Oysters in the Woods

The last few weeks, when I have gone out to the Woods, it has been continuously wet, foggy, overcast and mild to cool. This has been great for fungi. Yesterday I enjoyed again finding a nice display of Pleurotus oyster mushrooms. I broke one off and enjoyed it's flavor and texture.
We've had several light tenth-inch rains. I enjoy having the quiet Woods.. along with a dozen deer. They all seemed to be youngsters, yearlings, only one older doe. I wonder if this is because hunting season had eliminated the older larger deer.. probably not the case.
Yesterday in the elms west of the beaver pond, there was the strong sweet odor of decomposing leaves (?) - I couldn't quite identify it; but I know I have smelled it often before. It filled the Woods, vaguely tannic(?)..perhaps a smell associated with forestry operations.
The East Pond is low..only a half foot of water, maybe a hundred gallons. The water is taking on the gray, cobalt-bluish tint I associate with anoxic conditions. The eastern Wash has long stretches of standing water. In recent rains it has broken through the western levee by a spontaneous dam of woody debris near the mimosa stump. The water flowed west out across a wider area of the Woods.
This is the season of the year when it is best to explore the Woods and find new places. The leaves are gone, so walking off trail is easy. It is fun to just wander, lose orientation and come back to familiar places from a new direction. Towards the end of the day, wandering on the east side, I've noticed the silent flight of a large barred owl I've disturbed. After it regains a new perch it calls as if asking if anyone is there.
 

Open Woods

This Saturday morning, after a heavy one-inch thunderstorm rain at 6 AM, I went to the Woods at 9:30 to see what changes the rain had brought. I found the flood water I expected, moving 50 m west of the beaver dam, gradually sinking into the soil, and gradually creeping farther west. The green ash, cottonwoods, elms and others along that southern section of the Woods will get a good deep drink, that will last through the winter. I wonder if there is an impact of the pollutants carried in this water, washed from the Lloyd Noble parking lot.
Across the Woods, the leaves are 95% down. The Woods have opened up to almost their winter-time appearance. Still lots of blonde-brown leaves hanging from box elder. Leaves killed in early snow did not form a normal abscission layer before dropping. Other trees, willows, pecan some elm and sugar berry were caught with late leaves still green as the snow began to fall. They have dropped the leaves now. It should make for a richer leaf litter this autumn, more minerals and nutrients left in leaves by the trees without time for the normal leaf senescence process.
Northwest of the beaver dam there were four large white-tail deer, three older does and one large buck with a good set of antlers. I could smell a rich wet mammal smell farther along the trail where they had been standing. The dung they left looked like tight clusters of small grapes.
The east pond was now 2/10ths of a foot in depth and the northwest pond had a good half of its basin filled with water, although still shallow.
Green in the Woods now are the fresh new Ligustrum privet shrub leaves, the old remaining leaves of Quercus macrocarpa bur oak and Sideroxylon chittamwood.. also fresh dark green Geum avens marked with light green veins and the anachronistic bright green Elephantopus leaves. The leaves of the scattered Viburnum rusty black haw shrubs are turning a bruised purple green brown, but have not fallen. The cottonwoods have shed all their golden leaves.
Fresh fungi were sprouting fruiting bodies: red-brown ruffles of Auricularia jew's ear common up the stems of dead elms and walnut, or bright lacquered Ganoderma beefsteak polypores abundant on the pecan stump at the north end of the Two Pecan trail, and fresh new Agaricus at the base of old trees.

