Out early this Friday morning at 7:30 to dig in water measuring post above the Elm Bridge. Natural deep pool 60 feet above the bridge is usually one of the last areas to hold water in the Wash.. a good spot to monitor changing water depth, flow, availability. It is dry now - good time to get the post in place. The West Pond is also dry. The East Pond is dry, with some moist soil remaining near the post. Today Norman has gone 50 days with less than 1/10th inch of rain.. driest in the state of OK tied with only Watonga. Forecast highs for the next ten days are stuck at 106 F.
While I was digging in the post, Anthony and Pradeep came by.. setting up trees to hold phenology camera. Anthony has cleared some small trees near tree 123 the second largest cottonwood, to facilitate camera placement in tall pecan #120(?).
It is too hot and dry even for the ticks. I collected only one on my ankle.
The heat and drought is opening some of the trails. The Lonicera, Symphoricarpos and other trailside vegetation are withering. I found one older whitetailed doe at the NW Pond's entrance. She gave me a white tail flag but then walked only slowly away. The air where she stood smelled strongly of a mammal.
We were startled passing a large broken pecan trunk east of Tall Stump when it collapsed and loudly crashed down a short distance into a juniper. Trees do come down in still air.. a couple years hanging for this broken bole.
Large Catocala underwing moths are on trunks of pecans in the Woods.
Friday, July 27, 2012
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Cicadas, Katydids and Mid Summer Return to the Woods
After a month away, I entered the SW Gate at 4:30 to find what might be new in the Woods. A hundred feet north of me a whitetailed deer (2-3 year old?) moved north and east deeper into the trees.
It was an odd day. The mid morning was a hot 90 F. By 4 PM it had fallen to 74 F.. only to rise again to 85 by 7:30. The Woods have seen 18 consecutive days over 90F and 33 consecutive days with less than a 0.1 inch of rain. The E Pond was dry except for a few liters of muddy water pooled around the post. (The W Pond was 0.3 feet in depth with a few hundred liters of water left). There were dry cracks fragmenting the soil along the Main SW trail (good refugia for moisture loving biota?) But the Woods were filled with rich humidity from the light 0.01 inch rain shower at lunch.
Polygonum Lady's thumb is growing in healthy thick swards along the SW trail. The green patches are two feet tall and tightly defined by abrupt borders with open ground, leaving me curious as to what so sharply limits their prolific growth.. light? - need to check the borders of the patches with a densitometer or light meter. Along the trail, persimmon saplings are noticeably the most persistent re-sprouters from previous clipping.
By the leaning Ash tree, the Woods were filled with the continuous trill of snowy tree crickets, punctuated with various bird calls. A few cicadas were singing "ziz ziz ziz owww". I found a couple of exuviae clinging to leaves of Virginia creeper growing upon the large old walnut along the fence line just east of the junction with the Ravine Trail. I wonder if walnut's penchant for poisoning the soil would affect or deter cicadas.
A mating pair of big asilid robber flies remained coupled and flew two or three times to escape me as I walked towards the W Pond. They seemed stuck together as though even voluntary emergency separation might take a few minutes.
Along the muddy SW side of the E Pond there are 4 or 5 crayfish 'castles' or mounds, holes ranging in diameter from 1.5 inch, big enough for a golf ball, to about .75 inch large enough for an average hot dog.. with walls of small rolled balls of mud/soil the size of moth balls. These have intrigued me since my youth 50 years ago.
http://chestofbooks.com/crafts/scientific-american/sup3/Habits-Of-Burrowing-Crayfishes-In-The-United-States.html
Along the trail just north of the second largest cottonwood a quick Scincella lateralis brown skink scurried away into the Symphoricarpos buckbrush. (There is a small patch of poison ivy there to watch and eliminate near a large ascending vine.)
There are not many spider webs in the Woods now.. I found two Micrathena webs across the trails. There were few mosquitoes.. only a couple near the pool at Island Crossing.
Standing at Island Crossing at 6:05 the cicadas were suddenly quite loud.. along with the katydids chorusing. It was as if they were competing. I wondered if having both species stridulating loudly in the same location makes it harder for mates to find each other.. do the species 'sing' louder or differently when they are present together? I have imagined that a sharp sound from me, for example breaking a stick, will sometimes cause cicadas to suddenly momentarily grow quieter. I should test this. There is a large emergence of cicadas in the NE Woods now.
At the base of the northern ridge, east end of the N Rim trail two young whitetail deer sprinted away.. one (spotted?) fawn and one yearling (?) heading opposite directions along the base of the ridge. I have not seen the older, more approachable doe and am wondering if she survived the last hunting season.
At Elm Bridge, abundant water was backed up to Bur Oak Bridge but not flowing. It would be interesting to mark some of the flotsam collected there and try to recover it later to measure its movement.
