PHOTO BY GARRY BRANDENBURG On Nov. 25, during the early evening hours just after sunset, while the western sky was filled with beautiful colors, I captured this image of a crescent moon. By sheer luck, three Canada Geese were also in the right place, right time. Fall is a fantastic time for Mother Nature’s scenery to be depicted in awesome and inspiring moments. My camera captured this instant of time in the nick of time. Now it is a pleasure to share that moment with you. Enjoy.

As a photographer who is always on the lookout for some new natural moment to reveal itself, many occasions turn out to be fleetingly quick. Luck is a good word for today’s image of a crescent moon.

That is the first thing that caught my eye as the sun had just set a few moments previous. With an evening sky painted in glorious colors, an array of trees silhouetted against the sky framed the scene perfectly.

The sliver of light from the moon helped set the stage for this earth and moon interaction. Now as December has entered our realm of time for the last month of the year 2022, a few other tidbits of astronomy await the adventurous folks who may want to step outside at the right time, right place.

The peak dates will be Dec. 14-15, when the Earth’s position within its orbit of the Sun may allow for ‘shooting stars’ from the meteor called Geminid. This is considered to be one of the most spectacular meteor showers of the year.

It may be possible to observe 120 meteors per hour if night time sky conditions are clear. Best times will fall between Dec. 13 at 5:40 p.m. and Dec. 14 at 10:30 a.m. Look into the night skies in a general southwest, west or slightly northwest direction.

Tips on best viewing include traveling outside of city lights to a dark location. Allow your eyes time to adjust to night darkness. Do dress for the weather conditions on your viewing times.

A lawn chair and a nice blanket will assist in staying comfortable. You can also use an interactive Meteor Shower Sky Map to find the radiant line you should direct your attention to. The higher the radiant line, the more meteors one is likely to see.

What one views during a meteor shower are the remnant particles or pieces of an asteroid intersecting with the earth’s upper atmosphere.

The meteor rock remnants burn up from friction created by entering the upper atmospheric regions of very thin air. Us earthlings call them shooting stars.

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December 2022 is here. We are less than one month away from the start of a new year, 2023. So while this year is almost a history book footnote, there is still a lot happening in the outdoor world.

For starters, day lengths are very short and getting shorter all the time. Our shortest days will be Dec. 20-23 with nine hours and six minutes of daylight.

Earliest sunsets will take place between Dec 7 and Dec. 11 at 4:38 p.m. central standard time. Latest sunrises for the winter season will not happen until Jan. 2-6 at 7:39 a.m.

However, on Dec. 21, the official first day of winter will be noted. Astronomers call that day Winter Solstice. A few days later on the 25th, it will be Christmas.

Other December happenings will revolve around the start of some gun deer hunting seasons. Dec. 2 is the close of fall turkey season and also the end of the first segment of archery deer season.

Dec. 3-7 is gun deer season number one. Then a couple of days later, on Dec. 10 is the opening of deer gun season number two.

That ends on Dec. 18. Later muzzleloader deer/second archery deer times reopens on Dec. 19 and runs through Jan. 10, 2023.

Iowa’s gun deer seasons are a primary control method to reduce the overall deer population in Iowa. Iowa deer are not equally dispersed due to habitat variations from border to border, north-south, east-west.

That stands to reason since forested habitats along streams and rivers may hold more deer than intensely farmed open lands. Yet every county regardless of location and predominant land uses has deer.

Some just have less deer than others. Iowa’s pre-hunt deer population is probably in the 400,000 range. All deer hunters will take out about 100,000 animals by the time seasons end next month.

All deer hunter reports compiled as of midweek show an offtake of just under 30,000. This number is right in line with past years. By the time all deer seasons end in January, an additional 70,000 deer will be taken.

Hunters must report deer harvests and there are five ways to do this.

1. Online at www.iowadnr.gov, which is available 24 hours per day, seven days per week.

2. By phone via a toll free number that is printed on the deer tag. This phone number is also available 24/7.

3. One may also go to a license sales vendor during their regular business hours.

4. By sending a text message to 1-800-771-4692 and follow the prompts given on your cell phone message pad.

5. One may also go online to the Go Iowa Outdoors app.

Each of the above methods satisfy the requirement to report deer kills. A confirmation number will be given. That number must be written onto the transportation tag segment of the deer license.