Green Fall and Snow

Cold winter morning, with NW wind bringing snow by mid morning. I went to the Elm Bridge early, to clear a fallen elm blocking the Southeastern trail. Entering the Woods, the ground is littered with incongruous green. Mostly pecan leaves, but also some elm and mulberry. They've held their green leaves through the first week of November. The strong 20-40 mph winds through Norman all this past week with the outbreak of the polar vortex have brought them down, green. A bit strange. I wonder if these trees dropped their leaves months earlier, when the rains stopped in August & September; then re-flushed new leaves September & October that they've held until now. Maybe check the phenology cameras in the Woods. Most of ash and hackberry are now bare.. silent sticks waiting for winter. The big cottonwoods still have most of their crowns, although the hard freeze this week has turned the green to a more grayish-green.. same for the small bur oaks that held their green leaves until now. Soon the only green above ground level will be juniper, scattered Sideroxylon chittamwood, a rare Ilex holly or two and the abundant Ligustrum privet shrubs. The main growing season for the Woods this year reaches an abrupt end. But on the forest floor, winter violets have new green leaves. Liriope monkey grass and Geum avens are growing now that the shade of the summer canopy is gone.

The deer are moving into the Woods for shelter this morning with the northwestern storm winds blowing (and hunters active). The Woods' deep, south-facing ravines can provide a relatively snug escape from the wind; and there are patches of green Liriope and Elephantopus for food.
Yesterday, I saw 3-4 deer,  including a healthy-looking young buck with antlers, close by a doe. This morning, there were four young deer together in the south central Woods. I stop and sing to the deer and wave my hands. They listen.. and when I then sit down they crane their necks and tilt their heads to better see me and figure out this strange apparition. The bucks are making their 'scrapes', clearing half meter square areas of leaves down to the soil, to let females know they are there, ready to breed.

The ponds and the Wash are empty and the soil is dry.. not desperately so.. but we need several good soaking winter rains to replenish the ground water table.. nothing in the forecast to do that for now. The Woods will be different this evening with an inch of fresh snow.

Coming Back to the Woods

This week I have begun returning to the Woods after a summer-long hiatus. I am relieved that after two vigorous half days clearing down trees blocking trails and swing-blading through tall trailside grasses, I have encountered no ticks and only a solitary mosquito. The Woods are very dry. The month of September has been very dry. But now, at the end, the days are cooling into the mid 80's.
There are very few leaves down, apart from some premature drop from drought-stressed trees. Most oaks and the black hickory have leaves that still look good. Some elm leaves are browning around the periphery. Recently I've only encountered one deer. That will change quickly when hunting season begins.

I think now the Woods are coasting. They had a good early summer with good rains and milder temperatures than previous few years. They did well and built reserves when their photosynthetic abilities were at peak with new leaves. This end of the summer has been stressful, but I don't see trees dying. They are OK with reserves. They just need a good long deep drink before winter. The trees that are coming down, are tops breaking out of two and three year old snags. Lots of elms continue to fall.

Blooming in the Woods are Verbesina frostweed, a pretty white flower attracting late season pollinators.. also a late generation of Elephantopus elephant's foot, with small blue flowers.. although the great majority of these have gone to seed. Polygonum ladies thumb has taken over more of the Main SW trail. I cut a meter wide trail through. I cleared away the Cnidoscolus bull nettle that was crowding over the Opuntia prickly pear at the W Dune trail crossing.

It is a nice time in the Woods. I'll start enjoying late afternoons, early evenings and other free time there again.

Wild Woods

Hot, heavy, humid air; smelling of the green Woods.

This morning I returned to the Woods to see what several weeks of the summer had changed.
In the northeast Woods, the trail-sides were grown up thickly with Elephantopus, elephant's foot beginning to set seed. Along the Main SW trail, there were thick stands of knee or waist-high Polygonum ladies thumb. The Carex sedge around the NW Pond was lush. Grasses filled other trail segments around the Tree Loop.
I took a chain saw to cut away dead-fall and blow-down blocking trails from the past two months of neglect. I'll need to finish clearing a few more of these later by the Catalpa trio; near the SW Gate; and south of the West Dune trail.

