Strong, warm southerly drying winds have removed the last of the open pools of standing water and dried the month-old mucky soil. I went to the SW entrance at 3 pm to count butterflies for a couple of hours (71 in eleven spp.) The Woods had a distinct fine smell of drying wood that has been wet for a long time.. a rich tannin smell. The soil along the SW trail had gone from muck to crisp.
The water depth in the Wash had fallen to 9 " and the E Pond was at 1.80'.
The surface of the E Pond was filled with cotton from Populus. There was a good stream of black Polistes wasps coming to collect water (and maybe mud or wet cotton for nests(?)). A dragonfly perched on a high twig above the center of the pond.
In the pool above Island Crossing I watched three fish maybe 4-5" long feeding at the surface.
I walked along in the dry Wash where dozens of nymphalid butterflies - mostly hackberry emperors -were harboring out of the wind; and where there was some remnant moisture in the soil.
Walking along the northern edge of the Delta, spider webs festooned the ash, persimmon and willow there. In the late afternoon sun it was remarkable.. like pictures on the web from just past flooding in Pakistan or in E. Texas with Tetragnathids. It is as though the flooding forced the spiders into the trees.
I cleared a largish walnut top broken across the NW trail east of Hackberry alley. Lots of partly formed walnuts there. Good sharp walnut smell from the broken stem and crushed leaves. I cut away two logs from a leaning dead cedar sinking on to the W Dune trail. Good fresh cedar smell there, although the tree had probably been dead for a decade or longer. The lindgren trap at the southern end of the NS trail is harboring an active Polistes nest I need to remove. One large doe by the west end of the dune. Four large ticks and three tiny ones on me when I returned home.
Monday, June 24, 2013
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Killing Exotics and Finding New Ones
Saturday I cut and applied roundup to stumps of two Albizia mimosa trees on the west side of the Wash approx 50 feet above and 50 feet below the E-W Trail. As I was doing this, I noticed a pine cone in the washout zone near the southern mimosa.. washed in, I am sure, from the OU campus.. red pine probably. It will be interesting if pines begin to grow in the Woods.
The Woods are fallow ground for expanding exotics in the south Norman area. They can be used as a sort of sentinel area to recognize incipient invasions of species which are actually (not just in theory) invading, like Amur honeysuckle and mimosa. There will be more Amur honeysuckle to cut next year.
I walked the SE and South central trails and they were clear-ish. Along the SE trail we can just step around the base of the double-trunked elm tilted across the trail and see if it will survive.
I returned to the NE Gate via the eastern side of the Tree Loop and cut a largish redbud top, broken and hanging across the trail. Tree should survive and grow well.
The Woods are fallow ground for expanding exotics in the south Norman area. They can be used as a sort of sentinel area to recognize incipient invasions of species which are actually (not just in theory) invading, like Amur honeysuckle and mimosa. There will be more Amur honeysuckle to cut next year.
I walked the SE and South central trails and they were clear-ish. Along the SE trail we can just step around the base of the double-trunked elm tilted across the trail and see if it will survive.
I returned to the NE Gate via the eastern side of the Tree Loop and cut a largish redbud top, broken and hanging across the trail. Tree should survive and grow well.
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Soggy Woods Soil Fungi and Chainsaw
Back to the Woods briefly this Thursday morning at 8:30, the NW Ponds entrance. There was one large hackberry top broken across and blocking the northern end of Hackberry Alley and 15-20 smaller tops, boles and branches along the lower end of the SW trail and the West Trail that needed clearing. The water is now gone from the SW trail but the footing is soggy mucky mud. The NW pond is at 2.22 ft. the East Pond is at 2.48 ft. I saw one deer at the north end of Hackberry Alley and one turtle by the big walnut tree near the west jct of the NW Trail and the Ravine trail.
Near the SW Gate I ran into Jarrod and Elizabeth and Sarah taking a soil core looking for interesting new fungi and/or other spp. Jarrod mentioned finding 169 species of fungi in decayed organics at the base of the old fallen cottonwood tree # 99.. published in J. Nat. Products; Du et al 2012.
As I left, I saw Heather M's car by the NE Gate. So good to see people using the Woods.
Near the SW Gate I ran into Jarrod and Elizabeth and Sarah taking a soil core looking for interesting new fungi and/or other spp. Jarrod mentioned finding 169 species of fungi in decayed organics at the base of the old fallen cottonwood tree # 99.. published in J. Nat. Products; Du et al 2012.
As I left, I saw Heather M's car by the NE Gate. So good to see people using the Woods.
