Tomorrow is the mid-point of winter, halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. It’s also Candelmas in the Christian church and Groundhog Day in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.
A very special groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, will make his prediction just after dawn tomorrow morning, 2 February around 7:20am. I don’t know if he’ll see his shadow and predict six more weeks of winter, but I do know it won’t feel so wintry tomorrow. We’ll be out of the deep freeze at last! A high of 41oF in Pittsburgh and 37oF in Punxsutawney.
Watch Phil’s prediction online at visitpa.com. Read more about Groundhog Day at Penn Live.
(photo from Wikimedia Commons, click on the caption to see the original)
Not quite Kate’s neck of the woods, but just in case this hasn’t been noticed yet…
Rare half-male, half-female cardinal spotted in Pennsylvania
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2019/01/half-male-half-female-cardinal-pennsylvania/
Mark P, Thanks for passing along this story from Eire, PA.
Four years ago there was a cardinal like this in Illinois. Here’s a picture of that one: https://www.birdsoutsidemywindow.org/2015/02/08/both-male-and-female/
And here is a museum specimens of a biltaeral gynandromorph evening grosbeak: https://www.birdsoutsidemywindow.org/2010/12/31/anatomy-w-and-z/ Truly amazing.
From the National Geographic piece, I thought this was interesting: