I didn’t write a field report during the month of December. It was a very quiet month, but when you look at it overall, there was plenty of action out on the trails. Here is a summary for the month.
The winter birds have arrived, and the typical backyard birds are starting to come back from their fall harvests. I saw a pair of gadwalls, hooded mergansers, and a bufflehead duck in the retention ponds. There was a large group of rew-winged black birds on the trail one day, and a group of cedar waxwings off in the distance on another day. A great blue heron was hunting from a tree this week.
The deer have been roaming around in the woods close to my home. On Christmas morning, there was an oppossum running through the backyard! Christmas day was warm enough for the green anoles to be out looking for food.
I found a new (to me) plant this month: southern ground-cedar. The first blooms of Japanese apricot appeared at the end of the month. I also saw dandelions, common chickweed, henbit, dead nettle, bulbous buttercup and common yarrow.
What did you find in December?