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Humid Green Jungle
Been ten days or more since I've been into the Woods. Over that time our wet spring/ summer has continued with another 1.5 inches of rain. I went to the northern boundary fence of the Woods to set traps for wood boring beetles: rotten beer (beer, brown sugar, and peaches fermented for a week) in baby food jars hung in Lindgren funnel traps along the fence. I found one active Polistes nest in one trap. This is always a bit dicey. The adults flew out and I removed the nest from its perch on the underside of the top.
After setting four traps along the fence and one on Pipeline trail, I walked along the Tree Loop from the NE entrance. It was thick wonderful humidity and green growing everywhere. Most of the tall trail-side grasses had declined and now the Symphoricarpos indian currant and Acer negundo boxelder were the dominants encroaching at knee high along the trail. The Woods looked great. It had the feel of a place at rest.. no student projects.. few visitors.. good rain and warmth.. time for the life there to grow and build in resources against the dry hotter times in the future.
At the top of Hackberry Alley I found a box turtle by a substantial hackberry top broken and blocking the trail. I'll need a saw to clear it. A few mosquitoes were buzzing about.. not bad.
The East Pond was about 2.6 (no binocs to read the post precisely). There was water filling the Wash through most of its length.. but not flowing. Island Crossing was dry below the deep pool.
Lots of deer tracks. One tick. Cottonwood cotton all over the East pond. Orange trumpet vine blooming along the Chautauqua west fence. Pair of bright green Cicindela sexguttata tiger beetles at the gate and two or three more scattered elsewhere along the trail. No deer spotted but tracks along all the trails in the soft soil. This is likely the middle of the best season of growth for the Woods.. the best growth in three years or more.
After setting four traps along the fence and one on Pipeline trail, I walked along the Tree Loop from the NE entrance. It was thick wonderful humidity and green growing everywhere. Most of the tall trail-side grasses had declined and now the Symphoricarpos indian currant and Acer negundo boxelder were the dominants encroaching at knee high along the trail. The Woods looked great. It had the feel of a place at rest.. no student projects.. few visitors.. good rain and warmth.. time for the life there to grow and build in resources against the dry hotter times in the future.
At the top of Hackberry Alley I found a box turtle by a substantial hackberry top broken and blocking the trail. I'll need a saw to clear it. A few mosquitoes were buzzing about.. not bad.
The East Pond was about 2.6 (no binocs to read the post precisely). There was water filling the Wash through most of its length.. but not flowing. Island Crossing was dry below the deep pool.
Lots of deer tracks. One tick. Cottonwood cotton all over the East pond. Orange trumpet vine blooming along the Chautauqua west fence. Pair of bright green Cicindela sexguttata tiger beetles at the gate and two or three more scattered elsewhere along the trail. No deer spotted but tracks along all the trails in the soft soil. This is likely the middle of the best season of growth for the Woods.. the best growth in three years or more.
Sunday, June 2, 2013
Red-Eared Slider is Back!
Second day after the big storm, a beautiful peaceful Sunday morning. I went to the NW entrance at 8 and strolled slowly through the northern trails to see what I could see today. The flood waters had significantly receded. The NW pond was 2.64'. The East Pond was 3.38' and the post above Elm Bridge was 22.5 inches. The water was flowing slowly in the Wash and the Elm Bridge was again well above the water.
I found a broken top from a 25-30 cm DBH mid-sized pecan at the junction of the NW Trail and the Northern Rim and was able to break it into manageable pieces to move it off the trail. A 30 cm DBH 2-trunked elm at the top of the long pool of the southern Wash had tilted across the SE Trail. I think the trail can just step over/around for now. Yesterday I moved the green ash top that had broken across the NW Trail at NW#4. Several other trees tilted over or with large broken limbs but not a problem for trails. Trees fell in a predominantly SSW direction.
In the sunny gap created where the green ash top fell, I found a Bittacid scorpionfly flying in the lower vegetation.
Along the creek trail (west side of the wash above the EW trail) there are a couple 2-3 inch DBH mimosa trees. I should probably remove? I am finding more of the small < 50 cm tall Amur honeysuckle and am now flagging them for later removal.
I encountered several squirrels.. more of them about this year than the previous two years.. and found one box turtle along Hackberry Alley at DT#6. Enjoyed hearing a crow sounding its one staccato note Ah! Ah! Ah! No deer but fresh tracks of raccoon all along the lower wash below the Elm Bridge.
On my way out of the Woods, I was delighted to see again the big old red-eared slider in the NW pond. I watched through binocs at a distance from the trail and it watched me.. eventually hauling itself out on to the big floating log to bask. It has been missing for 2-3 years. Great way to deal with environmental stress, heat, drought, no water in pond - just burrow down and hide somewhere. Stop moving for a few years until things get better. Live a long time.
