Nature is very dependable! (at least sometimes)

How’s this for accuracy? Yesterday I mentioned to my wife that we saw a skunk at work, and wondered if it was a bad thing to see a skunk out during the day. She said she’d read somewhere that skunks are coming out this time of year, and that it’s a sign of spring. So I got out my trusty copy of The Natural History of Western Massachusetts (a great book that everyone who lives here or visits here should buy), and turned to the calendar of natural events, and lo and behold! It says that on 19/20 February the skunks are starting to venture out to breed. And yesterday was the 20th! Amazing.

Below is a snippet of the calendar from that book. I find it somehow comforting to know that with all the bad news about nature’s wrath getting worse and worse every year, some things still remain the same.

-Bill Siever

Source: Freeman, Stan, & Nasuti, Mike. (2007). The natural history of Western Massachusetts, p. 105. Florence, MA: Hampshire House Publishing Company.