Friday, October 30, 2009

10/20/09 IS THERE A SEVERE WINTER AHEAD?

HIGHBUSH CRANBERRY BUSH
HIGHBUSH CRANBERRIES


Friday, 9:00 AM. 51 degrees, wind SW, calm. The channel is calm, the sky overcast and the barometer predicts rain, with another .75” in the gage.
Shrubs have been colorful this year, and this highbush cranberry (Viburnum americanum) along the woods edge on Ninth Street is still in leaf.
Joan and I haven’t seen a cardinal since summer, and are wondering if they have flown further south in anticipation of a severe winter. They have been winter residents in Bayfield for some years now, and may very well be an indicator species, as they are at the northern edge of their current range here.