Very Hot Days and Shelter in the Woods

Last several days Norman high temperatures have been breaking 110F or 43C.. OKC hit all time high of 113F. We've been above 100F every day since July 18 with no rain in 60 days. Wildfires scattered about state including east Norman. This Sunday morning it is cooler (80F at 8 AM) and I went to the NE Gate to see how the Woods were doing.

The west side trail of the Tree Loop smelled a bit like early fall leaves.. the rich tannin smell from some of the early leaf drop. It also smelled like mammals. I think the whitetailed deer were there minutes before my arrival.

On the tree loop there have been some more tree deaths: small American elm (#5) at the gate is dead. A young pecan at its base will take its place. Middle aged pecans are generally not doing well. Many had dead crowns from summer 2011 but had sprouted lateral buds along the trunk and produced adventitious leaves. Some of these higher sprouts are wilting, dying, graying up.. other lower stem leaves are still healthy and green. The Texas hickories Carya texana near the gate are doing noticeably well. The big walnut #171 at top of Pipeline Trail.. nearly dead last year and this spring.. has good survival of its stem leaves.
Around the loop Mora mulberry leaves were beginning to turn golden for an early fall. With a soft breeze, small skiffs of leaves were falling in the woods. Ampelopsis grape vines were shedding some leaves, mulberry, some elm and hackberry.. early leaf drop only. The drought and heat was enough so that leaves of invasive Ligustrum privet, Eleagnus Russian olive and Lonicera Amur honeysuckle were all wilted. #90 Cercis redbud is dead.

Down by the Elm Bridge, the deeper Woods with taller older trees, closer to their water table - there was a sweet subtle fragrance. I did not see what was blooming. The Woods there with its greater mass and development, provided some shelter and a partial buffer against the extremes of heat and drought. Tibicen Dog day Cicadas were droning loudly by NS Fence corner. On the NS trail a talisman, a single black and white Plectrodera elytra. I found a hawk feather, a crow feather and down by the beaver dam several vulture feathers..but the vultures had moved from their customary roost, to perch on the power poles beyond the new compost facility.

Along the Main SW trail the large discrete patches of Polygonum surround dying or dead trees (mostly elms) where there is new light through the canopy.
In the SW Corner the Agelenid funnel web weaving spiders have returned in abundance. Interesting that they should be there and not as abundant elsewhere in the Woods. The life here feels like it can tap deeper sources of moisture.. either from deeper roots.. more recently, fully flooded ground (months ago) or new conk fungi growing with moisture still held in large decaying host logs.

Two white tailed deer.. one west of beaver dam and one NW of the East Pond.. looked kind of scruffy. I am sure the heat is difficult for them.
At Island Crossing one small young Scincella lateralis skink writhed and skooted across the soil to shelter. One Cornus dogwood dying on the way back.

The life in the Woods is still in better shape than unprotected trees, plants and animals living out in the open. No ticks detected so far; but about 30 chigger bites.