The hills are covered with bare branches. They don’t look very inviting for winter hikes, but there are interesting things out there.
Birds
Most of the year birds say hidden behind leaves. I hear them singing or scolding, but rarely catch more than a glimpse.
Winter is different. There are few leaves to hide behind. Fewer kinds of birds are out there, but they can be seen.
Cardinals are the most visible. The males have put on their mating finery so their red glows.
Woodpeckers are beginning to nest so the sound of wood being chiseled is everywhere. The males are drumming to advertise their latest nesting holes.
Plants
The trees and shrubs may be bare, the ground isn’t. Mosses and lichens coat the ground with greens and grays. Christmas and ebony spleenwort ferns add green spikes.
A number of plants do sprout in the late summer into fall and overwinter as small sets of leaves. Trying to identify them is a fun challenge on winter hikes.
Trees and I have an uneasy relationship. I like trees. However, photographing them is difficult as they are so tall.
Still, on winter hikes, I take photographs of winter buds on branches I pull down. Then I go in to stumble my way through the “Missoui Trees in Winter” keys trying to identify them.
Once the trees leaf out, I will go back and use leaves to identify these trees. And I can look up to the branches far overhead on some trees I can’t include in my Flora project unless I learn to climb trees.
Weather
The biggest drawback to winter hikes is the weather. Many days I stand at the windows looking out at the hills. Cold, rain, snow, ice are good reasons to stay inside.
One nice thing about the Ozarks weather are the warmer spells mixed into the cold ones. Going out walking is possible then.