, I would seriously think about purchasing a card with more memory.

This picture was taken on February 13th, 2008. I didn't have a chance to get out with my camera today.

February brings the rain

Rain on window

February brings the rain,

Thaws the frozen lake again.

From A Calendar by Sara Coleridge (1802-1852)

Our local groundhog predicted an early spring two weeks ago, and we have seen nothing but snow ever since. February does not usually bring rain around here unless it's of the dangerous freezing rain variety. The frozen lake will just have to wait until March.

I've been turning most of my images into black and white this week. Colour really didn't add anything to them. There's something about black and white that I really enjoy. I've been shooting in raw so I can adjust the exposure later. In photoshop I've been turning them to b&w by adjusting the saturation. If I was shooting in jpeg I would convert it to greyscale under the image menu.

Winter shadows

Shadows of branches on snow

There are a few nice things about winter photography. One is that the white snow creates clean, uncluttered images. In other seasons there is always something in the background that distracts the viewer from what you are really trying to show in your picture.

The other nice thing about snow is that it reflects lots of light. I'm constantly fiddling with my camera to find a balance where the shutter speed is high enough that I don't have to worry about camera shake blurring my image (around 1/90 of a second) and that also gives me the depth of field that I'm after.

Do not complain (about the weather)

Sunlight through fence on fresh snow

Next to my kitchen table is a list entitled 'Our Family Rules' which we gratefully borrowed from here. Number six is 'Do not whine or complain'.

This morning I awoke to a beautiful fresh snowfall. As I went out to shovel the driveway and sidewalks I discovered that my garbage bins (cleverly placed near the edge of the road) had been buried as the snowplow cleared our street. I must admit, it was a challenge to follow rule number 6 at that moment. As I worked I thought about how culturally acceptable, perhaps even expected, it is to complain. And we love to complain about the weather. It's too cold, too hot, too wet, too dry, too sunny, too cloudy. There may perhaps be only three perfect days of weather every year according to the complainers.

I enjoyed the fresh air and exercise this morning. Every now and then I looked up to see Cookie watching me from the front door. Eventually my son woke up and joined me outside, helping in his three year old way, his cheeks glowing. The weather was just perfect.

Do your pictures of white snow come out grey? Cameras try to expose all photos at 18% grey, and most of the time this works. However, it turns snow 18% grey as well. There are a few ways to fix this. If you are photoshop savvy and shooting in raw, you can just fix the exposure on your computer. Or, you can tell your camera to increase (or decrease) the exposure. Look in your camera's manual for exposure compensation. You'll need to experiment a little until you find the setting where your photos are 'white as snow'.