It was what I had hoped for the summer. An undisturbed time for plants and creatures to renew the Woods, rebuild roots, forage without interruption. I saw four box turtles: two together at Elm Bridge. The Wash there was empty, but still damp. Two more turtles along the Trans OW trail. There were two white-tailed deer: one west of the Elm Bridge( curious yearling, in thick understory hesitated while I sang to it) and one north of the North Loop (snorted and ran south).
The East Pond was almost gone - open water down to the size of a wash basin was guarded by a libellulid skimmer on the post. The West Pond was way down but the surface area was still two thirds normal. Nice white and pink Hibiscus shrub blooming there and two Anax junius Aeshnids were busy chasing each other. A squirrel by the water, but no sign of the turtles.
The Wash still had water at the old tank, but none at Isld Crossing.
I found a new species of fern for the Woods (on the levee trail?) Yellow tiger swallowtail floated upslope from the NW Pond.
There is an Agelenid funnel web spider population explosion in the usual SW corner. It would be interesting to trace the north and east extent of this and figure out why they are, where they are.
Here and there around the Woods, there are green pecans and green persimmons coming down with squirrels or other rodents chewing on the green husk. Along the Main SW trail, there are several to many young boxelders establishing - a few inches high with 3-5 leaves. The combination of rain and dry must have been just right. Along the western fence Campsis trumpet vines are blooming or beginning to drop their orange flowers; and white Clematis flowers are still there.
One last treat was along the S Boundary Cutoff trail. Old, burled horizontal trunk of elm 36 had broken down and revealed a long-used wood rat or cotton rat nest stocked with small sticks and holding one skull of a opossum or raccoon(?)
This is going to be a good year for the Woods.

High Cotton

10 AM Sunday I returned to the Woods for one of my now infrequent summer visits. I wanted to see if there had been any major changes. From the NE Gate to the Tree Loop I dropped down to the western leg along the Wash. A large sugarberry branch had fallen across the trail and taken off the top of young persimmon 13.7. We'll see if the persimmon can produce new branches, buds, leaves and survive. This got me thinking about how the continuation of the life of a tree is more about the invisible roots than it is about the top. The purpose of the stem, branches and leaves is to feed and grow more roots.. and when times are good and the tree is ready - to reproduce. The top can be smashed or broken but the persistence of the tree - its existence, is centered in the invisible roots. I cleared some of the heavy branch from the trail but I'll need a saw to clear the rest.
I walked out the Pipeline Trail to Island Crossing. The soft sand around the pool there was full of tracks. Out the Northern Loop I did not see any surviving Ailanthus Tree of Heaven at the junction with the Rim trail; but I imagine there are some remaining.
At the East Pond there was cotton all over the pond. It looked about 60 percent full. We've had moderately good rains this month. The Woods looked to be 'in high cotton'. Trailside grasses and Elephantopus Elephant's foot were doing well. Tall slender white daisies were in bloom here and there. This will be a good growth year for the trees. Despite a dry spring, summer rains came when they had to, and trees were ready to use the rain.
Mosquitoes were moderately abundant even with DEET, but not outrageous. I found only 3-4 mid-sized ticks on me. No tiny ticks.
The green plums of the Prunus mexicanus were full but not ripening yet. By the Grandfather cottonwood, the Polygonum ladies thumb was larger and filling in but not as thick and overgrown as last summer. There was a solitary whitetail yearling there. I stopped and sang to it.. while it looked at me with curiosity.
The Woods feel like they are resting. Growing new roots, vines and leaves; regaining some of the density and cover lost in previous hot dry summers. I did not see turtles. Driving out, I stopped in to the SW Gate. Outside the gate, the weeds are rank. The Woods inside the gate along the Southern Boundary trail all looked good. Along the Chautauqua fence line the orange-yellow trumpet flower was in bloom here and there.

