Recently at Nixon Park
Snow from the late-January storm is still on the ground. For nearly three weeks nights have dipped into single digits, wind chills pushed well below zero, and daytime readings struggled to climb above freezing.
It could be worse.
As tough as February 2026 has been more than three feet of snow fell in February 1899 in Chester County. The drifts and extreme cold reshaped daily life entirely.
From the Daily Local News February 15, 1899:
The people of Kennett Square are about to-day, but as yet have no railroad communication with the outer world. ...
The snow began falling here about dark on Saturday evening. It was as fine as powder as it fell and the mercury stood at 10, continuing throughout Saturday night, Sunday and Monday, the temperature, growing lower, and the wind Increasing to blizzardous proportions throughout Sunday night and Monday. We were walled by mountains of snow and travel practically stopped. Scarcely a vehicle was running even on Sunday or Monday. ...
Tuesday the highways were walled with snow; drifts were piled up along our streets and alleys in some places, completely blocking up doors and windows, so that the apartments were inaccessible from without and lamps had to be lighted far into the morning on account of the obscured windows.
The mercury on Tuesday night went down to 8 degrees.
The recent snow has also prevented deer, squirrels, and birds from getting at their normal forage, so they have moved on to resources they'd usually pass up. A large flock of Robins has been after the berries on our holly trees this week, a food source that is usally ignored. Holly berries are bitter and have less nutritional value than the bugs robins would usually be pulling out of the ground, but they are one of the only things available until the snow melts.
I've seen the white-tailed deer at the park browsing in the middle of the day for the past couple of weeks. This indicates they've moved to less nutritious maintenance diet of green twig tips, pine needles, bark and even leaves they can paw out of the snow.
The debris field under some of the trees is littered with black-walnut shells dropped by feeding Squirrels. I've watched dark-eyed juncos and this northern flicker foraging for scraps the squirrels have missed.
The Black walnut economy has not collapsed, but one wonders how much longer it can last.
Redhead ducks, ring-necked duck, and another shot of the common merganser.
The redhead ducks I reported on here are still around. This week I noticed they had been joined by a ring-necked duck, and the first common merganser I have seen at the park.
I managed to get a couple of poor photos of a fox I spotted near Walnut Street along the park entrance road. They were in the middle of eating a cottontail (?) or some other small mammal.
I spotted this gray squirrel lapping up some snow, an ever vigilant red squirrel, and several gray squirrels foraging in the tracks some braver souls than I have left in the snow.
Red-bellied woodpecker, Turkey vulture, White-breasted Nuthatch, Northern Flicker, Dark-eyed junco.
