The rain began just after midnight. Heavy but intermittent it doused central OK and the Woods all during the day. The total amounted to 95/100ths. At 5 I drove (with some trepidation) to near the NE Gate, being sure to park on high, more well drained ground. I opened the gate and entered the green wet Woods. All along the trail, bud scales beaten off trees by the drumming rain littered the path. Shrubs, Russian Olive, Privet and low branches all weighted down with the recent rain reached into or across the trail. At the Elm Bridge a solid river of muddy brown water was touching the underside of the elm crossing log. I grabbed a pole and walked/ leapt across to the sand bank.
Along the way a few new branches were down across the trail, each tangled with vines and gradually descending to earth on its own schedule. Out the EW Trail and on to the East Pond, I was delighted to see a snapping turtle on the east end. It looked like the one I had encountered below the beaver dam heading up stream. The East Pond was at 3.38 feet and the West Pond was 2.52 feet.
Two young deer east of Barney Jct did not seem terribly alarmed with my presence. The trail loop back including the Northern Loop was in good shape. I crossed the wash at Island Crossing with a good mighty leap but the ground was surprisingly soft where I took to the air leaving me a half foot short of the eastern bank and a quick splash with my good shoes and wool slacks.. never mind. I was on my way out and happy again.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Nother Turtle Marvelous Morning
Up early this April morning and decided to go see the Woods first thing. The SW Gate entrance is suddenly overgrown with bursting spring growth, honeysuckle, clematis and dewy grasses. Inside the gate, the trail NE was dry or drying to the first 50 m mark and there it continued to be sodden. I took the fork to the new West Trail but did not go far, as it ran through shallow pools in wet forest too. Bright white new polypores have emerged from some of the decaying oak(?) snags there.. but no Auricularia jelly fungi.
The entire area of the Woods was 'hopping' with crane flies. Lilting and bouncing in short sorties. I wonder what they are up to? Attracting mates? They often don't go any distance but seem to continually 'bounce' in jittery flight and then sit or cling to some perch for a few seconds before beginning to bounce again. Two weeks ago I guessed I was seeing the peak of crane fly emergence and activity - wrong. They continue to be superabundant all over the wet Woods.. a great source of food for nesting birds.
I reentered the Woods via the NE Gate and slowly walked the Tree Loop, savoring each turn in the trail and each sight. I encountered (the same?) box turtle as yesterday as it was ascending the gully trail descending to the Wash. I saw three pairs of squirrels in different parts of the Woods, all playing 'tag' chasing each other rapidly skittering up and down the trunks of trees. More squirrels than I've ever seen there in one visit.. maybe some courtship activity? A flock of robins were hanging out along the east shore of the East Pond. The Woods are at or near their finest. Everything is moving or growing.. every animal is out eating or being eaten.. plants are growing faster than they will at any other time of the year. Life is in high gear. Temp today due to break 93 F and the soil is still moist or wet.
The red buds are now dropping the last 40 % of their flowers. Life is raining down from the sky. All along SW Trail pools west of the dam the water surface is covered with catkins and samaras (shed from elms) and other small seeds or vegetative bits. The coffee trees Gymnocladus are flushing their new double pinnate leaves. Along the wash, the Amur Honeysuckle L. maackii is now at its most visible with 2-3 m tall crowns of bright white flowers. There are more than I previously thought.. maybe 30-40 plants.. and up on the N Rim trail there is a new honeysuckle I am not sure I've seen in the Woods previously, one beautiful burst of red flowers of coral honeysuckle L. sempervirens, 2-3 m up at the edge of the escarpment, just west of the big rotten log across the trail. The poison ivy 75 feet east of the NE Gate along the fence has leaves mostly fully expanded and bright green.