Luminous Woods Box Turtles and Cottonwood Tendrils

Yesterday morning exploration of Woods with Jessa at 9 mostly to see the Tree Loop for teacher workshop. We found three box turtles. One was down by the wash with its front legs into the water taking a drink. Jessa confirmed the red eyes were males and the concave vs convex plastron male/ female distinction works too. We came across two blow-downs blocking the trail: east of the catalpa cluster and north of the Elm Bridge. I made a mental note to remove them; but then decided not. I like the idea of letting the Woods trails go a little more wild in the summer. Give the Woods a rest. Let the trail-side grasses and buckbrush grow. Build some biomass to hold the soil. Let the turtles roam with some privacy. Trails being not-so-well kept may provide a bit of relief. That and the ticks. I found seven on me. Three embedded.
A few days earlier I had gone to the Woods early as morning rain was still falling but bright sun was shining. Coming over the dune and dropping down to the Grandfather cottonwood, looking east, the Woods were scintillating with silver rain drops dripping from the branches and leaves. A large patch of Polygonum pink ladies thumb was glowing with bright spring green color on the floor of the darker Woods.
Along the trail, odd worm-like green tendrils, fallen abundantly on the trail were the centers of this season's cottonwood flowers, their seeds dispersed.

Viburnum and Craneflies

 

  Nice Easter Sunday for a walk in the Woods.. softly overcast. I entered the SW Gate at 4. A recent very light shower produced the smell of fresh rain on warm soil - the first time this year for me.

Past Dragonfly Corner near 200 m, a moderate size elm killed by Ophiostoma elm disease had fallen across the trail in a tangle of branches. I broke and moved as much as I could but I need a saw to get the rest. Near the NE Gate a large wounded cimbicid elm sawfly along the trail was struggling with several ants. The sawfly was black with one orange antenna remaining and a bold white mark on its back. The water in the wash was diminished, but long full pools were black with organics and looked like they should be full of life. I saw one gerrid water strider. No turtles today although I checked both ponds and the wash. One small frog leapt into the water.

   The Viburnum rusty blackhaw are in good early flower now with cream white blossoms. The Elaeagnus autumn olive are still holding onto the end of their sweet fragrant bloom. All the live trees I checked along the tree loop now were producing leaves. The least, latest to develop, were the persimmon.. just barely breaking leaf buds, with some green showing. The soapberry were also just flushing new leaves.

  Two botany mysteries.. one a cluster of young 1 m high stems with new leaves like a walnut. Twenty stems in an area smaller than our home. It looked like a perennial invasive. The other is a common low herbaceous, simple, elliptical leaf with pinnate venation and a cluster of greenish purple blotches in the center of the leaf. There was a bright flowering cluster of daisies by the seep below the trail near the NW entrance.

  A small patch of the trail just west of the catalpas was curiously wet with dry forest leaf litter surrounding. I watched a dangling cut Ampelopsis fox grape vine dripping water from above.

  Beautiful woods with the bright green of new foliage everywhere today. Still 40% of the upper canopy tree limbs do not have their leaves but the understory shrub layer and sub-canopy trees (largely box elder) are well flushed.

   Several of the sugarberries had shriveled dead young leaves on twigs along the lower bole. It looked like young leaves had been killed by the sudden 28 F night we had a week ago. Upper branches and leaves on the same trees were fine. A few craneflies flying.. but not many insects. Two white-tailed deer at the SW gate as I was leaving. I stopped to say hello and sing to them for just a moment. They ran off but only 100 feet and stopped to browse again.

An explosion of life.

  In a small sunny glade just 50 m south from the NE Gate at noon today, I saw the first monarch butterfly in the Woods this year, taking nectar from the autumn olive which was in full sweet-smelling flower. There were 2 or 3 goatweed butterflies, a dark skipper, a small tiger swallowtail, two small least sulphurs. Almost every tree now has leaves starting. Even some of the older walnuts have first leaves emerging on small twigs out of the bole. There are small flies buzzing about and a large carpenter bee. Life is suddenly full on today. In the SW Woods, much of the trail is sodden with small pools of standing water. There are small midges or mosquitoes flying low over the soil.

