Happy Leap Year Day.
Leap year is an attempt to align celestial time with human time. Most of the world uses the Gregorian Calendar which is based on celestial events. Like the time it takes the earth to orbit the sun and the time it takes for the moon to orbit the earth. There are other calendars out there and they too are based on celestial events. This is not a new concept. Even before writing, prehistoric peoples figured out that there was a cycle to the way the seasons occurred and it was related to the sun. Eventually, they erected monuments that helped them determine when they would be getting more or less sun and the seasons would change.
Fast forward to writing and number systems. Various cultures began to calculate the periodicity of the celestial events. Like the number of days occurring between the two equinoxes. This is important if you have festivals or religious events timed to coincide with celestial events. Like throwing a virgin in a volcano on the winter solstice to make sure the days keep getting longer.
Humans prefer predictable things. It’s a species trait. We don’t want to unnecessarily be throwing our virgins into volcanoes. The guys in charge of the virgin tossing want to know that the winter solstice is going to happen on the same day every year in our calendar system. But there is a fundamental problem. The basic unit of our calendars is the day. But, celestial events do not occur with whole units of our calendar units. For instance, our calendar is based on 365 days, but it takes 365.25 days for earth to circle the sun. So if we want the winter solstice to predictably fall on the same calendar day every year, say December 21, there’s a problem. Every few years the solstice will fall a day later on our calendar. Not much of a problem for a couple years, but a noticeable problem over decades. Especially when you toss the virgin in the volcano on December 21, but the days keep getting shorter, not longer. Real credibility issue.
To keep the human calendar in line with celestial events, in 45 BC, Julius Caesar decreed a day would be added to the calendar every four years. It works and isn’t really an issue unless you’re Frederic in the Pirates of Penzance and born on February 29. You only have a birthday every four years.
Other cultures using different calendars also add in days or months, whatever is appropriate for their system. Personally I think it’s only a matter of time before our culture makes Leap Year Day another Hallmark Holiday. Yet another reason for sappy cards and mega sales events.
Regardless of what the celestial calendar is up to right now, we can see changes toward spring. We have had some crazy warm days for February, followed by quick temperature drops to be expected February temperatures. Like 70F one day followed by 30F the next day. Summer bird species are starting to migrate back into the area. We have red-winged blackbirds and brown-headed cowbirds at our feeders. Flights of sandhill cranes have been migrating north. And, the Groundhog Wars may begin soon. The one under my workshop made a brief appearance and then quickly went back underground. Probably thought it was March 1 only to find out it’s February 29.
Ruby one of two screech owls regularly appearing at Celery Bog. The other is a gray phase screech owl named Grayson.
A long-eared owl hiding in the underbrush at Prophetstown State Park.
A red-tailed hawk, also at Prophetstown State Park.
Ed's and Lise's Biggish Years 