Winter walk with Robert and chemicals

Met Robert this morning and went to the NE Gate to go look for soil. Robert is interested in the zillions of novel soil microbes, new undescribed species, and especially interested in the novel compounds they make. Should be enough for a lifetime in Olivers Woods. I asked Robert what the wonderful smell was in the Woods after a warm winter rain on fresh fallen leaves. He replied most of the odors are terpenoids geosmins made by Streptomyces. Human noses are very good at detecting the smells. I'd like to know the name of a hundred different unique smells in the Woods.. and what makes them so I can be more aware of what is going on.

Yesterday went to the Woods late in the day. Just saw one large doe bounding away. Ponds are quite full. After days of strong winds nothing much was down.

Roaring Wind, Silent Heron

Woke on a pleasant 48 F degree Sunday morning in late November. That was the high temperature. The wind was coming.
At 2:30 and 28F I stopped by the Northwest entrance of the Woods for a walk to see what was happening.
The wind was roaring.
I quickly walked down the slope into the lee of the northern slope and entered the relative calm under the trees. The winds were roaring overhead now and I wondered if trees would come down. I came to the NW pond and there stood the tallest great blue heron I think I've ever seen. It stood silently on the far side of the small pond. It colors were great camouflage with the gray and brown stems behind it. It tracked me as I walked past the pond, slowly turning its head. I did not linger or disturb it further.

Walking past the big tilted Carpenter cottonwood, I was glad it had shed its leaves and was standing bare, with less surface area for the wind to tug. Approaching the East Pond there was a burst of life as three white-tailed deer stood and bolted away from the SE side. They disturbed a large barred owl that flew silently from my NW side of the pond.
The Woods are largely bare now except for the incongruous green of the invasive Euonymus heart's a bustin' shrub with its red berries, on the SW shore of the East Pond and south next to the second largest cottonwood #200.
On the south side of the main East West Trail, east of Fence Corner the red elms in the under story have flushed new green leaves, a few weeks old. The under story there looks a bit like April. Odd..

Just south of East Pond, and again west of Elm Bridge, small passerines, wrens and other species were disturbed, flying rapidly around, scolding and chasing each other. I couldn't see a predator. I wondered if they are stressed and hustling to ready themselves for the sudden change in the weather.

The water depth in the NW Pond was 2.49 feet and in the East Pond 2.15 feet. There was still water in the Eastern Wash, and all the way to the Elm Bridge, but it was not flowing, dry from the Elm Bridge southward. Dry at Island Crossing. The NW Pond is covered in a light chocolate mouse brown of old pollen, now shoved up in a wrinkled skin to the eastern shore.

Cool Twilight

Went for a nice twilight walk at 5:30 from the NE Gate, quickly escaping down the path away from the highway traffic noise and into the sheltering quiet of the trees. Down across the Wash at Elm Bridge, I stopped to look south at the still yellow golden sky with darkness closing. The leaves have recently completely dropped and revealed once again the skeleton of the woods in silhouette. You can't see this during the day. Too much light and too much detail and distraction. But after sunset, with just the black silhouettes of the stems, branches and trunks against the yellow golden sky, you can see the structure of the trees. The way they interact, compete and grow. You could study this for a long time and learn a lot about trees.
Walking north along from the Two Pecan trail there was a barred owl calling. I stopped and gave a screech owl call. The barred owl paused a longer time, as if puzzled, then called again. I answered with the screech owl five or six times looking in the fading twilight out to the larger trees and then thought I saw, farther off, a large bird flying away north. I think my owl didn't know what to make of me.

