Challenge yourself to get outside more this winter

While winter is great time to plan for summer hikes, camping trips or hunting trips, don’t forego exploring the outdoors in winter because of the cold and snow. In addition to making a list for next summer, make a list of activities you want to do before the snow melts. Sure, you may not cross everything off the list, but at least you’ll have more motivation to get outside and enjoy the wintery landscape. 

Even if the valley is snow-free, one can head to the mountains for a fun-filled day in the snow

With the first day of winter last Saturday, it isn’t too late to compile a list. Here are some ideas.

Hike a trail in winter that you normally only hike in the summer. Copper Falls, Myrtle Falls or Snow Falls look vastly different with ice formations and they usually can be accessed in winter. 

Or go off-trail. Snow opens up areas that are brush fields in the summer but a playground to skiers, snowshoers and snowmobilers in the winter. 

A small creek can create impressive icicle formations

Learn to identify animal tracks in the snow. Snow allows us to see what animals have been around the yard or active in the woods. Are the tracks in your yard that of a raccoon or a skunk? Are the big tracks on the road those of a wolf or a cougar?

Go ice skating--just make sure the ice is thick enough. Frozen water allows us to check out places only accessible by boat in the summer. Many animals are active in the winter and if you learn to identify tracks, a light dusting of snow on ice provides an opportunity to see what is around the lakes or sloughs, such as otters. 

Both a wolf (left) and a cougar (right) were traveling on a Forest Service road frequented by snowmobilers and skiers

Stay in a backcountry cabin. The options may be more limited than in the summer but there usually is less competition for a cabin. Snowmobilers, skiers and snowshoers can access various cabins in the region. West Fork Cabin doesn’t require reservations but does requires a few miles (or more depending on snow depth) to reach it. 

If there is snow on the ground, going outside on the night of a full moon barely requires the use of a headlight. Skiing or snowshoeing under a full moon is a memorable experience, whether in an open field in the valley or on a Forest Service road. If the weather cooperates, plan for an outing around Jan. 16, Feb. 14 or March 16.

Then when there is a new moon, bundle up and go outside to look at the constellations. Find a constellation map off the internet and see how many you can identify. Look at the night sky through binoculars to see stars you can’t see with your naked eye. Stargazing may be warmer in the summer but in the winter you don’t have to stay up late. 

Sometimes reaching the trailhead is an adventure

If you have a GPS and haven’t learned how to use it, winter can be the perfect time to pull out the manual and master the basics. Use the GPS on walks, to mark a route or to geocache. Geocaching is an opportunity to play with your GPS, find hidden containers and explore new places (learn more at www.geocaching.com).

Winter can be full of activity if you don’t mind putting on a few more layers or wearing a headlamp to see where you are going. Challenge yourself to get outside more this winter by making a list of activities to check off. You may find that winter becomes your favorite season.

Note: Published in the Bonners Ferry Herald on Dec. 26, 2013. 

More to a fire than flames and ashes

Staring into a campfire, watching the flames flicker and flare until the wood is reduced to glowing red coals can be mesmerizing. The warmth of a campfire is welcome on cool summer nights while camping or on cold, winter hikes during a lunch break. 

How does wood produce heat and light? Or even the wax in a candle? 

Fire is a chemical reaction between oxygen in the air and a fuel source, such as wood, wax or methane. In order for a fire to be sustainable, there needs to be fuel, oxygen and heat--the fire triangle-- and without all three the fire goes out. Put a jar over a lit candle and the flame will burn out. Throw water on a fire and the heat dissipates. 

Wood is reduced to ashes through chemical reactions that produce light, heat and gases

There is spontaneous combustion but most fires require an ignition source, such as a match or lightning. A match head contains chemicals that ignite at a relatively low temperature, around 360 degrees Fahrenheit. When a match is pulled across a rough surface, heat is generated by friction. If the match is struck fast enough, the friction will generate enough heat for the match to ignite because there is heat, fuel (chemicals in the match head) and oxygen. 

When looking at a fuel source, it is easy to assume the wood, wax or paper is burning. However, solids and liquids don’t burn--only gas burns. Heat is needed to vaporize gases from the solid or liquid. 

