In my younger days as a herp nerd, when I was almost totally focused on chasing reptiles and amphibians, the winters were rather rough. When I added those other reptiles (birds) to my interests, the cold weather became more bearable. Diversifying what you focus on is the key, in my experience.
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Well spoken!
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I’m biking through forest to and from my job so I can just stop for a moment and try looking for a life. Though there’s much less of it in winter and today I didn’t snap any pictures
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The fall is my most busy season, not only because school starts (bad timing), but also because its when the rains come and the mushrooms abound! I can go to any local park in October and seemingly find something new every time! Winter starts to come, the mushrooms are still out of course, but they slowly dwindle down as the snow starts. A lot of cold-resistant fungi species are out there during that time. Then, spring comes, the snows melt, greenery starts to regenerate, and mushrooms sorta pop back out - not nearly as much as they do in fall. Spring is the time to pick Morels!
Then summer… the mushroom-offseason. Perfect time to explore other areas of nature as well. My plant and insect observations spike during June through August. And then the first few rains come in September, baby chanterelles start poking out, and the cycle repeats!
I like to take breaks from fungi sporadically throughout the year, and it’s refreshing. I’ve recently dipped my toes into birding, arachnids, and microorganisms! All of which I find fascinating.
In reality, there is something to be found at everytime of the year, whether it be plants, animals, fungi, crap - even microbes. I guess you just need to know where to look! There’s always something new to find! So go out there and start taking pictures of everything!
Exactly!
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Winter is harder logistically speaking. Many of the places I love during the Summer are inaccessible (or at least significantly more difficult to get to) in the winter, the plants are often all dead or dormant (except for the conifers), and many of the animals have migrated or holed up to hibernate until the Spring, so there is less to find on my adventures. My motivation is unchanged, though. I live alone in a city that wears me down little by little each day. Going out into nature is how I recharge, and sharing the pictures of the places I go and the things I see is one of the few ways I have to connect with family and friends that can’t be there to share the experience in person. It is a reprieve from the unhappy cycle of listless work and fitful sleep and an escape from worried thoughts about the state of the world and my own future. Compared to that alternative, I’ll gladly endure some rain and cold. The added benefit is that I don’t have to share the places that are overcrowded in Spring and Summer during the off-season.
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I am willing to go out in the cold and I can resign myself to the seasonal lack of bees if there are other arthropods to be found, but that fact that sunset is around 4 pm makes it logistically rather challenging to do much exploring in midwinter.
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I’m motivated to get outside in the winter because it’s a great time for invasive plant removal, which is my year-round obsession. I take a small camera that fits in my pocket and shoot anything interesting. True, there’s less to shoot than in the warmer weather. But it’s rewarding nonetheless. Getting outside for exercise - walking, hiking - is another motivation, using a better camera and the chance to catch some birds.
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Right now is a good time to look for winter waterfowl, if you’re in the East Coast of the United States that is. Can’t speak for anywhere else. But if I’m not looking for birds, certain invasives like Japanese Honeysuckle, Japanese Barberry, common ivy, etc. are easy to spot. Then there is always fungi if I’m feeling real bold.
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Winter is a good time for entomology. There aren’t as many species in the adult stage as in warmer months. But because most entomologists don’t do fieldwork in winter, there is a good chance you will find under-recorded species. Fence posts on a sunny winter day are a good place to find basking flies. Picking up insects from the snow can reveal species you wouldn’t normally see. The snow flea Boreus is the classic example. And water beetles are there all year round so the only difference is your hands are colder in winter. It is good to fill in the troughs in the seasonality diagrams.
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Being a botanist that collects plants for several local agencies, winter is a busier season than spring and summer. My goal for the winter is to identify, label, and document (incl. photograph), and send all my 2024 collections off to herbaria before collecting anything in 2025. Often I send myself down the rabbit hole of phylogeny and nomenclature history of an interesting species. That can easily fill two days. Trying to summarize what I learned in three or four paragraphs can fill another day. If you keep field notes, you can edit those into something readable. I once did a project to transcribe the field notes of a collector in the 1940s, and learned something about the history of the area they explored. Is there a museum near you? Maybe they could use a volunteer. etc. etc.
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Another winter bugging tip? Outdoor tunnels. If you can find an accessible open-air tunnel to explore, chances are you’ll find something. I’m lucky enough to have a large one nearby that has a pedestrian walkway against its walls and a fence along a little creek on the other side of the path. But I’ve also found small road bridges over creeks can act as bug shelters too.
New Year’s Eve, 2022:
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In terms of my passions, i really switch to weather focus and other things related to snow in winter.
In terms of work, lots of data entry, mapping, and report writing. Some of which i enjoy… not so much the report writing.
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Mostly looking at Frost Spiders on my cold cold windows, looking through gardening catalogs and hopefully adding to iNat via the forum, adding attributes and ids.
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Do you find many moths in winter? I started lightsheeting this summer, and I’ve lost motivation to go now it’s cold, assuming there wouldn’t be any moths.
It would still beat standing in a cold stream looking for amphibians!
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There are a few winter species, which i see nearly every night: Colostygia multistrigaria, Chemerina caliginearia, Larentia malvata, Nebula ibericata, Evergestis isatidalis, Cerastis faceta. In fact, sometimes so abundant that I’ve started to just upload one photo of each species and then write: x individuals seen…
Still I envy you for the opportunity to see amphibians…
Edit: and as bonus an occasional Polymixis.
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December 14th: Niagara, Ontario, Canada. The only live insect I saw today along an ice-covered trail:
I wouldn’t describe this one as ‘hopping’, or for that matter, its common name, ‘Early Leafhopper’. If this is ‘early’…
Today (Dec 15) same trail. Spotted movement on an exterior wall in the same park. An Eastern Carpenter. I haven’t seen one of these in probably a month. I wasn’t sure if it had frozen to death but when I gently exhaled some breath to warm it, it started to move. Slowly. It’s almost a miracle it has survived out there so long.
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These Polymixis are very handsome : )
A full 37% of the Larentia malvata obs are yours, wow!
Yes the Sierra Morena are very nice, a different habitat from the Guadalquivir valley, and so close, it’s like two habits for the price of one : )
You’ve just encouraged me to brave the cold at least once, cheers!
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My motivation is to see how our native plants look different during each season. I love capturing plants of the Oregon dunes during all seasons because many change quite a bit. I also prefer hiking when there are less people around…so winter suits me. We rarely get snow here, so that is not an issue in our west coast climate.
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Come to my place in Queensland, Australia Mate. it’s early summer here. Well OK, it’s stinking hot and raining so maybe not ideal, but you are welcome anyway.
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I’d love to!
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