  I placed another five stones along the soggy portion of the West trail.. and then heading south found Michael B. and Rachel F. recording data from pink-flagged trees.

It's Happened Again

It's happened again. I went to the Woods yesterday late in the day for a quiet walk and found that spring happened this weekend. It is on that one or two days when all the boxelder in the understory all unfurl their leaves.. coinciding with the flush of green young woodland grasses and Stellaria bedstraw on the forest floor and simultaneous with the flush of the leaves of Symphoricarpos deer bush in the shrub layer. It takes the Woods from the bare pending promise of early spring, to the full sprint of spring growth like a runner bursting from the blocks.
This evening out in the Woods there were 10-12 deer in a herd, more than I've seen this year. I stopped and sang to them in my normal voice as I usually do and they stood in place staring. Then I shifted to a lower register and most of them ran. No turtles this year so far. Both ponds are brimming full at 2.2 ' in depth or greater. The redbuds are out full and the tree loop is glorious, although the wild plum is now fading.

Spring time continued

Sunday morning in the Woods.
I took loppers and saw to clear a trail across the center of the Tree Loop oval.. from the 100 m post on the west side by the blackjack oaks to the 300 m post on the east side. I connected with orange flagging bits, the trails to the central bumelia and the snail experiment, following a route made by animal traffic.
Yesterday and today I saw no tracks of dogs anywhere.  They look to be gone.
A large 71 cm DBH cottonwood snag ( # 617) has broken this spring along the SE Trail. It will be interesting to watch the decomposition and colonization by beetles and fungi.
Spring wildflowers in bloom in the Woods today: purple violets (2), Cardamine toothwort, Capsella shepherd's purse, Lamium amplexicaule & L purpureum  Henbit, Taraxacum dandelions, Stellaria chickweed.. also foliage of Galium bedstraw.
I saw first frog of the spring leap into the long pool along the southern wash. All the waters of the Woods have been notably quiet until now.. no amphibians, insects, turtles etc observed. I have wondered why?

Phenology notes

Out early Saturday morning to the NE Tree Loop. Beautiful clear, sunny morning and day. The Woods are on the brink of green-up and coming alive. From the  Trans OWP trail, I looked across the open understory of the Woods. The 2 m tall privet and russian olive have their new leaves and the floor of the Woods is gently greening with early growth of grasses. Geum avens has been green and growing for two months and young violets have had their first green leaves for 2-3 weeks. On the raised warm soil above the pipeline, there was the first dandelion in bloom. On the sunny hillock south of the Tree Loop, there was a blooming Lamium purpureum henbit.
Throughout the Woods the blooms of Prunus mexicanus plum are opening full. I watched honey bees (probably hungry from the winter) busily gathering nectar at one tree. This week, or fortnight would be a great time for a short research project. Locate and map each flowering plum in the Woods by GPS. They will be easy to see for about 10 days before all the other trees flush their leaves.. and their distribution is interesting.. sparse.. not rare but not typically abundant in any patches either. Often just one small tree by itself. Elm, sugarberry, soapberry, pecan, walnut, oak, mulberry, juniper, hickory, sycamore, willow, cottonwood, green ash, others.. these tend to be found in groups or patches - not so for plum. It would be interesting to look at its distribution and ask 'why?'. It is a way to ask the question why are some plants 'rare'. There are probably a 100 plum trees in the Woods.
I found two large healthy amur honeysuckle with fresh green leaves fully out and one surviving stump I cut last year. I'll need to cut again and try to eliminate.
Around the Tree Loop the redbuds are coming into their own. All are flowering and their blooms will develop for the next ten days. (Around Norman the Forsythia are all blooming bright yellow and the bright flowering peach in the side back yard is looking at its best with full young flowers.
The west central portions of the Woods S of the East Pond are full of small 'vernal pools' the size of a bathtub or smaller where a rotten stump or some disturbance has left a depression. Perfect project for someone interested in aquatic invertebrates to monitor and sample.. Daphnia, copepods, mosquito larvae etc. I have seen no sign of mosquitoes (or ticks) at all.
With the dandelions (above) there were also early green growth of Galium bedstraw. Sitting along the Pipeline Trail by the big walnut, I saw a short stubby Schinia moth fly over and watched a good diversity of warblers and small woodland birds foraging.. great light for viewing. In the partly soggy SW Woods there were bright red male cardinals chasing each other and small groups of robins foraging. Marvelous time to be in the Woods.