Big question for today: 'How will the Woods survive? What will they look like and what species will live there in a hundred years? What will be the nature of their interactions? Old patterns or new patterns/ behaviors? Small question for the day: beautiful sunlit fresh new spider web with concentric rings. The maximum radius had 49 rings. Track the same web of the same spider each morning and see if the number of rings remains the same.
I found a broken top from a 25-30 cm DBH mid-sized pecan at the junction of the NW Trail and the Northern Rim and was able to break it into manageable pieces to move it off the trail. A 30 cm DBH 2-trunked elm at the top of the long pool of the southern Wash had tilted across the SE Trail. I think the trail can just step over/around for now. Yesterday I moved the green ash top that had broken across the NW Trail at NW#4. Several other trees tilted over or with large broken limbs but not a problem for trails. Trees fell in a predominantly SSW direction.
In the sunny gap created where the green ash top fell, I found a Bittacid scorpionfly flying in the lower vegetation.
Along the creek trail (west side of the wash above the EW trail) there are a couple 2-3 inch DBH mimosa trees. I should probably remove? I am finding more of the small < 50 cm tall Amur honeysuckle and am now flagging them for later removal.
I encountered several squirrels.. more of them about this year than the previous two years.. and found one box turtle along Hackberry Alley at DT#6. Enjoyed hearing a crow sounding its one staccato note Ah! Ah! Ah! No deer but fresh tracks of raccoon all along the lower wash below the Elm Bridge.
On my way out of the Woods, I was delighted to see again the big old red-eared slider in the NW pond. I watched through binocs at a distance from the trail and it watched me.. eventually hauling itself out on to the big floating log to bask. It has been missing for 2-3 years. Great way to deal with environmental stress, heat, drought, no water in pond - just burrow down and hide somewhere. Stop moving for a few years until things get better. Live a long time.
Big question for today: 'How will the Woods survive? What will they look like and what species will live there in a hundred years? What will be the nature of their interactions? Old patterns or new patterns/ behaviors? Small question for the day: beautiful sunlit fresh new spider web with concentric rings. The maximum radius had 49 rings. Track the same web of the same spider each morning and see if the number of rings remains the same.
Saturday, June 1, 2013
Tornado, Floods and the Woods as a Sponge
Friday night the 31st of May there was a large storm moving through central Oklahoma. It spawned several tornadoes. One weak tornado travelled through northeast Norman with 2.5 inches of intense rainfall and brief blasting winds. Saturday morning there were few signs of damage in Norman. I drove to the SW Gate of the Woods with my knee boots to see what the storm had done.
I found flood water had travelled to within 25 feet of the gate. Along the South Boundary Trail, the water was flowing eastward. Fifty meters along the trail, the water was near the top of my boots, about 40 cm or 16 inches deep near the big pecan and the beetle trap. I thought that the water was receding, flowing rapidly out of the Woods. In fact, the water was still rising, flowing into the Woods along the north side of the dune, around its southwestern end and then filling along the south boundary.
It was marvelous to see what was happening. Isopods, ants, spiders and other arthropods were busy escaping to higher ground. Isopod pill bugs were clustered in thick groups on the upper surface of floating logs. Carpenter ants were moving brood to safety. Spiders were skating over the water surface, their forest floor habitat transformed or gone.
The water moved into areas that had not been flooded in three years or more. There were drowned earthworms there that I did not see along trails that had been flooded earlier and more often.
The Woods were like a big sponge, soaking up the excess flooding water, to release it slowly over the next several days to few weeks. The bigger the flood, the more the capacity of the sponge was used. Some of the floodwater will remain for weeks without strong drying winds. Much of the water will infiltrate the forest soil and replenish the water table. Depending on how long the water stays, trees may be stressed or killed by drowning their roots, or sustained by a good deep drink, mid growing season. with enough deep water replenishment for trees through the dry, hot months of summer.
The water will completely alter the ecology of the soil litter. Mites, collembola, nematodes, microarthropods had to climb to escape, or have a way to survive inundation. Bacteria and fungi.. most all decomposition processes put 'on hold' until the flood is mostly gone leaving sodden litter where microbial decomposition would then be kick-started and should progress quickly before everything dries too far.
I crossed over the West Dune trail to the Main Southwest trail and there let the water overtop my boots. Much easier to walk along without worrying about keeping my toes dry.
I found a box turtle in shallow two inch deep water looking to be feeding on vegetation at the junction of the E-W Trail with Hackberry Alley. It froze and I took a couple of snapshots.
