Return from the Deep Cold

Late December and early January were unusually cold and cloudy for central Oklahoma.. 7-8 F below 30 year average. I went to the Woods before sunset and thought of the barred owl I often encounter in the NE corner of the Woods at the end of the day. What do they do when it is 15 F instead of the normal winter 25F? They are insulated with all their feathers but flight for food must be very chilling. Do they just go on? Some other animals (squirrels?) may just shelter in their nest and suspend activity.

Two days ago at twilight I went to the Woods and walked along the south boundary. There, in the failing light, I came on a large track west of the south end of the NS trail. A large cloven hoof, it looked too heavy, broad and solid for a deer..it looked like a hog. Further west along the boundary I found areas that had been disturbed by rooting. It looked too deep to be the foraging of armadillos or skunks, but in the near-dark I could not be sure it was a hog.

Today the jet stream shifted north and temperatures rose to a pleasant 61 F. I went to the Woods at 2 for a walk from the NE Gate. At the foot of the drop to the wash, the largest bur oak had a colorful assemblage of box elder bugs. There were 35 or more bugs in a crevice in the bark, half the size of my hand. They were crawling about and arranging themselves basking in the warm sun from the south. The green growing herbs Stellaria chickweed and Glechoma Gill-over-the ground, looked a little bedraggled, as though the recent cold had set them back. I encountered one large doe south of the east dune crossing. This is the time of year when does will be carrying new developing young from breeding in late November to early December. I approached the NW pond from the south walking through the dried stems of red-brown Polygonum knotweed, present as an unbroken solid cover, surrounded by scattered patches of Typha cattails and a wide ring of Carex sedge. Interesting question what so sharply delimits the knotweed-sedge boundary. Topography seems little or no different.
The pond was still except for the cardinals and other birds there foraging. I settled there to observe and ended up taking a nap in the warm sun.
Back east of the East Pond I encountered a group of three deer, a younger doe and two yearlings. I sang to them from fifty feet away and waved my hands. They looked skittish but did not run. I wondered what they found to eat this time of the year in the Woods.

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.