West of the bridge a brown rabbit hopped away south of the big cut pecan log.
Along the Tree Loop, formerly 'dead' trees continue to live with thriving small clusters of leaves. The walnut #171 has a dead crown but two or more bunches of stem sprouts with abundant leaves. I wonder if it will survive. I wonder if the leaves have a different stressed chemistry.. more or less well defended against herbivores. The #22 pecan is similar: dead crown with about a bushel of green healthy looking leaves from 1-2 m high stem sprouts.
Leaving the Woods at 7:30 via the W Dune trail I cut away the too abundant Cnidosculus nettle. It keeps coming back to compete with the Opuntia prickly pear.
No turtles anywhere except two old box turtle shells in the mud around the E Pond.
Out at the SW gate some Japanese honeysuckle was still blooming along the fence with abundant trumpet vine flowers.
At home I pick off 28 ticks. About two thirds are the medium small, but easily seen instars and one third the very tiny ticks.
It was an odd day. The mid morning was a hot 90 F. By 4 PM it had fallen to 74 F.. only to rise again to 85 by 7:30. The Woods have seen 18 consecutive days over 90F and 33 consecutive days with less than a 0.1 inch of rain. The E Pond was dry except for a few liters of muddy water pooled around the post. (The W Pond was 0.3 feet in depth with a few hundred liters of water left). There were dry cracks fragmenting the soil along the Main SW trail (good refugia for moisture loving biota?) But the Woods were filled with rich humidity from the light 0.01 inch rain shower at lunch.
Polygonum Lady's thumb is growing in healthy thick swards along the SW trail. The green patches are two feet tall and tightly defined by abrupt borders with open ground, leaving me curious as to what so sharply limits their prolific growth.. light? - need to check the borders of the patches with a densitometer or light meter. Along the trail, persimmon saplings are noticeably the most persistent re-sprouters from previous clipping.
By the leaning Ash tree, the Woods were filled with the continuous trill of snowy tree crickets, punctuated with various bird calls. A few cicadas were singing "ziz ziz ziz owww". I found a couple of exuviae clinging to leaves of Virginia creeper growing upon the large old walnut along the fence line just east of the junction with the Ravine Trail. I wonder if walnut's penchant for poisoning the soil would affect or deter cicadas.
A mating pair of big asilid robber flies remained coupled and flew two or three times to escape me as I walked towards the W Pond. They seemed stuck together as though even voluntary emergency separation might take a few minutes.
Along the muddy SW side of the E Pond there are 4 or 5 crayfish 'castles' or mounds, holes ranging in diameter from 1.5 inch, big enough for a golf ball, to about .75 inch large enough for an average hot dog.. with walls of small rolled balls of mud/soil the size of moth balls. These have intrigued me since my youth 50 years ago.
http://chestofbooks.com/crafts/scientific-american/sup3/Habits-Of-Burrowing-Crayfishes-In-The-United-States.html
Along the trail just north of the second largest cottonwood a quick Scincella lateralis brown skink scurried away into the Symphoricarpos buckbrush. (There is a small patch of poison ivy there to watch and eliminate near a large ascending vine.)
There are not many spider webs in the Woods now.. I found two Micrathena webs across the trails. There were few mosquitoes.. only a couple near the pool at Island Crossing.
Standing at Island Crossing at 6:05 the cicadas were suddenly quite loud.. along with the katydids chorusing. It was as if they were competing. I wondered if having both species stridulating loudly in the same location makes it harder for mates to find each other.. do the species 'sing' louder or differently when they are present together? I have imagined that a sharp sound from me, for example breaking a stick, will sometimes cause cicadas to suddenly momentarily grow quieter. I should test this. There is a large emergence of cicadas in the NE Woods now.
At the base of the northern ridge, east end of the N Rim trail two young whitetail deer sprinted away.. one (spotted?) fawn and one yearling (?) heading opposite directions along the base of the ridge. I have not seen the older, more approachable doe and am wondering if she survived the last hunting season.
At Elm Bridge, abundant water was backed up to Bur Oak Bridge but not flowing. It would be interesting to mark some of the flotsam collected there and try to recover it later to measure its movement.
West of the bridge a brown rabbit hopped away south of the big cut pecan log.
Along the Tree Loop, formerly 'dead' trees continue to live with thriving small clusters of leaves. The walnut #171 has a dead crown but two or more bunches of stem sprouts with abundant leaves. I wonder if it will survive. I wonder if the leaves have a different stressed chemistry.. more or less well defended against herbivores. The #22 pecan is similar: dead crown with about a bushel of green healthy looking leaves from 1-2 m high stem sprouts.
Leaving the Woods at 7:30 via the W Dune trail I cut away the too abundant Cnidosculus nettle. It keeps coming back to compete with the Opuntia prickly pear.
No turtles anywhere except two old box turtle shells in the mud around the E Pond.
