"For as the sun shines on Candle Mass Day,
So far will the snow swirl on until May."

This tradition is also celebrated in England as well and it is the badger that is observed for prediction of the length of winter. Some authorities list the 'bear' as the symbolic animal in early German kingdoms. In medieval Christian Europe, this day was celebrated commonly as Candle Mass Day, assigned to honor the Virgin Mary's purification after the birth of Christ in the Jewish custom. For the agrarian societies, it is half way between the shortest day of the year and the Spring equinox, and half of the hay would be spent by this date.

February is also the month of romance with Valentines Day falling on the fourteenth. It may come as a surprise to some that this is courting time of the Great Horned Owl (Bubo viginianus). I have heard this owl in the woods here in Paul Revere Village. The call of this owl is "Hoo-hoo hoooooo hoo-hoo" and can be heard for several miles on a still night. The female is larger than the male and he will begin courtship with dancing and hooting to attract her attention. However, she is not just interested in a fancy dancer and singer; she needs a good provider. A successful Great Horned owl will bring her a nice rabbit or a squirrel and present it to her as proof of his prowess as hunter. If she chooses him, they will dance, hoot together in the cold moonlight, and she will settle down with him in the used nest of say - an empty red tailed hawk nest. The pair will choose a high tree away from humans and near an area of plentiful small game. She will lay two round eggs in February and sit on these eggs for about four weeks. The wind, snow and the freezing rain will coat her feathers yet she will just sit there on the next keeping the eggs warm. Her mate will spend his nights hunting for food for her and for himself. He can swoop down and take prey much larger or heavier than himself. Among their prey are rodents, squirrels, raccoons, porcupines, domestic cats, small dogs, shrews, muskrats and bats. Also birds such as other owls, (except the snowy owl), grouse woodpeckers, pigeons, bitterns Great Blue Heron, ducks and even swans. Reptiles, insects, crayfish, worms and spiders are also food, even road kill is on the diet of this owl. This is the only animal which regularly preys upon skunks. After the eggs hatch, the fledglings will demand to eat and are fed for another few weeks until they are weaned. Eventually they become large enough to sit on the branches in the tree are called 'branchers' for six or seven weeks before they begin to fly always in the care of their parents. These owls will defend their nest aggressively and continue to attack any intruder until the intruder is killed or abandons the site. The family stays together loosely through the summer and then disperses in the fall to become solitary again.

Few of us see these hunters in the night or know of their presence except to hear their call. Once last year on a day after a fresh snowfall and as the snow was quite deep, I walked slowly into the woods. Suddenly in front of me appeared the impression of a pair of wings in the light snow as clearly as if carved by a master artist. In the center between these slightly less clear marks were claws that had entered the snow. An, owl, I said aloud knowing that the hawks and other raptors had flown south. There was no blood and no doubt the victim, probably an unlucky mouse who popped his head out to look around, died quickly as they usually do in the large claws of the owl. These predators along with coyotes, fisher cats, weasels and others keep the land from becoming overrun with rodents. Even though we live in warm homes, with electricity and all the accouterments of civilization, we are inevitably tied to nature and to the animals who live around us.