Spring beginning

At 5 this evening I went to the NE Gate to see what news there was from the Tree Loop. Warm beautiful Friday afternoon.. low 70's F. Last week the 3 Pyrus Bradford Pear and the small rough-leaved Cornus dogwood were the only species showing early green leaves, or doing anything, besides the Ulmus elm flowers that had been open for three weeks.
Now the Cercis redbuds most all had mauve flower petals showing out of their buds, not open. Acer negundo box elder mostly had tiny green leaves emerging. The Prunus mexicanus plum had swollen flowers with white petals closed but clearly emerged from the bud. The Robinia locust north of the East pond had small tight balls of green showing all along the thorny stems. Most trees still showed no development, oaks, pecans, walnut, cottonwood, mulberry, soapberry, hickory, chittamwood, hackberry, green ash, persimmon, common pear, coffee tree - nothing, still dormant.

Around the Woods the green on the forest floor is developing. Spring onions are more abundant and it is clear the deer are enjoying them. The ground-hugging Geum avens and small early leaves of Viola are more evident.

At the NW Pond a pair of pileated woodpeckers noisily drilled away on some of the dead green ash around the pond. The pond depth was 2.4 feet with water or boggy conditions up to the highest stepping stone. At the East Pond the depth was 2.06 feet. The West Trail was boggy along a quarter of its length. Two white-tailed deer browsed along the south facing slope east of the East Pond. Lots more squirrel activity than usual. I saw a half dozen running around different parts of the Woods.

Parched Spring

It has been unusually dry the past two months. This evening with a beautiful hazy full moon rising, I set out for a walk through the SW Gate of the Woods. The soil inside the gate is dry enough to be dusty. The bur oak leaves are crisp on the ground. The forest floor is crackly as I walk along. We expect (hope for) a half inch of rain beginning tomorrow.
Armadillos or skunks or ..? have been busy foraging in the dry leaves along the trails looking for small invertebrates to consume. The arcs of turned leaves as they were looking for snails, beetles, spiders, are a reminder of the feeding ecology of the small citizens of the Woods.

We have had a plague of five young dogs (siblings)  along the southern perimeter of the Woods since November.  I am sure they have suppressed or killed much of the small wildlife (up to and including young deer). I was happy to see a young cottontail dashing south into the dense dune vegetation from the beaver dam area.

Today has been delightful.. low 70's and sunny. This spring has seen late cold surges of wintry (mostly dry) air and bitter winds, with interludes of warming spring days up almost to 80 F. The winds three days ago were gusting over 50 mph and brought down branches that had been broken and hanging since the January 2007 Norman ice storm.

The warming days have been enough to bring out the early inconspicuous flowers at the tips of the elm branches. Full spring is ready, waiting, ready to burst upon the scene.

