A report on late autumn and winter nature and wildlife at Innsbrook by property owners Kathleen Kremer and Richard McFall.

For many, winter means the end of their time at Innsbrook for the year. But for others, winter is a magical season with just as many natural wonders that can’t be fully experienced “in town.” This is dedicated to a few of the truly unique splendors that late fall and early winter bring.

The Dark Side of Innsbrook
Going off of daylight savings time in the fall can be a bummer in that it’s dark by 5 p.m. However, it also means that you can enjoy stargazing without being a night owl. We have read about the Dark Sky Initiative, which encourages people to reduce their outdoor lighting to preserve the beauty of the night sky that makes Innsbrook special. Seeing the Milky Way is thankfully still quite common at Innsbrook, but many have never seen it spilling across the night sky with so much brightness that it looks like a cloud.

Photo by Steve Serniak

Light pollution affects our night sky as well as impacts wildlife, energy consumption, and even our own health. Please consider turning off your outdoor lights when away from Innsbrook, and point landscaping lights downward. Globe at Night, an international citizen-scientist campaign, invites people worldwide to measure sky brightness in their area. Observers seek the constellation Orion, for example, on one of three reporting dates, count the number of starts they see in a sky section, and compare their findings to magnitude guides. Magnitude 1 stars are what you’d see in St. Louis from the Galleria parking lot. Magnitude 7 is what you’d see with the naked eye on top of an isolated mountain in a desert. Innsbrook is somewhere in between.

A Once-in-our-Lifetime Stellar Event
We at Innsbrook have a very rare treat, one of nature’s greatest spectacles, coming on Monday, August 21, 2017. Innsbrook will be almost dead-center at mid-day in the narrow path of a total solar eclipse! Eclipse chasers from all over the world will likely descend upon the St. Louis region (the largest metropolitan area near the centerline with maximum duration and many highways to allow quick relocation if the weather closes in). Visit this NASA webpage for details and plan to make your summer of ’17 a special family memory.

Fall is for Deer Falling in Love, Kind of…
According to old wives’ tales, the annual rutting season for deer starts on the second full moon after the equinox. During the rut, white-tailed deer are more active and less cautious, so be especially careful when driving.

Photo by Heidi Morice

There are several rut signs that you can often see at Innsbrook as you walk the trails. To mark his territory and proclaim his dominance, a buck will rub his antlers on a tree. This removes some bark and makes smooth patches on trees about shoulder high. He’ll also make scrapes on the ground with his hooves. On a trail covered with leaves or pine needles, you can see the resulting circles of bare ground.

Caring for Birds in the Winter
The approaching winter is tough on our feathered friends. Birds that usually eat berries or insects are starting to look for alternative foods. They need more “high energy” food to deal with the colder temperatures. In addition to keeping our feeders well stocked, we can enlist the kids to help create bird-friendly ornaments for our trees. Find a stand of tall pine trees and collect a number of pine cones that have already fallen to the ground. Fill the spaces with peanut butter or suet then roll them in seeds. Using jute or some other biodegradable string, hang these treats on the trees – the birds will thank you for it!

Photo by Gary Barton

We are truly blessed that Innsbrook is a great place for bald eagle watching, as we have many pristine lakes that are clear enough to see fish. Let us know when you see your first eagles of the winter! Hint: Look high up in trees on the south side of our lakes as it seems they like to perch with the sun behind them, which helps them see the water and a meal more clearly.

Photo by Kurt White

Closing Nature Quote
“The color of springtime is in the flowers; the color of winter is in the imagination,” by Terri Guillemets.