I started listing the trees and shrubs I've seen in the Woods this past month and came up with 29-30:
1. Acer negundo Box Elder
2. Carya illinoensis Pecan
3. Carya texana Black Hickory
4. Catalpa speciosa Catalpa
5. Celtis Hackberry
6. Crataegus viridis Hawthorn
7. Diospyros virginiana Persimmon
8. Fraxinus pennsylvanica Green Ash
9. Gymnocladus dioica Kentucky Coffeetree
10. Juglans nigra Black walnut
11. Juniperus Eastern Redcedar
12. Morus rubra Mulberry
13. Platanus Sycamore
14. Populus deltoides Cottonwood
15. Pyrus Pear
16. Quercus macrocarpa Bur Oak
17. Quercus marilandica Blackjack Oak
18. Quercus shumardii Shumard Oak
19. Quercus stellata Post Oak
20. Salix nigra Black Willow
21. Sapindus Soapberry
22. Sideroxylon (Bumelia) lanuginosa Chittamwood
23. Ulmus americana American Elm
24. Ulmus rubra Slippery Elm
shrubs
25. Cornus drummondii Roughleaf Dogwood
26. Eleagnus Russian Olive
27. Ligustrum Privet
28. Lonicera maackii Amur Honeysuckle
29. Lonicera fragrantissima Winter Honeysuckle
30. Viburnum
.. and some other unidentified willow(?) with small round leaves; and a mystery hickory.
The entire area of the Woods was 'hopping' with crane flies. Lilting and bouncing in short sorties. I wonder what they are up to? Attracting mates? They often don't go any distance but seem to continually 'bounce' in jittery flight and then sit or cling to some perch for a few seconds before beginning to bounce again. Two weeks ago I guessed I was seeing the peak of crane fly emergence and activity - wrong. They continue to be superabundant all over the wet Woods.. a great source of food for nesting birds.
I reentered the Woods via the NE Gate and slowly walked the Tree Loop, savoring each turn in the trail and each sight. I encountered (the same?) box turtle as yesterday as it was ascending the gully trail descending to the Wash. I saw three pairs of squirrels in different parts of the Woods, all playing 'tag' chasing each other rapidly skittering up and down the trunks of trees. More squirrels than I've ever seen there in one visit.. maybe some courtship activity? A flock of robins were hanging out along the east shore of the East Pond. The Woods are at or near their finest. Everything is moving or growing.. every animal is out eating or being eaten.. plants are growing faster than they will at any other time of the year. Life is in high gear. Temp today due to break 93 F and the soil is still moist or wet.
The red buds are now dropping the last 40 % of their flowers. Life is raining down from the sky. All along SW Trail pools west of the dam the water surface is covered with catkins and samaras (shed from elms) and other small seeds or vegetative bits. The coffee trees Gymnocladus are flushing their new double pinnate leaves. Along the wash, the Amur Honeysuckle L. maackii is now at its most visible with 2-3 m tall crowns of bright white flowers. There are more than I previously thought.. maybe 30-40 plants.. and up on the N Rim trail there is a new honeysuckle I am not sure I've seen in the Woods previously, one beautiful burst of red flowers of coral honeysuckle L. sempervirens, 2-3 m up at the edge of the escarpment, just west of the big rotten log across the trail. The poison ivy 75 feet east of the NE Gate along the fence has leaves mostly fully expanded and bright green.
I started listing the trees and shrubs I've seen in the Woods this past month and came up with 29-30:
1. Acer negundo Box Elder
2. Carya illinoensis Pecan
3. Carya texana Black Hickory
4. Catalpa speciosa Catalpa
5. Celtis Hackberry
6. Crataegus viridis Hawthorn
7. Diospyros virginiana Persimmon
8. Fraxinus pennsylvanica Green Ash
9. Gymnocladus dioica Kentucky Coffeetree
10. Juglans nigra Black walnut
11. Juniperus Eastern Redcedar
12. Morus rubra Mulberry
13. Platanus Sycamore
14. Populus deltoides Cottonwood
15. Pyrus Pear
16. Quercus macrocarpa Bur Oak
17. Quercus marilandica Blackjack Oak
18. Quercus shumardii Shumard Oak
19. Quercus stellata Post Oak
20. Salix nigra Black Willow
21. Sapindus Soapberry
22. Sideroxylon (Bumelia) lanuginosa Chittamwood
23. Ulmus americana American Elm
24. Ulmus rubra Slippery Elm
shrubs
25. Cornus drummondii Roughleaf Dogwood
26. Eleagnus Russian Olive
27. Ligustrum Privet
28. Lonicera maackii Amur Honeysuckle
29. Lonicera fragrantissima Winter Honeysuckle
30. Viburnum
.. and some other unidentified willow(?) with small round leaves; and a mystery hickory.
