February-soundways 1864 | Night | Dream Forest

Like Raiment of a Dream –, c. 1876 (Fr1414A)

According to the Snell meteorological record, storms opened the month, and Feb. 2, 3, and 4 were windy and cold. But on Feb. 5, unexpected fine weather “spoiled” the sleighing, and fine days recurred at regular intervals across the month on Feb. 7, 10, 12, 13, 19, 20, 21, 23, and 27. Snow fell on Feb. 8, 14, 16, 17  (“severe”), and 26. Rain, too, was intermittent, falling on Feb. 22, 24, and 25. At its nadir, on Feb. 18, the thermometer registered -4.3º F; at its apex on Feb. 26, it rose to 46.8º  F. The cumulative rain and snow melt was noted at just over 1 inch, and 6.5 inches of new snow covered the ground. Stratus clouds were the most frequent sky-covering, and winds came most often from the NW + W. On Feb. 9, the Aurora Borealis manifested in the sky; and on Feb. 15, a halo appeared at Noon.

Bird species in the scatterplot for February number about 44. 

In the Data Firmament, February is the long night of winter. The listener is now a dreamer. 

The day’s birds have moved from their foraging sites back to the cover of the forests of northern hardwoods: white and red pine, mixed oak, elm, ash, red maple, and hickory. Safe in  their cold roosts, they make no sounds, and the only sound is of the wind sweeping around them.

:12

Now the first night birds test the dark. A parliament of owls—bard owls, short-eared owls, great-horned owls, western barn owls—reigns in the cacophonous dark.

:1:00

Under the frozen rivers, sudden flows of water caused by rising temperatures make the ice sheets crack and break apart.

1:09

With the opening of the ice, the first of the song birds will begin to migrate northward. They are already dreaming the zugunruheof. They will gorge on berries, their internal organs metamorphosing for the journey.

1:16

It’s dawn again.

And Spring.