December-ways 1864 | Dawn to Noon | Cupola

Dissolving into Dawn away, c. second half of 1863 (Fr743A)

According to the Snell meteorological record, the temperatures in December fluctuated between 0º and 49º F, with an average of just over 30º F. Stratus and nimbus clouds were most often observed, sometimes interspersed with cirrus, cumulous, and cumulostratus. The dominant winds came from the NW and W.  The first of December was recorded as “Fair,” and fair or fine days fell on Dec. 11, 12 [evening], 16, 18, 21, 22, 23, 27, and 28. Of the remaining days, 3 were cloudy (Dec. 2, 3, 13);  8 were foggy or misty, often with high winds (Dec. 5 [high winds], 6 [high winds], 9, 10 [high winds], 17, 24, 25, 26); 6 were days of  rain (Dec. 4, 9, 12, 17, 25, 26); and on 6 snow fell (Dec. 8, 9, 14, 19, 20, 29). 

Bird species in the scatterplot for December number about 45, with many of these birds hidden from us.

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In the Data Firmament, December is the long morning of winter.

The listener listens to the beginning of the season of cold from the airy cupola of the house. Sounds from the ground float up to them; sounds from the sky seem to fall down to them. 

In the pre-dawn hush, in the coldest hours of the day, the birdscape still sleeps deep inside the larger wave of the weather. 

:30

Slowly, the wind wakens the birds who have been hunkering in their roosts, some clinging to trees, some sheltering in cavities. The listener hears them leaving their nightly sanctuaries, flying against the elements, then flocking in edge habitats to forage. 

Their sense of species no longer clings to them. They come together: Black-capped chickadees, Northern cardinals, Downy Woodpeckers, Blue Jays, Red Crossbills, Dark-eyed Juncos.

Their flight calls are brief, erratic, scratchy.

The sound of dead leaves.

:56

A Brown Creeper’s high, wavering song travels far in the cold air.

1:32

And far, far away, sleigh bells jingle.

1:52

It is day. There is only the sound of the wind’s tracery and a single Blue Jay crossing into January.