By Max Kornetzke, habitat manager

Only recently have I really started to appreciate the beauty our winters have to offer. I used to view it as an uncomfortable nuisance and waited anxiously for greenery that was months away. Getting out of the house to walk somewhere natural and slow down to observe the details around me has transformed my relationship with winter.

I used to see winter as drab and gray but now I see mosses and lichens brightly contrasting the fallen leaves. I see giant white pine poking out the top of the woods and the subtle shift in color of conifer needles. I see last season’s songbird nests through bare branches of the shrub thicket and frosted bunchgrasses glistening in the meadow opening. I see radiating patterns on the icy surfaces of swales and buds of next year’s leaves and flowers already formed on the tips of the branches.  And when the snow flies, I see the way it decorates the branches and textured bark of the yellow birch tree.

Photo of Yellow Birch from Woodland Dunes archives