Brief Glory and Death in the Woods

On a mid November Saturday - a delightful fall day - I went to the NE corner of Oliver's Woods. Supposed to be mid 60's F most of the day and then a drop to near frost with cold front coming at sunset. I entered the Tree Loop and noticed the big yellow orange leaves scattered on the ground beneath the black hickory. Favorite tree in autumn in Oliver's Woods. Its rich butter yellow leaves glow in the understory, a brief glory. Now the last of the fall colors are gone and most of the autumn leaves are down. The Woods are beginning to open up, as they do each fall. You can again see more distant things.
I spot two whitetail does bounding away westward from near Elm Bridge. Along the Tree Loop at the cutoff junction, there is a large 'scrape', a square foot of soil scraped bare by a buck marking the place with his scent. Walking along the Barney cutoff a hundred feet northeast of the patch of bittersweet I discovered the recent remains and entrails of a whitetail a couple of weeks ago. My attention was captured first by abundant tufts of white and brown hair along the trail.. and then the odd grassy off-green of the rumen from the gut of the deer. Maybe an animal shot by a hunter, escaped to the Woods and died; perhaps carcass consumed by coyotes or other scavengers. No sign of the bones left. Perhaps I will find this winter.
In the Woods, I hear flickers calling, cardinals and robins, even warm enough for a lone cricket to sing by the NW Pond. A few other insects are still stirring. At Tall Stump a slow Polistes wasp lands briefly on my jeans and moves on.. likely a queen seeking a good shelter under a chink of bark or in a rotten log where she can pass the winter. In the spring she will emerge and begin laying eggs for her new brood who later will help build or expand her summer's nest. One last Vespula yellow jacket going to ground. Most of these will die before the real winter, leaving just the new queens already inseminated surviving the winter in their hidden shelters.
I roll a few of the rotting logs from the big pecan that fell 4-5 years ago. I previously cut 2-3 logs to open the path east and north of the Elm Bridge. The logs are beginning to have some good decay and I find some large sluggish Scolopendra centipedes curled and sheltered there. I also disturb nests of tiny ants, Monomorium? and snails. Good to see the logs picking up some inhabitants.
The NW Pond is well-filled (2.48 ft depth) and silvery. A surface skim of dissolved organics covers the pond and begins a slow counter-clockwise grey as a light west wind blows across the water.
There is new green in the Woods.. always happens and always interesting in November. The large nearly heart-shaped leaves remind me of Digitalis, foxglove.. but it isn't in the Woods. It isn't Smilax, greenbrier, maybe basal leaves of Elephantopus, elephantsfoot. I will have to figure that out. There are also side-by-side new fresh green leaves of Geum, avens with old avens leaves of this summer, now light brown or darker around the senescent edges. Also hardy green Euonymus. The three invasive 'L's' are all there with new leaves too: Liriope monkeygrass, Lonicera, Japanese honeysuckle and Ligustrum privet. Some of the braver (or foolhardy) native tree species are producing some new green leaves: small new box elder leaves and an expansive display of dozens of understory red elms with many fully flushed green leaves.. like April, almost.
Down by Beaver dam there are a half dozen mosquito wrigglers still growing in the remaining water. Just one adult mosquito there for the entire morning. Last turtles I've seen this year were with entomology class back on Oct. 26 a hundred yards east of the NW Pond.
This summer's life in the Woods is coming to an end. The leaves held on, and then fell quickly almost in a day after our late first freeze. But it is messy. Everything is there ready to make new life, standing water, muddy soil, abundant propagules, lots of organic carbon and nutrient elements to recycle into new life. Starting soon.
.. and a 'thanks' for the encouraging appreciation left on windshield.

Something wrong in Oliver's Woods

October 7 and I decide to make a quick, short return to the Woods. I hear ticks are declining and mosquitoes are bad..but I can handle mosquitoes. At 5 PM I set foot again on the NW entrance trail - for the first time in 2-3 months. After the inch plus rain this morning the earth and trail surface are sodden. I go looking to see if there have been big changes. The air is full of warmth and humidity, like a tropical lowland rain forest; but I am troubled.. maybe it is the low barometric pressure. Tornado was sighted an hour south of here. Here the air is still. At the NW pond the water depth is 2.5 ft. One large adult whitetail deer on the south shore of the pond stands and runs, splashing a short 10 yards through the water then turns to look back.
No other signs of large vertebrates, no turtles etc. The water level is high enough to reach the second square stone from the trail, and almost to the first. Carrying on east through the big trees I see two monarchs pausing on their southward flight from Canada to Mexico. Been a lot of them through Norman this fall. Amazing that they can keep on course and make their way.
  The East pond is 2.15 feet in depth and quiet.
Across the Woods new leaf fall is beginning, covering all the forest floor..but only a thin blanket. In the canopy > 96% of the leaves are still there. They should be turning and falling soon.
  This warmth and humidity feels wrong. The warmest August the planet has ever seen. Temperatures have not fallen here in central Oklahoma. No crisp cool fall days. Cold front is coming.. but it feels odd now. With the changing climate, I wonder which forest species will win and which will lose. Maybe Celtis sugar berry and others continuing to put on new leaves late into summer and early autumn will gain an advantage. Maybe those with early leaf drop will lose some advantage. I see one spider on its web.. a Micrathena..usually a spring / early summer species.. no Araneus, more typical of late summer. I wonder if some species will begin to produce a second or partial second generation.
  Walking in the Wood and feeling the unnatural warmth I have a slight feeling of foreboding. The climate change cliff threshold that has been so much discussed.. I think it is happening. I think we are going over the cliff, and that positive feedback loops are accelerating the rate of change..with release of methane from boreal / polar regions and other places like ocean clathrates. I think 20 years from now the natural planet earth will be very different.

