Nature Almanac for November 2020

Here in Philadelphia…

Somehow, this almanac didn’t publish when it was supposed to, the other week. Sorry, folks.

Rain, rain go away, come again another day. Fall is often a very rainy time in the Philadelphia area. It’s raining now as I write this. The steady all-day rain falling is from Hurricane Zeta. And hurricanes are the reason for our fall rains. (See When is Hurricane Season?

Winter is setting in. The leaves are still hanging on the trees. Most of the insects are dead or hibernating (see Insects in Winter). I watched a Bumblebee slowly crawl along the ground yesterday. It was probably it’s last few moments of life.

Now is a good time to go outside and study seed pods. Milkweed and Butterfly weed have interesting pods.

Someone has been lying down in my garden at night. It seems to be a large animal. It could be a cat. But it doesn’t smell like a cat. I don’t smell anything. Which I guess is good.

By garden seems to be on the rounds of every opossum, raccoon, and skunk in the neighborhood. But they don’t bother me as much as the constantly-digging-and-uprooting  squirrels.

Did You Know?

Wind dispersed seeds to be blown from place to place need to be one or two things: so small they can be carried by the wind or having structures that catch the wind. Structures are feathery plume oe wings. What wind dispersed seeds are in your garden or neighborhood?

Season Dates

November 1 – the veil between dimensions is thin. In western culture it’s called All Hollow’s Eve.

November in many natural calendars is the beginning of winter.

In the Sky This Month

  • Last Quarter – November 8th
  • New Moon – November 15th
  • First Quarter – November 21st
  • Full Beaver Moon – November 30th – time to set beaver traps before the water freezes

Penumbral Eclipse of the Moon – November 29th – 30th (What is a Penumbral Eclipse of the Moon? on Earthsky.org)

What’s a penumbral eclipse of the moon?

  • New moon always rises near sunrise
  • First Quarter near noon
  • Full Moon always rises near sunset
  • Winter Full Moons are high in the sky
  • Last Quarter rises around midnight
  • Moonrise occurs about 50 minutes later each day

Algonquin Indian Moon Names

Best Fishing – When the Moon is between New and Full – November 15th – 30th

Comets and Meteor Showers

There are three meteor showers this month, none are among the most prominent of the year.

 

Midnight Sun At the South Pole – the Sun never sets from September 23rd to March 20th,

Circumpolar Constellations – from latitude 40 degree north – these constellations are always in the sky: Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, Cassiopeia, Draco, Cepheus, and Camelopaedalis.

Winter Constellations

in the Northern Evening Sky: Pegasus, Lacerta, Andromeda, Pisces, Triangulum, Aries, Perseus, Auriga, Gemini, and Cancer.

In the Southern Evening Sky: Cetus, Taurus, Orion, Eridanus, Lepus, Canis Major, Canis Minor, Gemini, Hydra, and Monocerces.

Nature Journaling This Season

Nature in Autumn: Table of Contents 

Autumn Nature Journal Prompts

Nature Almanac Month by Month

Things to draw and study

  • which winter resident birds arrive and when
  • winged seeds – seeds that are dispersed by the wind
  • which trees keep their leaves into winter
  • mushroom fairy rings
  • trees where deer bucks rub felt off their antlers
  • banded woolly bear caterpillars
  • fall colors

Nature in Winter: Table of Contents

Winter Nature Journal and Prompts

Nature Almanacs Archive

That’s it for this issue. Look for the next issue in late November.

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