A group of grazing white-tail deer cross an Arboretum trail and head into the woods. (Photo: Jeff Miller/UW-Madison)

“Lately, Madison residents are taking advantage of record-setting high temperatures to bike, run, and lounge outside, well before the anticipated end of the long Wisconsin winter. It’s clear that we humans are changing our behavior with the warm winter, but is the Wisconsin natural world also anticipating an early spring?

“According to naturalists at the University of Wisconsin–Madison Arboretum, the answer is yes — to a degree. Our understanding of the annual rhythms of nature comes from the field of phenology (not to be confused with the discredited study of bumps on your head, phrenology), and Arboretum staff keep detailed records to note changes in these behaviors and phenomena from year to year.”

Read the full UW News story by Eric Hamilton, March 7, 2017