July return to Woods

Saturday July 7 I returned to the Woods to see their look in midsummer. I entered via the NE Gate and was struck again by the destruction wrought by the line crew; but then eagerly advanced into the shade and solid humid warmth beyond the first trees. I walked 70% of all the trails and things were OK, no major tree falls. Lots of creatures in the Woods. Small (softball-sized) young box turtle on trail just west of NW Pond. Water there was lower but good at 1.4 ft. The growth of the cattails was lush and made an interesting sharp line of division between them and the 0.7 meter lower growth of the sedges (equally lush). Be interesting to map the line between the two species and think about what might control that.. water depth/ water permanence, soil difference, light? Hovering dragonfly looked like an aeshnid. I did not see the red-eared slider pond turtles, but I am sure they were there. Just inside the NE Gate a young spotted white-tailed fawn spooked and sprinted away 60-70 m, then turned and watched me. South and west in the Woods, I saw two does. At the East Pond there were scores of young small frogs all jumping back to the water as I approached the water.. now substantially withdrawn from max shoreline, although water depth was 1.1 feet. Throughout the Woods, there were hundreds of webs of Micrathena across the trails. Great time to study the spiders in the Woods: what is the diversity? what controls their abundance in different areas of the Woods? (types of vegetation shrubs/ tall trees, proximity to water, amount of sunlight etc) If webs are broken, does the spider rebuild using the same points? how quickly do they rebuild?
  Mosquitoes, unfortunately were moderately abundant, despite DEET. There is some water left in isolated bodies in the Wash, none at Island Crossing or Elm Bridge. I disturbed a big Neotibicen cicada at Island Crossing. There was one of the same, caught in a web and I found the shed exuvia of one on the underside of a leaf of a mexican hickory. Must have been an emergence of these while I was gone in Europe.
  Along the westside of the NW Pond I was surprised to see a moderately large crayfish castle/ chimney at the base of a young ash tree. I didn't know there were crayfish in there.
  Along the South Boundary trail, just west of the patch of small roughleaf dogwoods, I watched from thirty feet away, the slow flight of an exciting Megarhyssa ichneumon wasp with its giant ovipositor tail. It was flying through a wreck of tangled, fallen tree trunks and branches.
  The canopy in the Woods, surprisingly, felt more open.. more sunlight coming through. It may be that storms had taken out some leaves or the understory was thinned out a bit. Along the trails, Elephantopus elephant's ear was taking advantage of the light.. healthy thick patches of these mixed with Polygonum pink lady's thumb, especially by the junction of the North Rim and North Loop Trails. At the same location I snapped off the tops (again) of three fast growing invasive Ailanthus tree-of-heaven, keeping each one below one meter.
  I checked on the invasive bittersweet and it looks like the majority of the canopy growth of the patch has died after cutting. But there are now scores or more of new young twining tendrils, with orbiculate, toothed leaves, rising from the cut stumps of the vine. By the SW Gate, along the fence line, the orange flowers of the Campsis trumpet vine were blooming.
 

"Something hidden; Go and find it."

Out to the Woods at 9:30 Sunday morning. I drove to the NE Gate to assess the impact of the clearing along the northern boundary. First thing that caught my eye in the Eastern Wash was a long-winged insect fluttering in weak flight. Through binocs it looked like a stonefly..but that would be very unusual. Long body - a nice ant lion, Brachynemurini.
I walked the cleared power right of way westward. Dragonflies sunning themselves there. I should set out Lindgren traps to see beetles and natural enemies attracted. I bet there will be few in the area of junipers, with all the juniper terpenes & volatiles released. Fence has opening between East Wash and West Wash in the middle of the pure stand of junipers. Island Crossing or East Wash access directly through the junipers.
Spider webs across trails are more common, still not abundant. In the west they are pleasantly filled with cotton from Populus cottonwoods. Produces a gossamer effect in the under story.
Woods have dried significantly. Polygonum pink ladies thumb are starting to fill in some of the Main SW Trail and Carex sedges are tall. East Pond depth is 1.72 ft and NW Pond 1.6. Small (cricket?) frog hopping across the broad mud perimeter into East Pond. Two red-eared sliders basking on log in NW pond, one the size of a large soup bowl and one a large coffee cup.
On dry land one small box turtle, size of large coffee cup by bird feeder east of NW Pond.
The Woods have transitioned into full summer mode, sounds muffled by the full green. Canopy leaves now mature green, not light spring green.
I checked on the invasive bittersweet. Still canopy crowns of green leaves (on tall juniper). I found and cut more old big stems of the vine. Lots of under story stems/ leaves.
I check the three invasive Ailanthus trees and break off their new growth. Complex nutty odor of crushed leaves reminds me of odor of green hollow fruits of maypop passion flower back east.
Along Hackberry Alley one branch of a box elder has a Hyphantria fall webworm nest with defoliation of the dozen leaves.
Three canopy coffee trees have been blown over, north of Hackberry Alley. New leafy sprouts are shooting up from roots, interesting. One emerging from top of 2-3 m tall root ball is now 3-4 m tall. Skull of racoon(?) or possum? by westernmost tilted coffee tree. Roots make new protected leanto shelters for vertebrates.
I am reminded of Horace Kephart quoting Rudyard Kipling writing about explorations "Something hidden; Go and find it."