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Turtle Spring, Sweet Woods
Good 4-5 inch spring rains on 19 March and the warmest month of March on record for Oklahoma are driving a burst of spring growth. Yesterday all over the Woods every tendril of Lonicera honeysuckle was reaching out with new quick growth. Box elder saplings expanded new green stems and bright green leaves. Along the open trails in the NE quarter, grasses, chickweed, bedstraw, henbit and other annuals were quickly closing over the bare trail.
Two nights ago, I mowed a meter wide swath around the NE Tree Loop to keep it clear for the Phenology class to use. I went the next morning to enjoy a slow solitary walk around the Loop to catch up on each tree and what it was doing. I gave each tree a health score 1 good-4 moribund and concluded four trees I had flagged were probably dead.
Several mulberry trees along the loop have suddenly flushed leaves and produced their distinctive flowers which will become the fruit. I did not know the species was on the Loop. Sapindus soapberry and a mystery Carya are flushing new fresh leaves this week. The oaks, post, blackjack, bur and shumard are all pushing out new soft leaves red and green, or green tinged with yellow. Celtis hackberry are just a little behind the oaks with small bright green leaves expanding. Elm and redbuds have had their leaves out for a fortnight. Eleagnus Russian olive shrubs are covered in soft yellow flowers making the air sweet and attracting all the pollinators. The Eleagnus by the NE Gate at dusk is covered up in noctuid moths and small insects. Walnut and pecan seem to be the hold out species with few or no leaves produced in the crowns.. a few leaves just barely starting now.
Arthropods are beginning their year too. After dusk when I finished mowing the Loop I found a small cloud of several hundred chironomid midges gathered in a 50 cm wide column over the tailgate of my car.. a swarm of males waiting for mates. I found the first mosquito of the year in the Woods the next morning. There will be many more with the wet spring and abundant pools of standing water. Ticks unfortunately are becoming a problem again too. They are not abundant yet; but soon will be.
Bird song in the Woods is almost continuous now during daylight hours. Nesting season is here. I watched male and female cardinals bathing in the shallow pools below the beaver dam with flapping wings and flying water.. some meters apart, but probably a pair. I was delighted to find a three toed box turtle out along the Loop trail just north of the biggest walnut. It has been a long time since there were many of them active in the Woods. A tough hot dry past year probably had many of them just shut down and waiting in their burrows.
A week ago I was clearing the drainage below the dam and came upon a medium sized young adult snapper turtle scrunging its way upstream. Its shell protruded above the 2-3 inch deep water and it was nosing along under the rotten woody debris looking for a meal. I imagine it had worked its way up the drainage from the river. I hope it stays in the Woods, as the other snappers I think may have died in the drought and heat last year.
Two days after the rain, the northern trails were all drying and in good shape but the southern quarter including the Main SW Trail is still flooded with ankle deep water two weeks later. A week ago, in the evening, I flushed a flock of 5 or 6 ducks out of the flooded SW Woods as I walked along the trail in my water boots. This ponding of water and growth of surface floating algal biomass is marvelous to see. The warm shallow water over the forest soil is full of ecology. Around the pools of drying shallow water along the Two Friends trail in the SW, scores of crane flies are gathered, probably laying eggs where there will be good rotting leaf litter in the weeks ahead. A large healthy slime mold has crawled up on to the cut big pecan tree that fell across the EW Fence Line Trail near the east end. It has produced its thin outer shell of lime and is turning into a spore mass. I collected some of the spidery bright golden threads of slime mold plasmodium from the base of a young dead elm by the water east of the hollow cottonwood.
I see white-tailed deer 3 out of 4 trips to the Woods now.. most often three deer, but sometimes a larger group of 8-10.. down by the beaver dam heading north or just east of the East Pond, or crossing the shallow water east of the Grandfather cottonwood.
