Winter Skies at Dusk

     To me, the middle of November to mid-February is winter in the Middle Atlantic States, based on natural happenings here.  Winter skies at dusk in this region are beautifully striking.  Winter sunsets in clear skies are brilliantly red, or the sky may be filled with gray cumulus clouds, edged and blotched with yellow, light orange or pale pink.  All winter sunsets constantly change and rapidly fade as the sun drops below the western horizon.  And the inspiring beauty of each sunset is doubled when reflected in the still water of ponds.
     Snow cover on the ground enhances the colors of landscapes, vegetation and winter sunsets.  Drifting snow on cropland at sunset looks like pink smoke, as if those fields are on fire.  I have seen flocks of mallard ducks descending and disappearing into pink, drifting snow to feed on kernels of corn in a couple inches of snow in harvested corn fields.    
     The four seasons in the upper latitudes of Earth are caused by our planet's circling the sun and tilting on its axis.  Sunsets are a minute earlier each succeeding day to December 21st, the winter solstice.  But after December 22nd, sunsets become a minute later each succeeding day when the sun "returns" north as the Earth's northern hemisphere begins tilting toward the sun. 
     Deciduous and coniferous trees and shrubs are beautifully silhouetted black before striking sunsets.  Each trunk, limb and twig of deciduous trees and bushes are delicately etched on brilliantly-colored, aerial canvases.  And needled boughs of coniferous trees look solid and cone-shaped.
     At dusk, the full moon "rises" large and light orange from the eastern horizon as the sunset fades
in the western sky.  The moon continues to rise, and appears smaller and white, as the Earth turns on its axis about a thousand miles an hour.  The moon looked large and orange when first peeking above the horizon because it was at an oblique angle to the viewer and was shining through more atmosphere than when shining more directly from above.
     Moonlight, which is sunlight bouncing off the moon, and snow cover on the ground brighten the landscape almost like day after sunsets fade each day.  The countryside is beautiful and enchanting in the moonlit snow that also silhouettes trees and other objects.
     As each sunset fades in a clear sky, we start to see a sprinkling of stars and planets.  The beauties of those Heavenly bodies are enhanced by seeing them through binoculars or a scope. 
     Some species of wildlife are also silhouetted black before winter sunsets.  Flocks of honking Canada geese and mallard ducks on whistling wings are seen flying before brilliant sunsets.  At dusk, both species take off from ponds and slower waterways to power to corn fields to consume corn kernels, or the green leaves of winter rye in rye fields in the case of the geese.
     Every winter mid-afternoon to sunset, long, inspiring streams of silhouetted American crows flow from most every direction to their nightly roost.  They are in the Middle Atlantic States from their nesting grounds in Canadian forests only for the winter to get food more easily than they could in Canada.  These crows spend every winter day ingesting corn kernels from fields, acorns from lawns and woodland edges, and garbage from trash cans, dumpsters and landfills.           
     If one watches for them from late afternoon to sunset, individual red-tailed hawks and Cooper's hawks, and little groups of mourning doves, on whistling wings, can be seen flashing into tall coniferous trees to spend the night.  The hawks are particularly thrilling to see going to roost before a lovely sunset.
     Occasionally, I see one or two of a pair of great horned owls hooting to each other while perched on the tips of high evergreens at sunset.  They are a thrilling sight silhouetted black in front of a crimson or yellow sky.
     And, occasionally, I'm thrilled to see little groups of white-tailed deer grazing in fields, and silhouetted black against a brilliant sky.  And a bit later, I am privileged to see them silhouetted on moonlit snow in those same fields.
     Winter skies at dusk are beautiful, intriguing and inspiring in many ways.  We need only to get out to look at them, and the landscape and creatures they affect.