In the annual rhythm of our urban lives, the holiday season marks a transitional period from old into new. Television, magazines and newspapers are chock full of year-that-was retrospectives at this time of year.
On the first day of January we wake up to a brand new year. We take down the old calendar and hang up the new. The annual rhythm of life starts all over again.
So it is too with the urban ecosystem. A thick layer of ice covers our rivers as the sun rises on the New Year, but water flows beneath that ice and the cycle of life flows with it.
The New Year brings the low point in nature's annual cycle. Most mammals are hibernating in their burrows. Butterflies are slumbering in the hollows of rotting logs beneath a blanket of snow. Most birds have flown south.
For nature watchers, though, the holiday season is an exciting period marked by the annual Christmas Bird Counts (occurring this year on Dec 19). Ongoing in Calgary since 1952, Bird Count activities have now spread across Alberta giving bird watchers dozens of opportunities to get involved watching wildlife.
But for amateur phenologists -- nature watchers who carefully note the time of recurring natural phenomena -- there is the added anticipation of facing a brand new season of firsts.
The year is new. The slate is clean. When will they hear their first woodpecker drumming? See their first butterfly? First hummingbird? Or first wild rose?
Phenology is not a new hobby here in Calgary. Members of the Calgary Field Naturalists' Society have been keeping records of natural phenomena for at least 53 years.
Phil Cram, who is leading the Calgary Bird Count for the third consecutive year, has seen participation in that event grow to a high of more than 180 participants.
What is new, though, is the way in which phenology is becoming a community activity that reaches out beyond organized natural history groups to involve the average person.
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Until twenty years ago, people kept logbooks. Information was shared through journals or at natural history club meetings. Phenology was still a private hobby.
The advent of electronic mail, however, led to the establishment of newsgroups and allowed hobbyists to share information almost immediately. This was the beginning of phenology as a real-time community enterprise.
But it was the proliferation of the Internet and the development of database-driven websites where amateur phenologists can report their first sightings of the year that brought phenology into the mainstream for most people.
These days, Web sites like weaselhead.org and naturewatch.ca allow visitors to report firsts of all kinds -- from first birds, butterflies and wildflowers popular on weaselhead.org to first frogs, worms and even melting ice on naturewatch.ca.
What is driving interest in these Web sites? Who watches worms? Who cares when ice melts?
At least part of it is driven by interest in the subject of climate change figures Elisabeth Beaubien, Project Coordinator of the University of Alberta's Plant Watch program.
"These phenology data," notes her Web site, "collected over many years, provide information on average spring development time for different areas, and also show how much earlier or later each succeeding season is." In other words, they help us see "how the biota is responding to climate change.
For most amateur phenologists, though, the fascination with their hobby comes from the list of firsts itself and from the anticipation that comes with keeping it each year.
The fact that they can now go online and share their lists with other nature enthusiasts or that their data may help scientists understand the impact of climate change is simply an added bonus.
© Brent Johner. Originally published in Neighbours (Calgary Herald), December 2003. Reprint rights available.
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FIRST SOUNDS TO NOTE EARLY IN THE NEW YEAR
On bright, sunny days male Black-capped Chickadees will start singing their spring song -- expressed phonetically as pee-ooo. These are typically the first birds to start singing their mating songs in the New Year.
By night and on cloudy and dark winter days listen for owls calling to attract mates. The deep hoots of Great Horned Owls and the rapid, mechanical piping of tiny Northern Saw-whet Owls are the first signs that the annual cycle has started anew.
In mid to late February, listen for woodpeckers drumming on trees in parks and on utility poles in communities. Many birds sing to attract mates but male woodpeckers drum.
FIRST SIGHTS TO NOTE EARLY IN THE NEW YEAR
Watch for male Pine Grosbeaks -- sometimes called winter robins -- donning their brilliant red mating colours by late January. This "ripening" of the grosbeaks will occur earlier or later in response to the temperatures offered up by Mother Nature in January and February.
When mid-winter chinooks push the mercury over the top and water starts rushing in the gutters, watch for the sudden an unexpected emergence of winter butterflies. Mourning Cloaks and Satyr Anglewings are commonly seen in wooded areas during January chinooks and are usually the first butterflies to make annual phenology lists in Calgary.
Watch all winter for signs of vole activity in your yards and gardens. During winter months voles build tunnels in the snow leading to and from food sources. Squirrels, rabbits and voles are typically the first native mammals to make phenology lists in Calgary.
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