For example, when a lit match touches a piece of paper, the flame from the match heats up the paper until flammable gases are given off, whether from being vaporized or from the heat breaking down the paper molecules into gases. These gases then combust when a certain temperature is reached. The heat generated by the combustion causes more flammable gases to be released and the fire is sustained.

When certain gases released from wood reach 450 degrees Fahrenheit they ignite, but some gases don't ignite until the temperature is near 1,100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Each fuel source has a certain temperature at which it ignites. A piece of paper is a lot easier to ignite with a match than a piece of plastic. At the ignition temperature, the fuel can rapidly unite with oxygen. 

The chemical reaction that takes place during combustion combines hydrogen molecules with oxygen molecules to form water molecules, carbon dioxide and/or carbon monoxide, and energy (released as heat). 

For example, when methane (CH4), the main component of natural gas, burns it reacts with two molecules of oxygen (O2) to form two water molecules, one carbon dioxide molecule, and heat.

If a component needed in the reaction is minimal (such as not enough oxygen), the combustion is termed incomplete combustion. If there isn’t enough oxygen present when methane is burning to fully oxide the carbon, carbon monoxide forms instead of carbon dioxide. 

Incomplete combustion also creates soot. Soot is microscopic particles of carbon  that didn’t have any oxygen to combine with during combustion. Soot creates flame, such as a candle flame. When soot becomes hot enough, it begins to glow and the glow of hot soot creates a yellow or orange flame. 

Smoke is also the result of incomplete combustion. Smoke is the suspension of small particles in the air leftover from incomplete combustion of a fuel. 

Wood with a moisture content higher than 20 percent will burn but will produce a lot of smoke, such as when burning conifer boughs.

Not everything in a fuel source is combustible. The ashes remaining after a campfire are minerals in the wood that didn’t burn, such as calcium and potassium. 

From wood to flame to ash, the chemical reaction behind fire can be mind-boggling enough to let oneself just enjoy the flames as they flicker.

Note: Published in the Bonners Ferry Herald on Dec. 19, 2013. 

Eurasian collared-doves a relative newcomer to Idaho

When thinking of invasive species, one often thinks of weeds. But some birds also qualify as invasive, most notably European starlings, house finches, English sparrows and rock pigeons. In the last few decades, another bird has invaded and colonized the United States faster than any other bird species--the Eurasian collared-dove. 

Slightly larger than a mourning dove, Eurasian collared-doves have a broad, square tail and a black collar. The rhythmic coo of the Eurasian collared-dove is slightly lower in pitch than a mourning dove. Both the male and female Eurasian collared-dove are similar in appearance.

Eurasian collared-doves can be identified by the black collar on the back of their necks

The Eurasian collared-dove has a long history of being an invasive bird. Originally native to the Bay of Bengal region (India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar) in the 1600’s, the Eurasian collared-dove spread towards Europe and by the 1900’s was found throughout Europe. 

Then in the 1970’s, the Eurasian collared-dove was introduced to the Bahamas (either by the escape or release of pets). By the 1980’s, the dove had dispersed to the Caribbean and southern Florida. 

From there, the Eurasian collared-dove invaded the United States in a northwesterly direction and reached Oregon by the end of the 1990’s. By 2005, the Audubon Christmas Bird Count recorded the dove in 32 states and four Canadian provinces (British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario). 

Eurasian collared-doves spread quickly because they prefer urban and suburban areas which have been expanding with the growth of the human population. The doves favor highly-modified landscapes over forested landscapes and feed on seeds, grains and occasionally berries and small invertebrates.

Their dispersal method is described as “leapfrog” or “jump and backfill”. Instead of gradually expanding their range, Eurasian collared-doves fly, sometimes hundreds of miles, to a suitable location. Then as the newly established population grows, it expands and eventually colonizes the area between the two locations. 

Mourning doves have expanded their range across North America but in a gradual fashion. Mourning doves are native to North America and have gradually expanded northward into the northern United States and Canada.

Eurasian collared-doves are relative newcomers to Boundary County, Idaho and are frequent visitors to bird feeders

Eurasian collared-doves can rapidly expand because of their prolific breeding. Depending on the climate, doves can raise three to six broods annually with two eggs per brood. 

