The beginning of December has been a series of sightings, all different kinds, in different places. First, there were the ticks, deer ticks, at home and away. I saw them in my skin, in December. In an ordinary year, they would have been tucked away for the winter, but with our warm temperatures so far, they are still out. I check my dog each time we go out, so I guess I picked them up on my own. One of them left its head in my skin. (Did I mention that I hate ticks? They give me the creeps.)

Hawks are still around, too. One morning I opened curtains on the back of my house just in time to see a medium sized hawk swooping toward me. It had its eye on something, and was pursuing it just a few feet off the ground. It flew past, and swept up the hill. A beautiful sight, but too short a time to get a good identification. It was probably a sharp shinned, but I can’t be sure.

A few days later, I was walking with some third graders from the Cole School in Norwell on their own trail, and we saw two harrier hawks. Their trail includes a small pond with some wetlands, good habitat for them. At Vinal School, also in Norwell, another group of third graders students saw a large squirrel table on their trail. Fifth graders at Vinal are reading a story about a boy who built a shelter in the woods, so these fifth graders are building shelters out of fallen wood and leaves. The squirrels had taken advantage of one of the shelters, and there was a big pile of pine cone pieces right in the middle of it.

At the Nature Center, where I work, squirrels have amassed the largest squirrel table I have ever seen. The cone pieces are piled thickly over a large area. I’m curious how many squirrels it took to amass this pile, but I’ve never seen them. They scatter as soon as anyone enters the woods. In any case, it should be a good winter for them; they certainly won’t run out of food.

In nature, you never know what you will see. If you are lucky, nature will come to you, and sometimes, you will just be in the right place.