What is a Great Horned Owl Thinking

This last Sunday of January, exploring the eastern Woods towards the end of the day, I heard the Great Horned Owl a hundred feet away across the dry ditch. At 5 o'clock I was wandering, purposefully off trail and looking for hidden new things. I was by the giant bur oak that had washed out and fallen eastward across the Wash. The owl was in good full view in a tall juniper. I sank down and rested my head against a large rotten log on the steep bank behind me, pulled out binoculars to watch the bird and thought what life was like for the owl. After initially observing me,  the owl regally looked away to the southwestern horizon. The setting sun blazed and lit the owl's eyes. I could see their glint through my binoculars. I wondered what the owl was thinking as it began its 'day' with twilight approaching. The dry wash below it would be a good open highway where it could fly low through mostly unobstructed space. Maybe there was a family of mice along the wash the owl had tried for earlier. Maybe it was considering returning to places where it had been successful before.
I wondered if the owl had a map of the Woods with regular flight routes repeatedly taken.. a personal interstate or branching routes that all the birds of the Woods knew.
A brave wren with 'attitude' was chirping, scolding and hopping from perch to perch in the Wash below the owl. It was probably safe because of its size and also the surrounding brushy cover of tangled vines.
The owl scarcely paid any attention to the wren although I think it did have a look at me.. and probably decided that I was a little to big for its dinner. I sat and enjoyed the peace of the Woods contemplating the higher branches of the big pecans and elms and sugarberries. These upper boughs are the dominion of the owl and its avian compatriots. I wondered how well they knew the upper branches of these trees. Throughout my quiet half hour with the owl, it barely seemed to take notice of me. But when a barred owl called 200 m WNW from a big pecan tree, the great-horned owl quickly reacted with a turn and brief stare.

Snowy Woods and southern dogs

Beautiful snow this Sunday morning from dawn to noon, 3-4 inches. Afternoon was below freezing but snow was clearing, so at five I went to the SW gate of the Woods, to see what tracks I would find.
Along the South boundary trail there were no tracks for 100 m or more.. maybe one squirrel. Then there was a well worn but otherwise hidden thoroughfare heading south under the fence. It looked like it might have been raccoon. Further east, at the main break in the fence, there was the principle dog entry and I was sad to see from abundant tracks, that they were still here. I crossed south through the fence and found the five young dogs together on the east side of the new trash station. They ran off around to the front and entered the station to forage in the bags along the west wall. I followed them to the entrance and stomped my foot. They ran barking back north and east into the Woods. We have to get those dogs out of the Woods. At the fence break by Carpenter's G-0 post there were again lots of tracks including one that looked like a bobcat. . rounded pads and no nails.
With the sun setting I wandered north back into the Woods.
Leaving the southern portion of the Woods I encountered the first deer tracks. The snow is a great recorder of wildlife activity showing the hidden routes that the animals in the Woods know and use. Sometimes they use the cleared trails. Sometimes they have their own ways.
The deer tracks all through the Woods seemed like mostly young deer. I wondered what impact the dogs were having in suppressing wildlife.
I found no evidence of dogs north of the dune. Most of the deer tracks stayed north of the dune.
Beautiful time to be in the Woods with snow outlining the dark trunks of the trees. The glowing sunset colors lit up the Woods reflecting from the white forest floor.

Spring Zephyrs Mid-January

Destructive ice storm late December, polar-vortex deep cold for central OK early January. Now blustery  30-40 mph winds in a 70 degree day. By 5 p.m. the Woods were calm. I walked in past the NW Ponds. Along the trail I  find small patches of cooler air.. meter by meter. I  either encountered the afternoon's remaining warmth or distinctly cooler air. Where does the returning cool come from? down by the cooler ground? collecting and drifting down ravines and draws - yes, but no significant continuing downslope wind currents.. Is it blowing in from the winds above? Can't tell. Topsy-turvy patchy zephyrs must make it difficult for animals relying on smell.
 The Woods are very open now. Even some of the privet and winter green shrubs lost some leaves in the ice storm. Small groups of 2-3 deer are there most days. This evening at 5:30 I heard the singing of a distant group of coyotes off to the south. Maybe they'll come through the Woods and eliminate the family of young dogs that are living there along the south boundary.
  Beautiful sunset with bands of gray or light pink clouds I associate with early spring. Sky and near full moon made me want to stay out.