February in Berne, NY...so far

This winter has been tough because of the cold weather and high volume of snow. A thick crust formed on the top of snow but it is not thick enough to withstand our dogs' weight. They sink and have a really hard time moving around. But it all changed few days ago when all of sudden got warmer. I put my snowshoes on and went to the pond to see what is going on there.

This picture was taken on Feb. 2, the Groundhog Day, in Berne, NY. We got a lot of snow on that day and things did not look promising. We had to be plowed...again. 

On February 17 and 18 the temperature went up to above 60F (15C) and a big meltdown started. During these two days we lost a lot of snow, and this is how our pond looked like.

You could actually see reflections of trees in the water. It was a beautiful afternoon.

I found deer bones on the bank of our pond. It looks like coyotes had a feast there.

I did not notice coyote tracks but turkey tracks were everywhere.

It was warm and the snow was melting fast.

I even managed to take a picture of turkeys by the edge of the woods.

Our spring-like days were short lived. Yesterday it was back to  gusting winds and snow squalls. But a lot of snow is gone now, and if we have a couple of warm days, we might actually see bare ground. Can't wait!

Update

After I had posted the above pictures I took dogs out to the fenced yard and noticed fresh tracks just on the outside of the fence. They look to me like coyote tracks. It seems that coyotes did not come to our field when the snow was very deep, but now when we have with much less snow we will probably see coyote tracks more often.

Coyote tracks just outside our dogs' yard

for comparison - my foot print is women's size 6.5