NEWS FROM THE NORTHERN OBSERVATION POSTS MARCH 14, 2006 Joyanne Hamilton: Innoko River School, Shageluk, Alaska As the earth rotates in the spring, Alaska begins to be filled with glorious sunlight! At this posting sunrise is around 6:30 a.m. and sunset around 8:00 p.m. We are gaining about 3 minutes or more of sunlight per day. With the increased sunlight come the birds! Our first spring birds are usually Bald Eagles. We have recorded them coming as early as March 9 and as late as April 12 in our 8 years of recording. {Coincidently, people in our area start ice fishing as Northern Pike start an "under-the-ice" migration in the Yukon and Innoko River.)We are not sure where our Bald Eagles migrate from and have asked Eagle scientists before. Some think they migrate to our area from the Aleutian Islands. Our next spring bird we usually will be Snow Buntings. They are "passers-through" as they are usually on their way to the Bering Sea coastal areas to nest. As of this posting--NO MIGRATORY BIRDS to our area. We'll let you know when the first spring bird comes our way! Birds that live here year long: Camp Robbers (Gray Jay) Black Capped and Boreal Chickadee Pine Grosbeak Raven Common and Hoary Redpolls Downy Woodpeckers Ptarmigan Willow and Spruce Grouse We have about 5 feet of snow. Temps right now are at minus 15 F. but the sun is shining! We consider the increase sunlight as our first "sign of spring"! Mike Sterling: Sand Lake School, Anchorage, AK Spring is, as you know, different from what you experience in the lower-48. At this time of year, we get increasing daylight to the tune of six additional minutes a day. The difference between the darkness of mid-winter and the light of ‘spring’ is something that never ceases to amaze all of us who live at these high latitudes. People change when the light comes back. I always joke that things get weird around the third week of February when sixth-graders feel sunlight transmitted into their pineal glands and their annual transformation into teen-agers begins with a chemical bang. It’s stark, and uncannily consistent. Our weather may be bright, but it’s cold. When I left my house this morning the thermometer read 0 degrees Fahrenheit. A brisk north wind made it feel much nippier. And yet it was so clear that we all had to blink as we descended the hill to town. There are no birds here yet, and we’re watchful this year with the threat of avian flu. Bruce Bennett: Whitehorse, YT It is still very much winter in Whitehorse. The day length is getting close to being the same all over North America (12 hours on March 21). Then the north will have longer days than the south. The sun rises at 7:36 and sets at 18:45 (on Feb 8 the sun rose at 9:01 and set at 17:30). We have about 1 foot (30 cm) of snow on the ground, and received an additional 5 inches (12.5 cm) yesterday. The first spring arrivals the Bohemian Waxwings that move just south of us and return mid-February, are back. Other than that I have heard of no signs of spring. We didn’t get the extreme temperatures (-40C+) that we usually get; however, I believe overall the winter was about average. Gray Jays are building nests and Boreal and Great Horned Owls are active in their spring serenades. The temperatures are dropping again as the winds are out of the north. Expected to be minus 23C tonight. Stan White, Homer, Alaska We have two obvious signs that spring is moving towards us here on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula. One is that the days are growing noticeably longer. Last month we were walking to school in the dark at 7:30 in the morning; now it is very light. According to the charts, our sunrise is at 7:33 am, but the sun isn't coming up over the mountains yet until after 8:30. We have an official 11 hours and 15 minutes of daylight (up from under 6 hours in December) and we're gaining almost 6 minutes a day so we can join the rest of the world in celebrating 12 hours of sunlight on March 21 (or whenever the equinox is this year). The other obvious sign of coming spring is that the calendar says it's March. Otherwise things look pretty much the same as they have for quite a while: We have about 2 1/2 feet of snow, the lows are in the low teens and the highs in the high twenties; this seems normal for us for this time of year, as opposed to the past two years when it felt like global warming was having an immediate effect. There are a few more subtle signs that spring is on the way. For instance, the ravens are making a lot of noise and engaging in aerial acrobatics more often than earlier, which means they are pairing up for the nesting season; the Pine Grosbeaks seem to be singing a little more boisterously than before; and I may have heard a junco singing yesterday afternoon, although my impression was likely influence by the bright sunshine we've been having and that indefinable "something" in the crisp air. But we know that spring is on the way and our hearts are filling with the expectation of great things to come! Dominique Cloutier: St Sauveur des Monts, PQ We still have so much snow that I don't think I'll see or hear any birds for the next few weeks :( This winter has been