Just the previous day, Katie and I had encountered a mating pair of box turtles as we walked northeast from the Elm Bridge. Now the Elm Bridge was underwater. The depth at the post was 40 inches. The depth at East Pond was 3.85 feet, well past its shoreline limit. The depth of the NW pond was 2.92 feet.
I surprised a large animal, sheltering from the water, west of the Elm Bridge.. the size of a dog or a deer or coyote. I did not see, but heard it quickly splash through the water running away from me.
Along the NW trail at NW#4 a large top of a green ash snapped off in the storm and smashed down on the trail, taking with it parts of a mulberry, cedar and other smaller trees. I returned after lunch with saw and cleared the blow down to the sides of the trail. It will be interesting to watch the colonization of the fresh green ash material by beetles.
Over the NW Pond, two Anax junius dragonflies had staked out territories and were testing their boundaries. This spring insect populations, including odonates, have been very low, almost absent, almost mysterious.. quite remarkable.. mostly evident with pollinators; it may be related to early March spring warming to 70F and late spring hard freeze to the high teens. One green tiger beetle Cicindela sexguttata was foraging along the wet trail. Along the West Trail, I found a drifting bloated immature hydrophilid beetle larva that looked like it had eaten more than its share of mosquito larvae.. Its belly was swollen and it moved slowly at first as I scooped it out of the water. Ferocious pair of sickle like mandibles (if you are a mosquito wriggler).
I found flood water had travelled to within 25 feet of the gate. Along the South Boundary Trail, the water was flowing eastward. Fifty meters along the trail, the water was near the top of my boots, about 40 cm or 16 inches deep near the big pecan and the beetle trap. I thought that the water was receding, flowing rapidly out of the Woods. In fact, the water was still rising, flowing into the Woods along the north side of the dune, around its southwestern end and then filling along the south boundary.
It was marvelous to see what was happening. Isopods, ants, spiders and other arthropods were busy escaping to higher ground. Isopod pill bugs were clustered in thick groups on the upper surface of floating logs. Carpenter ants were moving brood to safety. Spiders were skating over the water surface, their forest floor habitat transformed or gone.
The water moved into areas that had not been flooded in three years or more. There were drowned earthworms there that I did not see along trails that had been flooded earlier and more often.
The Woods were like a big sponge, soaking up the excess flooding water, to release it slowly over the next several days to few weeks. The bigger the flood, the more the capacity of the sponge was used. Some of the floodwater will remain for weeks without strong drying winds. Much of the water will infiltrate the forest soil and replenish the water table. Depending on how long the water stays, trees may be stressed or killed by drowning their roots, or sustained by a good deep drink, mid growing season. with enough deep water replenishment for trees through the dry, hot months of summer.
The water will completely alter the ecology of the soil litter. Mites, collembola, nematodes, microarthropods had to climb to escape, or have a way to survive inundation. Bacteria and fungi.. most all decomposition processes put 'on hold' until the flood is mostly gone leaving sodden litter where microbial decomposition would then be kick-started and should progress quickly before everything dries too far.
I crossed over the West Dune trail to the Main Southwest trail and there let the water overtop my boots. Much easier to walk along without worrying about keeping my toes dry.
I found a box turtle in shallow two inch deep water looking to be feeding on vegetation at the junction of the E-W Trail with Hackberry Alley. It froze and I took a couple of snapshots.
Just the previous day, Katie and I had encountered a mating pair of box turtles as we walked northeast from the Elm Bridge. Now the Elm Bridge was underwater. The depth at the post was 40 inches. The depth at East Pond was 3.85 feet, well past its shoreline limit. The depth of the NW pond was 2.92 feet.
I surprised a large animal, sheltering from the water, west of the Elm Bridge.. the size of a dog or a deer or coyote. I did not see, but heard it quickly splash through the water running away from me.
Along the NW trail at NW#4 a large top of a green ash snapped off in the storm and smashed down on the trail, taking with it parts of a mulberry, cedar and other smaller trees. I returned after lunch with saw and cleared the blow down to the sides of the trail. It will be interesting to watch the colonization of the fresh green ash material by beetles.
Over the NW Pond, two Anax junius dragonflies had staked out territories and were testing their boundaries. This spring insect populations, including odonates, have been very low, almost absent, almost mysterious.. quite remarkable.. mostly evident with pollinators; it may be related to early March spring warming to 70F and late spring hard freeze to the high teens. One green tiger beetle Cicindela sexguttata was foraging along the wet trail. Along the West Trail, I found a drifting bloated immature hydrophilid beetle larva that looked like it had eaten more than its share of mosquito larvae.. Its belly was swollen and it moved slowly at first as I scooped it out of the water. Ferocious pair of sickle like mandibles (if you are a mosquito wriggler).
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