The slow approach of winter can sharpen the senses. As an unusually mild fall slides into an uncertain winter with its crisp, clear days and nights, don’t miss the pleasurable sensations that come along with the seasonal change. Here are a few:

? Trace the profiles of hills and mountains, invisible when the heavy foliage of summer is in the way. Beech tree leaves, as usual, are still hanging on, but even the hackmatacks have long since turned golden and lost their needles.

? Listen to the tap-tap-tapping of an occasional woodpecker as it hunts for bugs in tree trunks or utility poles. And if it pecks on your house or the wooden mast of your boat, you can always get a product called Birds-Away Attack Spider, a big battery-operated, sound-activated plastic spider that rides down a string waving its legs. Woodpeckers are said to flee in terror.

? Watch the squirrels rustling around in the fallen leaves as they hunt for the nuts they have buried for future food.

? Hear the roar and crash of the ocean waves when winter winds build up a heavy surf.

? Listen carefully for the deep-throated knocking and rumble as the incoming and outgoing waves tumble the rocks and create more of the round popplestones at points along Ocean Drive in Acadia National Park.

? Listen to the lobstermen on the radio as they haul in their traps for the winter or shift them to deeper water. Barbara Fernald, in her “Cranberry Report” in the new issue of Working Waterfront newspaper, says she heard a puzzled young fisherman ask his father on another boat where to find a couple of missing traps. The father directed him to “the elephant’s trunk” and “Rich’s head,” using landmarks known only to old-timers. The son radioed back that he needed LORAN numbers or GPS coordinates.

? When the snow falls, notice how it blankets out most sounds in a lovely, restful quiet.

There is plenty to enjoy in winter, but get out a mackinaw, your heavy winter gloves and earmuffs or cap with ear flaps. Don’t let Old Man Winter keep you from the fun.