a rather special winter since we haven’t really had the usual cold days that we get in January-February, but we have tons and tons of snow! Marc Landry: Beresford, NB No new arrival so far, but I’m keeping my eyes and ears open!!! This past winter was mild and the snow fall is quite less than usual. We had 3 major rain and freezing rain storms, and temperatures in the 10oC in February (much higher than the average of -10oC). At this time, we have about 2 feet of snow on the ground. The last 2 days were mild and we started to see water trickling and puddles forming along the roads. Sunlight has increased and the sunset is now past 6:30pm. Shirley Bell: Pinawa, MB This has been the weirdest winter in a long time. Cold in Nov., warm in Dec. and Jan., then bitterly cold in Feb. with the result the river never completely froze over. March has gone from minus C to plus C so we have snow, ice or rain all in the same week. I have noticed more birds, but with the mild winter and low amount of snow, they have stayed in the forest around town. We are still overrun with deer, which the visitors love. Wayne Dwornik: Lethbridge, AB (49° 42' N. 112° 46' W Elevation: 921.10 meters; about 1-hour’s drive north of the Can/US border, north and a little bit west of Great Falls, Montana. We are a prairie city (population now of 77,000)) We have had a very, very mild winter this year in southern Alberta. Meanwhile our eastern neighbours (Manitoba, Ontario and the Maritimes, especially Newfoundland/Labrador)have had lots of winter storms. Since the New Year, we have had a bit of snow, but still very mild warm weather even for Lethbridge. This year it has just been warm, usually hovering just around freezing.. We often get Chinooks here (very warm dry winds that blow over from the mountains – melting the snow and capable of raising temperatures 10-20 even 30 degrees in just hours). Friday we had one and the water was running everywhere down the streets. Based on the Old Farmer’s Almanac web site, our days here got longer by 1 hour and 41 minutes since Feb 12. That’s a pretty big change considering February is also a short month. In our neighbourhood this winter I’ve seen magpies, and crows, one Red-shafted Flicker, and about 25 bohemian waxwings—but no robins yet! Kris Owens: Homer, AK This part of Alaska (the Kenai Peninsula) has had a pretty typical winter. Seeing everything from below zero temperatures in November to all of our snow melting away in December is nothing new! At this point, temperatures are a little cooler than normal, with recent lows being in the single digits, and highs of about 20 to 25 degrees (f). There is snow on the ground (about 22 - 24 inches in our area) and we have been taking advantage of it over the "spring break" with lots of skiing. This weather had also been perfect for the Arctic Winter Games, which have been taking place over the last week. Athletes from all over the circumpolar region, including Greenland, Northwest Territories, Alberta, Alaska, Nunavut, Nunavik-Quebec, Russia, Saami, and Yukon have gathered in the spirit of competition and friendship for this annual event. While we haven't had any snow-days we did have had an "ash day" when Augustine Volcano erupted in January. Augustine is part of the Aleutian Arc, the northern part of the Ring of Fire. From the Homer area, we can see five volcanoes, whose names we can remember with the Mnemonic - "D.A.I.R.S." - Douglas, Austine, Illiamna, Redoubt, and Spur. In terms of the spring migration, we are looking forward to it but as yet, the only sign of it is the lengthening photoperiod. At this point, we are gaining over five minutes of daylight each day, with a photoperiod of over 11 hours 30 minutes. We look forward to seeing and hearing our first robins, and will let you know as soon as that happens! Ute Keitsch: Port Hope, ON On March 10th I went looking for Robins and found 4 just up the road around a big red barn. They were making all the noises but not singing. At 6:15am on Saturday morning, we felt like the curtain was lifted. Singing Robins, territorial Robins, pipping, Robins every where. We both sat outside most of the afternoon celebrating spring on our lookout deck in the sunshine. Our winter was mild, twice we a snowfall of about 20 to 25 centimeters. We are so close to Lake Ontario who stays warm ALL winter. Today we will have a short "Heat wave:" PLUS 17 Celsius, but pouring Rain. There lots and lots of berries on all the trees. Our daylight time is now 12 hrs. Margot Hervieux: Grande Prairie, AB After a very mild winter with no real snow until February, Grande Prairie is having a cold and snowy March. Temperatures remain below 0 degrees C in the daytime and we have 6 - 8 inches of snow on the ground. It is great, however, to have the sun up just after 7 am and we are expecting our first Canada geese any day. John Nagy: Inuvik, NT It was minus 38 C here this morning in Inuvik--although supposed to warm up to minus 25. No robins in sight, but lots of snow--approximate 3 feet-more snow than usual.           Copyright 2006 Journey North. All Rights Reserved. Please send all questions, comments, and suggestions to our feedback form.