Jackson has helped me identify, I believe correctly, the mystery Lonicera that has puzzled me in the Woods west of the Bur Oak Bridge for a few years now, Lonicera maackii, Amur honeysuckle, an invasive Asian species.
Two nights ago, I mowed a meter wide swath around the NE Tree Loop to keep it clear for the Phenology class to use. I went the next morning to enjoy a slow solitary walk around the Loop to catch up on each tree and what it was doing. I gave each tree a health score 1 good-4 moribund and concluded four trees I had flagged were probably dead.
Several mulberry trees along the loop have suddenly flushed leaves and produced their distinctive flowers which will become the fruit. I did not know the species was on the Loop. Sapindus soapberry and a mystery Carya are flushing new fresh leaves this week. The oaks, post, blackjack, bur and shumard are all pushing out new soft leaves red and green, or green tinged with yellow. Celtis hackberry are just a little behind the oaks with small bright green leaves expanding. Elm and redbuds have had their leaves out for a fortnight. Eleagnus Russian olive shrubs are covered in soft yellow flowers making the air sweet and attracting all the pollinators. The Eleagnus by the NE Gate at dusk is covered up in noctuid moths and small insects. Walnut and pecan seem to be the hold out species with few or no leaves produced in the crowns.. a few leaves just barely starting now.
Arthropods are beginning their year too. After dusk when I finished mowing the Loop I found a small cloud of several hundred chironomid midges gathered in a 50 cm wide column over the tailgate of my car.. a swarm of males waiting for mates. I found the first mosquito of the year in the Woods the next morning. There will be many more with the wet spring and abundant pools of standing water. Ticks unfortunately are becoming a problem again too. They are not abundant yet; but soon will be.
Bird song in the Woods is almost continuous now during daylight hours. Nesting season is here. I watched male and female cardinals bathing in the shallow pools below the beaver dam with flapping wings and flying water.. some meters apart, but probably a pair. I was delighted to find a three toed box turtle out along the Loop trail just north of the biggest walnut. It has been a long time since there were many of them active in the Woods. A tough hot dry past year probably had many of them just shut down and waiting in their burrows.
A week ago I was clearing the drainage below the dam and came upon a medium sized young adult snapper turtle scrunging its way upstream. Its shell protruded above the 2-3 inch deep water and it was nosing along under the rotten woody debris looking for a meal. I imagine it had worked its way up the drainage from the river. I hope it stays in the Woods, as the other snappers I think may have died in the drought and heat last year.
Two days after the rain, the northern trails were all drying and in good shape but the southern quarter including the Main SW Trail is still flooded with ankle deep water two weeks later. A week ago, in the evening, I flushed a flock of 5 or 6 ducks out of the flooded SW Woods as I walked along the trail in my water boots. This ponding of water and growth of surface floating algal biomass is marvelous to see. The warm shallow water over the forest soil is full of ecology. Around the pools of drying shallow water along the Two Friends trail in the SW, scores of crane flies are gathered, probably laying eggs where there will be good rotting leaf litter in the weeks ahead. A large healthy slime mold has crawled up on to the cut big pecan tree that fell across the EW Fence Line Trail near the east end. It has produced its thin outer shell of lime and is turning into a spore mass. I collected some of the spidery bright golden threads of slime mold plasmodium from the base of a young dead elm by the water east of the hollow cottonwood.
I see white-tailed deer 3 out of 4 trips to the Woods now.. most often three deer, but sometimes a larger group of 8-10.. down by the beaver dam heading north or just east of the East Pond, or crossing the shallow water east of the Grandfather cottonwood.
Jackson has helped me identify, I believe correctly, the mystery Lonicera that has puzzled me in the Woods west of the Bur Oak Bridge for a few years now, Lonicera maackii, Amur honeysuckle, an invasive Asian species.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Vernal Equinox, Spring Green Up and Morels
At 5 PM I went to the Woods to see what yesterday's long heavy rainstorm had done. The Woods are transforming. The spring green that was earlier on the ground in the Lonicera honeysuckle and Stellaria bedstraw, is now suddenly spreading upward as Acer negundo box elder saplings 1 meter tall leaf out abundantly throughout the northwestern Woods understory.
