I hadn’t gotten out there for a while, so Saturday, March 7, even though I knew most of the lakes and ponds were still ice covered, and north slopes snow covered, I thought, what the heck.

My first stop was Parryville Dam, and then I made my way to Beltzville Lake. And, as expected, only a few coves were ice free. It was only a half-hour after sunrise and I was hoping to add a few new birds to my list.

But my first neat find was in a harvested cornfield just north of the lake where I saw four deer feeding. It was still quite foggy but I thought they were bucks.

I pulled over at a safe spot, grabbed the camera and quickly snapped a few photos before they bolted.

I was sure at least one was still holding its antlers, and later when I pulled up the pictures on the computer, all four were. One had dropped its right antler, another had dropped its left antler, and the other two still held onto both. Neat.

I noted in my nature log that on March 7, 2026, after a rather cold and snowy winter, the bitter cold didn’t cause them to shed.

Later, while driving into my property in Franklin Township, 3 inches of snow still covered most the forest floor, and with a temperature about 40 degrees, I noticed something much smaller, but maybe even more intriguing.

About 20 square feet of the snow’s surface was covered with pepper. Well, some of us who get out there a lot already know that it wasn’t pepper but snow fleas. Snow fleas, correctly called springtails, emerge at various times in late winter. I certainly couldn’t count them but there had to be hundreds of thousands, or more.

When I got close to them to try for some pictures, I could see them “hopping.” The movement was very slight; they flipped like fleas.

Over the years I’ve found them on dry leaves, and on a quiet day and listening carefully, I could actually hear them landing on the leaves. Another one of nature’s treats, and I was glad to find them. It made my day.

Two days later, I was out in the woods again.

Wow, had the scenery changed. I could only find one or two small patches of snow as Sunday’s, and that morning’s, warm temperatures and recent rain melted away the snow. I had three goals in mind. One was to try to photograph some club mosses (now exposed with the snow gone). The second, I thought I might find a few sheds of any buck that survived the winter. And, of course, the third, just getting out there and never knowing what I’d find.

I saw my first chipmunks of the spring, I saw and heard a pileated woodpecker, and boy was it busy. One stump and slowly rotting trunk held some carpenter ants and he must have had a feast. The icing on the cake though this late morning was spying migrating Canada and snow geese. I felt the strong upper southwest winds would usher their movement, and it sure did. I spent the first hour or so sitting in a field, and in that time more than 90 flocks winged northward. Another nature bonus.

But, referring back to last week’s column, today, after pushing through some thick underbrush, I looked at my hand and sure enough, a day after the snow had melted, I found two black-legged (deer) ticks. A quick inspection of my pants revealed three more.

So, even though last week’s trivia answer revealed that warmer winter temperatures is one factor for increased deer tick numbers, our very cold January and early February didn’t dent this area’s population of ticks. The sources I researched listed warmer winter temps, climate change, increased deer populations and forest fragmentation as reasons tick numbers have exploded.

I know the area in which I was walking had much deer scat on the ground, so at least today my location in deer country was the biggest factor. So, from experience, just within the last week I’m reminding you that ticks are already active. Be vigilant.

Test Your Outdoor Knowledge: On my walk today, the forest floor was covered with dead and brown ferns, but I also found patches of green ferns (although flattened by the winter snow cover.) These ferns retaining their chlorophyll were: A. Christmas ferns; B. bracken ferns; C. sensitive ferns. D. hay-scented ferns.

Email Barry Reed at breed71@gmail.com