Sad damage to the Woods

Nice morning for a walk in the Woods. At 10:30 I went to the NW entrance and walked into the fragrant humidity of the green jungle growing. Vague sweet fragrance may be from last of Ligustrum privet bloom or beginning honeysuckle or some other combination. Glimpse of a heron at the pond but interesting only the clear reflection in the water as it flapped to a hidden perch a few feet above the water. Green everywhere but no turtles visible. New dragonfly libelluid adults perching on shrubs by the trail. Spider webs are beginning again, dozens across the trail; but interestingly not the Micrathena typical for early summer orb weavers. Wonder what happened..looks like maybe young orange Araneus instead. With half inch of rain Friday morning, the trails are pleasantly soggy, but no standing water blocking trails, even on SW Trails. The ponds are well filled and the toeslope swamp to the west.
Mosquitoes are fairly abundant even with DEET and ticks are there too. I find several on me hours later despite precautions, DEET, changing clothes, shower, tick check etc.
Fungi are diverse and abundant with the summer rain. The wood ear Auricularia is full of moisture and full size on many logs and standing snags. couple of small red Sarcoscypha scarlet elf cups on Tree Loop, lots of small agarics on decaying logs, white oyster mushrooms, or something like it all along mystery fallen hackberry. Especially in NW Woods fallen catkins are everywhere, an abundant addition to litter fall. One large doe avoids me on Tree Loop. Barred owl flies silently away in the under story and disappears west of Hackberry Alley.
  65 m north of the old beaver dam there is a serious, large spot infestation of dozens of stems of the invasive vine, Celastrus occidentalis, bittersweet. In a rough ellipse maybe 15-20m long and 5-10 m wide. There is a luxuriant tangled growth of bittersweet leaves up in the canopy. Looks to have been there a few years. Some of the vines were 2 inches in diameter. I cut the big ones I could find with a small pruning saw I had with me and pulled up 30-40 smaller stems. There are scores of small stems remaining.
  At the NE Entrance to the Tree Loop I discovered that the northern boundary of Oliver's Woods along Hwy 9 had been cut this week. Looks like crews from a power company had a tracked vehicle and chainsaws to cut a swath about 20-30 feet south of the fence line.  They've cut and shredded trees marked with blue flagging with numbered permanent metal tags we used for phenology and species ID tutorials.  The clearing is excessive, and conducted without regard to the special conservation/ education status and the Oklahoma Registered Natural Area status.  I was saddened to see this. It would be good if the power company could have the understanding that Oliver's Woods has special status for conservation, education and research and they managed the right-of-way to have the minimum possible impact. Instruct the sawyers that the forest is valuable and they should cut only what is necessary. It does not look like there was appropriate restraint. Sad to have this damage and reduction of the Woods.

Turtles, Herons, Green Tigers, Old Skulls, Oh my.

Beautiful Sunday morning, I went to the Woods via the NW Entrance about 9:30. Sweet, welcoming perfume with new yellow and white Japanese honeysuckle flowers at the entrance.
The green woods have grown a lot in the past week.
Box elder leafy twigs, fresh greenbrier tendrils, multiflora rose and all the young trail-side trees, pecans, coffee tree, soapberry, sugarberry, walnut, viburnum, dogwood and many others all had extended fresh new growth out into the trail.
Approaching the NW Pond, I was happy to see the yellow-crowned night heron again, resting still-as-a-statue where the new diatoms were found. The pond still continues to the western wetland, closer to Chautauqua, and provides shade & cover for birds to rest. Water level is down some, but it's still good and full.
At East Pond there was so much disturbance/ digging/ tracks in the east end wet mud, I wondered if hogs had gotten into the Woods. More likely coyotes, armadillos and maybe some turtles.
I spotted two box turtles, one at the east end of East Pond, and one on the west side of the gully west of Elm Bridge. Wonder if either are older than me. Lots of soft green new vegetation for turtles to eat today.
Northeast of Elm Bridge I noticed a half dozen black ants (size of small Camponotus carpenter ants) guarding and collecting honey dew from a small patch of aphids on a box elder. Then I saw that they were all over the apical leafy twigs of the six foot tall tree. Larger soldiers were trundling up the stem of the tree too. Something I did startled the six ants I noticed first, and they all jumped into hyperactivity running up and down, searching every corner of each leaf and twig in their four or five inch patch, looking for threats to attack. Looked like someone had produced an alarm pheromone with instant effect. Reminded me of Janzen's acacia ants; but these ants were benefiting only the aphids, at a cost to the box elder. Might be fun to do some studies.
On the East West trail, in a splash of sunlight, there was a flash of emerald, a brilliant green Cicindela sexguttata tiger beetle. As the beetle ran along the trail, a bright yellow and black, bee mimic  assassin / robber fly Laphria zoomed off its sunny perch. I found only one spider web across the trail. I wonder if strong winds past two days had an effect?
All along the trails -  dry and wet - there was substantial digging, like something a dog or coyote would do, small 3-5 inch deep excavations.
At the twin trunk big pecan west of Hackberry Alley, there was an old deer skull with one forked antler attached, someone had brought there to chew. Had some green algae growing in one spot. It had been laying somewhere in the forest for a while. I didn't see or hear any deer, although there were plenty of tracks, and I didn't walk the southern trails down by Beaver Dam (where there is still water). I wonder if coyotes denning in the Woods would mean fewer deer; or if the deer have so much to eat everywhere they don't need to come to the Woods for dinner.
On the Tree Loop a murder of crows was raucously harassing something. I couldn't tell if it was the barred owl or a red-shouldered hawk.
Only showy flowers were the tall white daisies in a couple of locations, although hundreds of Avens Geum were pushing out greenish flowers, before making more burs for my socks. Note to self: bring knee boots to avoid ruining socks for next few weeks.
Brought home a half dozen ticks (that I found). A few mosquitoes buzzing at the NW Pond, but hardly worth mentioning. The Woods are full of life and growth. A marvelous place today.