The 4.1 inches of rain filled the West Pond up to 2.74 feet and floated the big northern log to lodge next to the water gauge post. The East Pond was filled to 3.2 feet.
East of the West Pond I startled a white-tail that ran ahead of me eastward on the path. Then at the East Pond I found Ana and Jelena excited with their success finding five fresh morels.
The Woods south by the Grandfather tree are flooded (no surprise) but water is draining through the dam at a good rate and the standing water may be gone in a day or two.
I was struck again with the question of what happens to all the soil fauna ants, millipedes, mites, isopods, microarthropods and other species living in the now submerged leaf litter. How many climbed trees to escape?
East of Tall Stump, the trail was drained with only isolated pools until near the Elm Bridge. The flow there was steady beneath the elm log. Southwest and southeast of the bridge I could see where water had moved in a broad sheet across the forest floor, sweeping away litter and leaving the bare soil.
East of the bridge, up on the escarpment, the Tree Loop was also transformed. There was a delightful combination of a solid carpet of fresh green bedstraw, chickweed, violets, henbit and other ephemerals.. paired with pink purple blooming redbuds in the sub canopy. Prettiest part of the Woods today. The past few days have pushed phenology along. The black hickory is opening large, prominent leaf buds and leafing out. Walnut leaf buds are opening. The bur oak has very small young leaves emerging. The mystery trees at the south end of the loop now look to be mulberry with very small new leaves and small green hanging flowers - that will become the deep purple or white fruit. Several of the younger 4-7 meter tall elms at the beginning of the trail, stressed or moribund from last summer, are now sprouting stem leaves, with no sign of life in the upper crown. The crane flies seem to have finished their earlier abundant hatch.. only a few here and there. A couple new beetles in the Lindgren trap. No turtles or other large life evident moving in the ponds. The new West Trail was under ankle deep water past 50 meters. The poison ivy has not yet begun to leaf out. It will be interesting to see how quickly this portion of the Woods west of the cattails drains.
The 4.1 inches of rain filled the West Pond up to 2.74 feet and floated the big northern log to lodge next to the water gauge post. The East Pond was filled to 3.2 feet.
East of the West Pond I startled a white-tail that ran ahead of me eastward on the path. Then at the East Pond I found Ana and Jelena excited with their success finding five fresh morels.
The Woods south by the Grandfather tree are flooded (no surprise) but water is draining through the dam at a good rate and the standing water may be gone in a day or two.
I was struck again with the question of what happens to all the soil fauna ants, millipedes, mites, isopods, microarthropods and other species living in the now submerged leaf litter. How many climbed trees to escape?
East of Tall Stump, the trail was drained with only isolated pools until near the Elm Bridge. The flow there was steady beneath the elm log. Southwest and southeast of the bridge I could see where water had moved in a broad sheet across the forest floor, sweeping away litter and leaving the bare soil.
East of the bridge, up on the escarpment, the Tree Loop was also transformed. There was a delightful combination of a solid carpet of fresh green bedstraw, chickweed, violets, henbit and other ephemerals.. paired with pink purple blooming redbuds in the sub canopy. Prettiest part of the Woods today. The past few days have pushed phenology along. The black hickory is opening large, prominent leaf buds and leafing out. Walnut leaf buds are opening. The bur oak has very small young leaves emerging. The mystery trees at the south end of the loop now look to be mulberry with very small new leaves and small green hanging flowers - that will become the deep purple or white fruit. Several of the younger 4-7 meter tall elms at the beginning of the trail, stressed or moribund from last summer, are now sprouting stem leaves, with no sign of life in the upper crown. The crane flies seem to have finished their earlier abundant hatch.. only a few here and there. A couple new beetles in the Lindgren trap. No turtles or other large life evident moving in the ponds. The new West Trail was under ankle deep water past 50 meters. The poison ivy has not yet begun to leaf out. It will be interesting to see how quickly this portion of the Woods west of the cattails drains.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
More spring rain
Thank goodness, another 1.2 inches slow soaking Saturday night. The West Pond is up to 2.27 and the East Pond is at 3.1? but is missing top of depth gauge. Three deer just southwest of the second largest cottonwood.