Antlered deer need to have the tag attached to the antler. Doe deer tags are to be placed on a leg. Page 44 of the Iowa DNR hunting regulations booklet explains and illustrates what has been noted above.

Another December date to note is in the middle, the 15th. On this date, one may purchase 2023 licenses of all types regarding fishing, hunting or fur harvesting. License vendors are spread throughout the state to serve the outdoor enthusiasts who look forward to a new year of outdoor excursions in the field, forest, prairies and wetlands of Iowa.

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Citizen science will be on stage again starting as early as Dec. 14 and going to Jan. 5, 2023. This is the annual Christmas Bird Count (CBC) to observe and count all species observed by teams or individuals.

The program began in 1900 and is now a stable of observations in the USA and 19 other countries. It is a longstanding program of the National Audubon Society. It is an early winter bird census for one intense 24 hour time frame.

Between Dec. 14 and Jan. 5, just one day is picked that fits the schedule of an individual or a team of observers. The idea is to intensely cover the land area of a circular area with a 15 mile diameter.

Birds seen or heard during that day are compiled into a list for reporting purposes at the close of the day. Comparing observed birds from this year with past years allows a good comparison to be made.

Trends may become evident for populations of some species going up, others stable or others in decline. That is the beauty of long term observations using the same methodologies. It helps make the data collected more pertinent.

There is also a February bird count activity. It goes by the name Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC). This count day is specific to President’s Day weekend.

From the comfort of one’s home while watching a feeding station morning to evening, a tally can be kept of species and how many of each. Information about the GBBC can be found online at Audubon’s web site. Look for the tab about GBBC.

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Homing instincts for some wildlife is a whole new subject. I will expand upon this topic in future columns. But for now, here is a little information to think about.

This first example was from Iowa State University while I was a student. Another colleague was involved with the intense capture and removal of raccoons from the City of Ames.

Long story short, live traps were used to catch raccoons. They were ear tagged and released five, 10, 15, 20 and 25 miles distant.

Then the process of continued live trapping took note of which animals returned, if they did, and how long it took them to return.

Essentially, a large percentage of those raccoons taken only five or 10 miles away came back to their territory and were recaptured in only a few days’ time. Those taken further away have less and less proclivity to make it back “home.”

I had many calls while I was the director of the Marshall County Conservation Board from people saying the live trapped a raccoon in Marshalltown and took it to Timmons Grove to release it. I then asked, “Did the raccoon beat you home?”

Their stunned reaction was that they did not think that was possible. I assured them it was entirely likely for that same raccoon to return.

Now here is another example of a wild animal we do not have here in Iowa thankfully, the grizzly bear. This study in Montana kept track of a female grizzly bear for 21 years via a radio tracking collar.

She was collared as a 4 1/2 year old in May of 1983. In the spring and summer of 1985, this female and her two cubs got into trouble raiding bee hives. She and her cubs were live captured and moved 58 miles west to the other side of the Rocky Mountains. Two weeks later they were back where they started raiding beehives again in the same area.

So, on June 29, 1985, the bear family was recaptured. This time they are moved 70 air miles away. By late summer they are back again.

In October 1989, the female was captured for the fourth time in her 10-year life. She and her two cubs were raiding and killing sheep.

She is moved 131 air miles away to the Canada border. In May, 1990, she and her cubs are back in Montana, in her former home range. Beehive owners have built heavy fencing with strong electric wires around the beehives she once raided.

In 2002, this female grizzly was captured for the fifth time in her life, well outside her former home range. She is now 19 years old and has two small cubs. She raids other bee hives and teaches her cubs the sweet taste of honey.

In the year 2000, she was killed by a poacher, and her neck collar had been thrown into a river. The poacher was eventually caught by authorities and in 2004 was found guilty and paid a fine.

Whether raccoons or grizzly bears or birds returning to the same breeding ground wetlands as adults where they were hatched years before, wildlife homing instincts are part of the hard-wiring in their brains that will continue to entice scientists and wildlife biologists to investigate this fascinating aspect of the natural world.

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Mark Twain said “Give every day the chance to become the most beautiful day of your life.”

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Garry Brandenburg is the retired director of the Marshall County Conservation Board. He is a graduate of Iowa State University with a BS degree in Fish & Wildlife Biology.

Contact him at:

P.O. Box 96

Albion, IA 50005