Turtle Morning after Big Rain

2.35 inches of rain Wed/Thur this week. I walked the NE Tree Loop in the Woods at 10:30 on a beautiful Saturday morning. The Woods may be most alive now. Understory box elders have flushed out full new leaves, still fresh. The multi-flora rose is blooming white. Spiders are just beginning to weave webs. Only a few across any of the trails. My sentries were a couple of crows announcing my progress as I walked along. Nothing alarming, just a two syllable call. At Elm Bridge there was a school of maybe twenty to thirty 1.5 inch-long minnows/ guppies or similar. One yellow-white gold fish? schooled with the minnows. Someone must have introduced the fish.. maybe to eat mosquito larvae? In the upstream pool I watched through binoculars as something fairly large and submerged, disturbed the water over and over. Maybe a red-eared slider feeding? Never could spot it, but it moved fairly quickly and was fairly large (bull frog? turtle? water snake? Loch Oliver monster?).
I encountered three box turtles along the trail: one by the largest old (dead) walnut along the Tree Loop; one about 40 ft north of the leaning big Cottonwood with Carpenter's survey post; one on the east side of Island Crossing top of the bank (small/ young). There was also a red-eared slider basking on a floating log south side of the NW Pond.
The big broken hanging elm is re-greened by luxuriant growth of Parthenocissus, Virginia Creeper, up in the sunlight, sharing the crown with wild grape.
Twenty feet south of Fence Corner, along the trail there was a mystery vine.. large well-grown. Whitish bark, rounded leaves with a tip.
The ponds were well-filled: East Pond at 2.35 ft and NW Pond at 2.5 ft. Blooming flowers other than the rose - just white and yellow daisies. Did not see deer today. Good 'greens' for them everywhere.
   
 Several earlier days in the Woods with cool temps over the past two weeks. One midday entering via the NW Pond I heard an ambulance siren moving W along Hwy 9. It was answered by coyotes (maybe two or more) nearby top of hill above the East Pond. Leaving the Woods an hour later there was another ambulance and again the same answer from coyotes. Most days this fortnight, I see 3-5 white-tailed deer.
Began a new informal cross trail from Hackberry Alley over to south side of the Big Tree Grove. I like it. Just marked with 2-3 flags of blue tape. Great over-mature clump of white and brown agaric mushrooms there, looked like Coprinus almost. Week earlier I enjoyed finding fresh big oyster mushrooms and having a bite.

Blustery Spring Cold and Night Heron Return

Saturday morning after a windy day and night, a not-quite frosty cold has returned. I returned to the Woods through the NE Gate to see what was happening. The Tree Loop was in good shape and other trails had no down trees, only smaller branches. The yellow-crowned night heron (one at least) had returned to the NW Pond and was warming in the morning sun in its favorite SW corner. The Main SW trail has finally dried all the way through the Beaver Dam. Soil is sodden just, short of muddy but no standing water there. Good to avoid mosquito development.
Along the Northern Loop all four of the invasive Ailanthus tree of heaven saplings had early leaves dead and hanging from the cold 25 F a few days ago. Bradford pear leaves on Pipeline Trail also seem to have had some (less) damage. Young, just emerging leaves of pin oaks also look damaged.

On the forest floor, the green is spreading.. Polygonum pink lady's thumb and Elephantopus elephant's foot's larger green leaves are common. Understory box elder are opening small leaves. The green closing-in of the forest is beginning.. slowly. No deer to be seen, but good population of robins foraging. There were many symphonies of songs and squeaks in the trees with the wind this morning. Many leaning trees dead or live with the strong winds produce a chorus of many voices in the Woods. New trail from Hackberry Alley to Big Tree Grove, blue flagged.

Cold snap and mallards

Friday and Saturday, temperature steadily dropped strongly to 25 F, a killing cold snap for many plants with brand new young leaves. The 4 stems of Ailanthus tree of heaven had some of the earliest leaves. Sunday afternoon the upright young leaves were turning from spring green to dark green to black. Good news, helps to keep this invasive in check.
No sign of the pair of yellow crowned night herons; but in their place there was a pair of mallards. It would be nice if someone nests on the NW pond.
Ponds are nicely filled. The NW Pond at 2.48' in depth and the Eastern at 2.08' The East Pond has a significant accumulation of flotsam. Flotsam in the west of the NW Pond too. Rafts of floating (decomposing?) algae. I'd like to know what species are in there.
Warblers and other small woodland birds active. Saw first Morchella of the year, blonde brown in color. Deer herd of 13 a few days ago. Good mix of older protective animals, 1-2 year olds and several new. No spotted fawns. They ran from me, but not far. Stopped and watched me as I sang to them. Largest group I've seen in years(?) there. Silver tassels of box elder are all opening, hanging, bedecking their branch tips. The Woods are bursting with new spring life. From the forest floor to tips of shrubs to tops of trees, green-up is beginning.