Saturday, March 10, 2012
More Trees Cool Mild Spring Morning
At the NE Gate to the Woods, the morning was cool and mild (50 F). The Woods had 0.32 inch rain 2 days past on Thursday. The wash was full to the Elm Bridge but not flowing. The East Pond was 2.64 and the West Pond was 2.08.. after days of abundant 20-30 mph drying wind.
I added a second old pear to the Tree Loop as # 95; added 6 (largish cottonwoods and willow) in the SE corner of the Woods (dozen more mapped in SE would be good). Measured and mapped 11 more ash and elm, W of the dam along the Main SW trail.
I saw one cottontail rabbit running north end of Tree Loop. Two yearling white-tailed deer were heading east by the dam. Did not see older doe. Flock of juncos was foraging along the east leg of the Tree Loop.. closest to the field. Pair of mallards hanging out in the East Pond were there today. Cries of red-shouldered hawk were loud along the Northern Loop. Many large Tipulid craneflies are flying and mating.. may be near peak emergence this 3-4 days. A half dozen were on my car parked by the Woods.
Many/ most of the elms have produced their samaras. Should be able to ID elm spp. now: samaras bare faced with a peripheral fringe of hairs, flowers clustered one per stem = U. americana ; samaras with hairs on face and flowers branching racemes = slippery U.rubra.
Most of the hawthorn in the Woods are blooming. The first green leaves are just starting to emerge on the box elder. First green leaves on tall cottonwoods just starting. Leaves are half flushed on the 3-4 pears. Redbud flower buds are swelling open and showing some pink. Eleagnus Russian olive and Ligustrum privet have many and most leaves out, respectively.
Oak at home has hanging catkins but oaks in the Woods have not broken their buds. Nothing from walnut, coffee tree, pecan, hickory, persimmon, hackberry, green ash. Along the border of the eastern field with the Woods Cardamine bittercress, Houstonia bluets (purple), Lamium amplexicaule and purpureum henbit, Stellaria chickweed were in bloom.
The Woods are still open and clear.. but will be transformed in this month ahead.
I added a second old pear to the Tree Loop as # 95; added 6 (largish cottonwoods and willow) in the SE corner of the Woods (dozen more mapped in SE would be good). Measured and mapped 11 more ash and elm, W of the dam along the Main SW trail.
I saw one cottontail rabbit running north end of Tree Loop. Two yearling white-tailed deer were heading east by the dam. Did not see older doe. Flock of juncos was foraging along the east leg of the Tree Loop.. closest to the field. Pair of mallards hanging out in the East Pond were there today. Cries of red-shouldered hawk were loud along the Northern Loop. Many large Tipulid craneflies are flying and mating.. may be near peak emergence this 3-4 days. A half dozen were on my car parked by the Woods.
Many/ most of the elms have produced their samaras. Should be able to ID elm spp. now: samaras bare faced with a peripheral fringe of hairs, flowers clustered one per stem = U. americana ; samaras with hairs on face and flowers branching racemes = slippery U.rubra.
Most of the hawthorn in the Woods are blooming. The first green leaves are just starting to emerge on the box elder. First green leaves on tall cottonwoods just starting. Leaves are half flushed on the 3-4 pears. Redbud flower buds are swelling open and showing some pink. Eleagnus Russian olive and Ligustrum privet have many and most leaves out, respectively.
Oak at home has hanging catkins but oaks in the Woods have not broken their buds. Nothing from walnut, coffee tree, pecan, hickory, persimmon, hackberry, green ash. Along the border of the eastern field with the Woods Cardamine bittercress, Houstonia bluets (purple), Lamium amplexicaule and purpureum henbit, Stellaria chickweed were in bloom.
The Woods are still open and clear.. but will be transformed in this month ahead.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Update Tree Phenology
Phenology class in the Woods this afternoon. We saw elms in flower but also several hawthorns flowering and three pears with green leaves just erupting (two small pears were on the south side of the Pipeline Trail just 50-100 feet west of the Tree Loop.)
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