November 30 - Freezing Rain

FreezingRain - Freezing rain begins as snow falling from a cloud towards the earth. It melts completely on its way down through a layer of warm (above freezing) air and then supercools in a small layer of cold air just before it impacts the surface. Due to being supercooled the water freezes again upon impact. The ice can accumulate to thicknesses of several centimeters.

FirstChill - Winter begins when the average daily temperature falls below 43 degrees F. Plant growth stops; leaves, stems, and flowers die.

November 28 - Winter Coiling

WinterCoiling - Hundreds of Rattlesnakes entwine, using the same hibernaculums (winter denning sites) year after year. These snakes found a remote drainage culvert to curl up for the winter.

SpidersWeb - After eating insects all summer, spiders are at their largest and making the biggest webs of the year. Some can produce 2000 feet of thread without a rest.

November 23 - Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving - Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is an annual one-day holiday to give thanks (traditionally to God), for the things one has at the close of the harvest season. In the US, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November, and in Canada it is celebrated on the second Monday in October. In the United Kingdom, Thanksgiving is another name for the Harvest Festival, held in churches across the country on a relevant Sunday to mark the end of the local harvest, though it is not thought of as a major event (compared to Christmas or Easter) as it is in North America, where this tradition taken by early settlers became much more important
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November 22 - Snowshoe Hare

SnowshoeHare - (Lepus americanus) also called the varying hare, is a species of hare found in North America. It has the name "snowshoe" because its back feet are so big, it looks as though it is wearing big shoes to walk in the snow. The animal's big feet prevent it from sinking into the snow when it hops and walks.

For camouflage, its fur turns white during the winter and rusty brown during the summer. Its underparts are white year-round. The Snowshoe Hare is also distinguishable by the black tufts of fur on the edge of its ears. Their ears are shorter than those of most other hares.

In summer, they feed on plants like grass, ferns and leaves; in winter, they eat twigs, the bark from trees and buds from flowers and plants. They are sometimes seen feeding in small groups. These animals are mainly active at night and do not hibernate.

November 20 - Andromeda

Andromeda - The Andromeda Galaxy, also known as Messier 31, M31, or NGC 224; older texts often called it the Andromeda Nebula, is a spiral galaxy approximately 2.5 million light-years away in the constellation Andromeda. The Andromeda Galaxy is easily visible to the naked eye in a moderately dark sky, though such a sky is available only in smaller towns and isolated areas reasonably far from population centers and sources of light pollution.


Andromeda was believed to be the largest galaxy of the Local Group of galaxies, which consists of the Andromeda Galaxy, the Milky Way Galaxy (above), and the Triangulum Galaxy (below), and about 30 other smaller galaxies. Due to recent findings based on improved measurements and data, scientists now believe that the Milky Way contains more dark matter and may be the most massive in the grouping.

November 14 - Aurora Borealis

AuroraBorealis - (Northern Lights) are there throughout the year, but they can only be observed against the night sky. Look for faint vertical bars of light in the northern sky - sometimes visible as far south as California.

Aurora Borealis is named after the Roman goddess of the dawn, Aurora, and the Greek name for north wind, Boreas, since in Europe especially it often appears as a reddish glow on the northern horizon as if the sun were rising from an unusual direction.

November 9 - Salmon Run

SalmonRun - this annual event when salmon swim back up the rivers in which they were born to spawn. Pacific salmon spawn and then die, while Atlantic salmon winter over in deep spots in the river, and try to return to the sea to recover in the spring and return to spawn again in two years.

FoodForAll - Most salmon die after they spawn, providing eagles, bears, otters and others a vital food source in anticipation of winter. Without salmon, these populations of scavengers and predators would decline greatly.

November 3 - Mallard Sord

MallardSord - A group of Mallard ducks who live, travel and feed together. The Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) is a common and widespread dabbling duck which breeds throughout the temperate and sub-tropical areas of North America, Europe and Asia. It also frequents Central America and the Caribbean, and has been introduced into Australia and New Zealand. It is now the most common duck in New Zealand. It is probably the best-known of all ducks.
It is a bird of most wetlands, including parks, small ponds and rivers, and usually feeds by dabbling for plant food or grazing. It nests usually on a river bank, but not always particularly near water. This is a noisy species. The male has a nasal call, whereas the female has the very familiar "quack" always associated with ducks.

Mallards form pairs only until the female lays eggs, at which time she is left by the male. The clutch is 8–13 eggs, which are incubated for 27–28 days to hatching with 50–60 days to fledging. The ducklings are precocial, and can swim and feed themselves on insects as soon as they hatch, although they stay near the female for protection. Young ducklings are not naturally waterproof and rely on the mother to provide waterproofing. Mallards also have rates of male-male sexual activity that are unusually high for birds. In some cases, as many as 19% in a Mallard population are male-male pairs.