Spring Seesaw Yellow Crowned Night Herons

After a week of soft warm spring days that brought out a full bloom of Missouri violets Viola sororia across the eastern and northern Woods, the temp dropped April Fools Day/ Easter to a high of 49. Chilly late afternoon, I walked in via the NW Pond and found a pair of yellow-crowned night herons quietly waiting for their dinner to swim by, along the shallow shore. Half way along the North South trail, I disturbed a barred owl who flew soundlessly a short distance northwest. Overhead, east of the N-S trail, the red shouldered hawk flew in circles. By the Beaver Dam, chickadees, titmice and cardinals were busy foraging. It is a mystery to me how small birds can survive and find enough food on chilly days.

The jet stream relented and we enjoyed more soft warms days. I planted my garden tomatoes. Then noon Friday the cold returned. This morning we woke to ice on the ground and dry bits of snow falling. A return to the Woods provided a second glimpse of the yellow-crowned night heron; but not much else moving. Violets all closed to survive the 25 F. Now blue skies and warm sun.

Early Butterflies in the Woods

Last day of March and first Tiger swallowtail floated low in front of me by Elm Bridge. A day of warm soft spring clouds. Northeastern Tree Loop both a bright orange Goatweed leafwing butterfly and a dainty sulphur were flitting close to the ground in the sunny patch where the native thistle grows. Green growing swiftly. Honeysuckle greening up on the floor of the Woods, box elder leaves opening in the understory. When their leaves are fully flushed the Woods will be transformed from the open winter/ early spring. The small white flowers of Cardamine/ Dentaria bittercress were open at Beaver Dam. Red buds are in full bloom now. On the spring roadsides bright yellow dandelions are abundant. The first reddish-purple flowers of Erodium storksbill are showing. Single red-shouldered hawk calling and calling in the highest branches of its nest tree cottonwood.

Violet Woods

After a few days of cool gentle rain, the Woods are full of blooming violets along the low eastern trails. Island Crossing has dozens of violets blooming.
We've had about two thirds of an inch of rain - much needed- and it came as intermittent soft showers.. generating relatively little runoff. Great for the plants. Though the Wash is nearly full, there is no flow past Island Crossing (dry bed). The water is backed up from Beaver Dam a couple hundred yards into the Woods but not deep.
Walking east along the NW Trail at 6 PM there was a light sweet smell at the catalpa cluster.. an Eleaegnus autumn olive was just beginning to open flowers 40 feet away. Light down slope winds of the early evening were carrying the faint lemony sweet scent.
Passing the NW pond, it is full and brimming over into the swamp west and south towards Chautauqua. The sedges have all put out fresh green growth and looked very springish under a light blue sky. I watched a large titmouse gleaning and cleaning its beak on trees near the hanging feeder. Three does jogged to stay a little east of me. Two seemed large like they might be carrying fawns. I don't know when fawns here are born..probably about now. The other henbit Lamium purpureum was flowering and leaves of pink ladies thumb with its distinctive pink mark were appearing. The ponds were full @ 2.48 feet (NW Pond) and 2.2 feet (E Pond). As I was almost leaving the Woods, I heard a light rustle up top of the slope above NW Pond foot stones. Large Armadillo moving slowly upslope foraging... funny small ears and large armored body. I watched for a while with binoculars and enjoyed its busy foraging.

Peak Plum

Woods this afternoon is soft, full beginning spring.
In the upper Woods, especially the northwest corner, the native Chickasaw plum and naturalized Bradford Pear are full of blossom. Bright white for the pear. White to pink and light brown for the plum. Red buds' purple flowers are mixed among the dark green juniper.
The lower Woods after weeks of dry winds (a very dry March) have finally lost almost all of the standing water from the earlier rains. The upper Woods have been so dry that bare soil along the trails was cracking. The lower Main SW trail kept water along its length, even with the weeks of dry wind. Today the surface of the Main SW trail was in parts wet enough to cling to shoes; but there was no standing water anywhere along its length except small depressions along the side of trail. The soft soil/mud along the main trail was full of tracks of animals. raccoon, opossum, skunk, coyote, deer; others too. I need Nic C. to help me read.
I met Irish and discussed the limits of wood cutting and the value of leaving down wood on the ground to rot in the preserve.
At the SW Gate, just into the Woods I stood and looked up to the canopy. Half of the trees had opened their buds and were beginning to put life into their new leaves. The rest will soon. A magic time of renewing life. Cornus dogwood had tiny scimitars of green leaves beginning. Ligustrum privet was well along with new small rounded leaves. Elaeagnus autumn olive new silvery green leaves were flushed and already new blossoms were beginning to be produced.. not open yet.
Hovering around the small remaining pools of standing water there were some small aggregations of non-biting male mosquitoes that flew up as I passed by. The more pesky biting females will be emerging soon unless the coming rainstorm washes them away.
 I saw two purple violets along the Western Loop of the Tree Loop, There was Dentaria/Cardamine pepper grass with its small white flowers. The Wash still had abundant water, mostly full, although not flowing.
I walked much of the southern lower Woods to check for branches down in the blowing winds of the past fortnight. There was a fair amount, but all small branches (except for the large dead cedar I cleared last week from blocking the Western Loop). I thought about how quickly the Woods will revert to a wilder, less easily navigated version of itself when I am gone from here. The wildlife will be happier, no doubt, with less human traffic.
One bumble bee passing through, happy to have pollen and nectar from plum and pear again, after the long winter.

