Environment & Outdoors

Backyard Almanac

Phenology with local naturalist Larry Weber every Friday morning at 8:20 on Northland Morning.

Backyard Almanac: so far, "the dark month" is bright sunny skies and bright moonlit nights

The North 103.3 | By Lisa Johnson

Published December 4, 2020 at 11:59 AM CST

So far, December is following the pattern set by October and November: quiet and dry, thawing during the day and freezing up overnight.

Starting Monday, the dark month earns its nickname with 4:20pm sunsets - the earliest of the year - for about a week. And then ... they start getting later again.

Could spring be far behind? It's probably too soon to ask that.

This is not a flying squirrel. It IS a squirrel and he IS flying, but he's a red squirrel flying, not a flying squirrel. Got it?

Larry also mentioned it's almost Christmas Bird Count time again; you can find a lot of information about the Count and how you can take part in our area by checking out these links on Audubon's website.

This northern shrike was camera-shy. The rest of the photos showed only the back of his head.

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Lisa Johnson

Lisa Johnson started her broadcast career anchoring the television news at her high school and spinning country music at KWWK/KOLM Radio in Rochester, Minnesota. She was a reporter and news anchor at KTHI in Fargo, ND (not to mention the host of a children's program called "Lisa's Lane") and a radio reporter and anchor in Moorhead, Bismarck, Wahpeton and Fergus Falls.Since 1991, she has hosted Northland Morning on KUMD. One of the best parts of her job includes "paying it forward" by mentoring upcoming journalists and broadcasters on the student news team that helps produce Northland Morning. She also loves introducing the different people she meets in her job to one another, helping to forge new "community connections" and partnerships.Lisa has amassed a book collection weighing over two tons, and she enjoys reading, photography, volunteering with Animal Allies Humane Society and fantasizing about farmland. She goes to bed at 8pm, long before her daughter, two cats, or three dogs.

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