They readily feed at bird feeders, in barnyards and around silos with spilled grains. Unlike other invasive species, Eurasian collared-doves haven’t negatively impacted native dove populations in warmer regions according to Cornell Lab of Ornithology researchers. With the recent expansion to colder regions, researchers are waiting to see if they compete with native doves.

The Eurasian collared-dove is anticipated to expand farther into Canada and New England as the population expands, leading researchers to believe it may become the “beige starling” of the United States.

Note: Published in the Bonners Ferry Herald on Dec. 12, 2013.

Molt, snowfall don’t always coincide for snowshoe hares

A flash of white darts across the road into a brown thicket of leafless vegetation. The snowshoe hare typically blends into its surroundings but with no snowfall at lower elevations in November, the white-coated hare stood out like a sore thumb.

The length of daylight triggers snowshoe hares to molt from brown to white in the fall and white to brown in the spring. The molting process takes between 70 and 90 days to complete. 

Snowshoe hares take 70 to 90 days to complete their molt

When low elevation snow is late, the white-coated hares are extremely vulnerable to predators. Even though snowshoe hares are active between dusk and dawn, being white against brown ground makes them easier targets for a myriad number of predators.

Not only do snowshoe hares have to avoid terrestrial predators, such as bobcats, lynx, foxes, weasels and coyotes, they also have to avoid the sharp eyes of predators overhead, including owls and hawks. 

In most portions of their range, snowshoe hares molt into a white winter coat. In the southern portions of their range, some hares remain brown year-round.

When camouflage doesn’t work, snowshoe hares deploy other tactics to avoid predators, such as speed and agility. Snowshoe hares can run nearly 30 mph and can quickly change directions. They also can leap over 10 feet in a single bound to confuse predators. 

During winter, their large hind feet help them stay on top of deep snow (hence the name snowshoe hare) when smaller-footed predators cannot. 

A snowshoe hare's large feet enable it to stay on top of the snow. Their hind feet can spread as wide as 4.5 inches to increase surface area.

Despite their speed, agility and camouflage, only 15 percent of snowshoe hares live to be a year old. The snowshoe hares that survive into adulthood (over a year old) multiply rapidly to keep the population afloat.

A female produces one to four litters a year and each litter consists of one to six leverets (baby hares)--meaning she could raise up to 24 young a year.

Leverets are born with hair, eyes open and the ability to move shortly after birth, unlike cottontail rabbit young. Hares also don’t make underground burrows like rabbits but instead make a nest of soft material and fur plucked from her fur coat in a shallow depression or in a hollow log. 

A mountain cottontail rabbit doesn't molt into a white coat for winter and has shorter hind feet.

Camouflage is important for leverets because they are not quick enough to outrun predators. Instead, leverets remain motionless to avoid detection. 

Predation seems to rule the life of hares and causes them to feed rapidly while exposed to the threat of predators. They eat green plants in the summer and woody vegetation in the winter.

To digest all the nutrients from their food, snowshoe hares are coprophagous--meaning they eat their feces to extract additional nutrients. The cellulose in plants is hard to digest and animals need a long digestive tract to extract all the nutrients. To compensate for a shorter digestive tract, snowshoe hares produce two types of pellets-soft and hard.

Hares eat the soft, jelly-like pellets directly from their anus (which is why we rarely find soft pellets). After the second time through the digestive tract, hard pellets are excreted. Unlike deer that excrete a pile of pellets at once, snowshoe hares deposit one pellet at a time, which is why there is often one pellet in a snowshoe hare track. If a pile of pellets is found, the snowshoe hare most likely was stationary for awhile, either resting or eating.

Snowshoe hares deposit one pellet at a time but if they are in one spot for awhile they may leave several pellets.

In the winter when hares are hard to see against the snowy backdrop, the “runs” they create between resting and feeding areas help us and other predators clue in to their presence. A presence that is in a continual state of uncertainty, especially if there is a late onset of snow. 

Note: Published in the Bonners Ferry Herald on Dec. 5, 2013.