Craneflies - Woods are at the Brink of Spring

Late afternoon walk into the Woods from the NW entrance. The northwest pond is well up (over 2.4 ft. depth). Fine spring afternoon, mid 60's F. After this past Tuesday's windy weather, there were many small branches down across the trails.. mostly finger diameter.. nothing big. I saw no turtles basking and no deer, although the tracks of the deer and foraging tracks of armadillos were evident everywhere.
The Woods are just on the brink of breaking out with spring. The warm days and wet soil will bring out a good healthy leaf flush. In two weeks the light and the aspect of the Woods will begin to be very different. This week the Elaeagnus autumn olive shrubs have all broken leaf buds and have early small elliptical green leaves peaking out all over. Same for the few scattered Euonymus winterberry shrubs.
The East pond is also still well up (>2.2 ft depth).
As I was leaving the Woods via the NW exit, I saw large dancing amber winged insects.. curious what they were. The size of scorpionflies.. several of them all dancing around the base of the large pecan and nearby smaller trees. After a moment I realized I was watching large craneflies. Beautiful amber wings and perpetual bouncing dance flight. Cool. A few times before I have seen hundreds or thousands emerging from the wetlands in the western Woods. Good to see them again. Good to see spring coming in.

Spring Peepers a Woodpecker and the first Turtle

Sunday I walked in to the Woods via the NW Pond, still well-filled. There on the far side, basking in the spring sunshine (and 60 F temp) was the first turtle of the year. Covered in mud, resting on a floating log. Could have been a red-eared slider, but it was kind of large and thick for that. Hope to see it again with binocs. I walked the Ravine Trail refreshing the red dots. On the east side at the big pecans south of break in the levee there was a surprising sight. A small beautiful woodpecker, black and white back, red head lay on the trail. Not sure why it had died, but it was beautiful. I
I stopped at the Main SW trail gate and dotted some yellow blazes as far as possible without getting feet wet in the receding but still pooled water along the trail.
Driving back north on Chautauqua, I heard the magic sound of spring peepers. Abundant in the western roadside ditch.

Sky Silver a Great Blue Heron and Endless Mysteries

Out to the Woods at 10, before the noon-time snow and freezing rain comes. Stepping down the slope from the NW Entrance, the twigs and branches of the Woods are all adorned with silver from the sky. The freezing rain of yesterday, trickled down into inch-long icicles, distilling the essence of the surface of the Woods into frozen drops. Approaching the NW Pond, I disturb a Great Blue Heron and it flies away silently to perch in an old snag. The Woods are nearly still, and nearly silent. The light wind generates some creaking sounds from weighted branches. Two woodpeckers, with bright red heads fly up to perches, their foraging never done, their resources of rich burrowing beetles never exhausted. No deer visible out this morning. Settled into steep, south-facing ravines, sheltered from the north storm wind coming? A Barred Owl flies silently west across Hackberry Alley. Not much sign of the animal life of the Woods. A lone squirrel watches me closely for a moment, then runs up a tree, perches facing me again. Then slowly makes her way back to the ground in short jumps, but silently, frisking her tail at me, as if to challenge me, and shoo me away. She ascends another smaller 3 m elm, crosses to a tangle of grapevines connected to a larger elm and makes her way up. I wonder if the travel of squirrels is opportunistic and random; or if she has known, repeatedly used routes, Interstates connecting different trees and different places. Looks like she is just taking whatever route they can, but I bet she is following well-known routes.
Farther south in the Woods, where there is bare wet frozen soil, 'needle ice' has formed beneath flecks of bark, wood, broken shells of nuts, or small bits of rock. It has lifted and supports these an inch above the soil. I remember these from winter days in the red clay earths of North Carolina. They usually had a curious pronounced smell of wine or sour fruit. I check the ice needles here and there is no smell. I wonder why the ice needles form under small flecks of debris and not everywhere. Brown silty water is slowly draining out through the beaver dam, but low areas through the SW quarter of the Woods are underwater from the half inch rain Tuesday. West of the former Elm Bridge ice covers an irregular pool of water, roughly four feet by two. There are thirty or more contour rings around the ice sheet, resembling growth rings of trees. Why? Maybe as the pool drains and the periphery freezes, water is drawn by capillary action up to the ice; but why rings? Why not smoothly continuous? Always new things to discover and wonder about. Richness everywhere.

