It's not easy being green...

Two nights ago I went for stroll around town and realized that the level of background noise during my evening strolls had increased significantly in the past few days. On Sunday, thousands of snow geese flew east over the Centre throughout the day and evening. It continued on Monday with so many new arrivals of birds, ducks and geese, the chatter of dogs outside and there it was... the "wood frog chuckle". The frogs on the tundra had thawed out of their winter hibernation and begun their mating calls. The wood frog call sounds a bit like a chuckle while the boreal chorus frog call sounds like running your finger down a comb.

These frogs are amazing critters and sometimes as I stand in the whipping winter wind (at -40 oC) on the tundra, I do think about them burrowed in the ground and leaf litter under the snow hibernating and utilizing their body's energy stores from the previous summer. The "wake up" call of spring melt means a thaw out and get on with the business of feeding and breeding during the summer months. It really can't be easy being green...

Photo of a wood frog from Krista Hanis

The warm temperatures on Monday meant that the snow pack is quickly disappearing and where there still is snow, it's soft and you sink to the bottom. This was quickly discovered by a our volunteer as she was recruited to the shovel team to help get out of a snowy situation (yes we do let the volunteers out of the kitchen the odd time).

Photo by Krista Hanis

The warm temperatures continued yesterday followed by a few rain showers late in the afternoon. Overnight last night the temperatures were cooler than expected with fog depositing ice. It made for a beautiful scoot into town last night at the end of the work day and a more challenging return journey this morning.... (in Carley's science voice) my shins were freezing, well, mostly my knee caps. A great way to start the Ruckus scooting season for sure.