A drowned armadillo a day out of time

Went to the Woods this afternoon. 80 F February 15. It was a little bizarre how odd the day felt. I walked in via the NE Gate and the Tree Loop, crossed the Wash and wandered west along the trails.
At 4 the wind was still and the sky overcast. The warmth had odd insects out flying, a Polistes wasp, a heavy tachinid fly, a noctuid moth. None of these should have been awake- not until late March or April or May.
When I came to the East Pond I noticed the bubbles of methane production on the surface and then saw an odd sight. There at the shoreline, was a recently drowned armadillo. Armadillos are known to carry rabies (rare). Rabies causes insatiable thirst. Was the armadillo sick when it drowned? I pulled it from the water with sticks and buried it beneath a tree so other vertebrates would not get to it and potentially become sick.
The warmth of the day had broken the buds of an Elaeagnus autumn olive. They were just showing the bright green bits of the opening leaf buds. The Woods were very dry but ponds were more than two feet deep. All across the Woods, armadillos (also maybe skunks?) had bulldozed through leaf litter looking for invertebrates, snails, millipedes, beetles, isopods etc.
I saw two large white-tailed deer in the central Woods but was not close to them. Interesting how well their coat color blends with the overall color of the Woods. Tonight wintry winds are returning.

Cold Woods, New Sights Gophers

Winter walk in dry Woods, via the SW Gate. Cold late afternoon, twenty F but felt far colder. Gray skies and north winds. Quiet. Most everyone who could be indoors, was indoors.
Good time to explore off the beaten path. Find something new.  East of the NW Pond and 70 feet east of Walnut Jct, there is still a hanging 'thistle' bird feeder. 
All the leaf litter and organic soil around the nearby grove of five catalpas has been heavily turned over by a foraging armadillo ... looking for pecans, snails? Small group of three white-tailed deer moving northwest from Hackberry Alley. Tough time for larger animals. How to shelter against the day's cold, what to eat? How to live if you cannot hide or hibernate? The SW quarter of the Woods is filled with broken tops of ash trees, leaves still attached from the windstorms of summer. The well-used Main SW path has become a 'latrine' for some mammal, a fox? coyote? racoon? bobcat? Need to photo scat and figure it out. All will be washed away with first good rain. Leaving, I notice something I've not seen before in the Woods, piles of freshly turned dirt, gophers. The disturbed soil extended back to the south and the weedy drier ground outside the southern boundary.

Random Odd thoughts on dry Mid-winter Sycamore

Out to the Woods this afternoon at 3. It has been dry, dry, for a long time. Three months with < 1.4 inches... forty-five days with less than 0.25 inches. But the leaves in the litter have lost the crunchiness of the long dry late autumn. Now, as I walk along, the leaves underfoot all sound the same. In November they were distinct species with different sounds as you walked through.
Entering from the NW entrance, it is dry, but the NW pond has good extensive water. No problem drying down. There is a large area west of the East Pond, where the soil is wet enough to almost be muddy (not quite), plenty of water there. There must be good water table water seeping out/ up through this area. The water in the Wash is almost gone, but there remains a pool between the old mimosa stump and the corroded big pipe.
Three white-tailed deer were wandering around together. I sang aloud to them and then went another way, to not worry them. No sign of the pack of three dogs from earlier in the fall. I think Animal Control must have been successful in getting them to come in to food and shelter. ~ 10 inch tall 'thistle' bird feeder been strung on left side of trail over couple of sugarberries from camo-colored line. Have to discover if graduate student or who is watching this.
Few weeks ago I was near the north end of the Two Pecan Trail when I was surprised by a sudden explosion of scurrying just 20 feet away. First instant glance was running gray-colored squirrel-sized thing. It ran only a second, maybe 30-40 feet and stopped, an armadillo. I leaned against a tree and watched it for 5 minutes before it scurried behind a big rotten log and disappeared into its hole den.
The armadillos (and maybe skunks) have been foraging extensively plowing through the dry leaves to the soil layer searching for snails, beetles, grubs, other invertebrate food.
At the south end of the Two Pecan Trail, 70 feet NE of the southern big pecan, I noticed a lone young sycamore, small 5-6 inch diameter, maybe 30 feet tall. All by itself. Not many other sycamores in the Woods. How did this get here? I bet on this site, it becomes a giant tree, larger than the largest of the present cottonwood patriarchs in the Woods.
Mild, almost warm 50F day today, but we've had some periods of the coldest days of the winter. Weeks with lows in single digits and highs below 20F. The warming soil after that was odd. Dry soft inch thick layer of duff sitting on top of hard, frozen, lower, soil.