Out at the SW gate some Japanese honeysuckle was still blooming along the fence with abundant trumpet vine flowers.
At home I pick off 28 ticks. About two thirds are the medium small, but easily seen instars and one third the very tiny ticks.
Friday, June 8, 2012
Setting Trail Posts and Observing the Woods
Last two or three days I have labelled 85 of the posts I've placed at 50 m intervals along the twenty plus trails in the Woods.. a little over 2.5 miles. Each trail has a two letter abbreviation/ symbol NE, SW, NW, SE, SB, SC etc and the posts placed along the trails go from NE 0, NE 1, NE 2 etc to the end of the trail. Now it will be possible to be specific about where a particular, snail, mushroom, bird, turtle, fern etc.. is observed. I have about 15 more posts to label along some of the shorter trails. Each post has GPS coordinates shown to get an absolute sense of where it is placed. This should facilitate mapping and ultimately, the meter by meter field guide to the Woods I want to create.
This afternoon I found a small snapping turtle (size of my shoe) moving slowly down the Wash. Only one deer seen in the Woods this past week. Maybe they are better able to hide in the summer vegetation.. or maybe they have other places to feed and grow before hunting season. With the good rain recently, the mosquito population has exploded. The low ankle-high vegetation has clouds of them west of the West Pond. The ticks have also exploded. Each day I go the Woods I return with 15-25 ticks on me.. and I find more in the middle of the night that I've missed.
With the chainsaw, I removed the big pecan branch/ trunk, down by the large pecan across the NW entrance trail. Both ponds continue to be quiet. I have not seen any turtles there this summer. By the NE entrance numerous young small mud colored frogs are hopping away into the Woods.
The fungi in the Woods continue to be tremendous.. maybe the best diversity and abundance I've seen there. Spiders for some reason have been suppressed, or at least the number of webs I encounter across the trail has remained low. Some of the pretty yellow asters are blooming now. The trumpet vines along the western fence line are in full bloom. It is peak summer and the Woods are never more alive than now. The soil is damp from gentle rains and it is warm.
In the southeast corner and along the southern border the giant ragweed is growing rank, now 3-5 feet high.
After last summer's brutal heat and drought, surviving trees are having a great growing season this year.
Where trees have died, there are conspicuous light gaps in the forest shade where scores of butterflies.. hackberry emperors and others gather and bask on tree trunks. I wonder if the hackberry emperors have done so well this year because their host trees' foliage was stressed from last year and lacking chemical protection.
This afternoon I found a small snapping turtle (size of my shoe) moving slowly down the Wash. Only one deer seen in the Woods this past week. Maybe they are better able to hide in the summer vegetation.. or maybe they have other places to feed and grow before hunting season. With the good rain recently, the mosquito population has exploded. The low ankle-high vegetation has clouds of them west of the West Pond. The ticks have also exploded. Each day I go the Woods I return with 15-25 ticks on me.. and I find more in the middle of the night that I've missed.
With the chainsaw, I removed the big pecan branch/ trunk, down by the large pecan across the NW entrance trail. Both ponds continue to be quiet. I have not seen any turtles there this summer. By the NE entrance numerous young small mud colored frogs are hopping away into the Woods.
The fungi in the Woods continue to be tremendous.. maybe the best diversity and abundance I've seen there. Spiders for some reason have been suppressed, or at least the number of webs I encounter across the trail has remained low. Some of the pretty yellow asters are blooming now. The trumpet vines along the western fence line are in full bloom. It is peak summer and the Woods are never more alive than now. The soil is damp from gentle rains and it is warm.
In the southeast corner and along the southern border the giant ragweed is growing rank, now 3-5 feet high.
After last summer's brutal heat and drought, surviving trees are having a great growing season this year.
Where trees have died, there are conspicuous light gaps in the forest shade where scores of butterflies.. hackberry emperors and others gather and bask on tree trunks. I wonder if the hackberry emperors have done so well this year because their host trees' foliage was stressed from last year and lacking chemical protection.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
So Much Life
After three weeks away in Panama and North Carolina, I returned to the Woods to see what had happened. After a mild warm dry May, the Woods received a 1.3 inch rain Tuesday the 29th. I put on my water/ mud shoes and entered the Woods via the SW Gate at 9:45 AM. It was a cool 69F and overcast.. delightful. By the 150m post there were small pools of standing water. The first pools had several earthworms either drowned or swimming. I pulled out the largest and tossed to drier ground. The effect of this flooding run-off water on earthworm populations fascinates me. The unpredictability of the floods -they are not a regular part of the previous disturbance regime - likely means that populations of soil invertebrates such as worms are not well adapted and experience higher mortality from inundation. The worm species are largely introduced and themselves not part of the community that existed there 150-200 years prior.
At 200 m I came to an open sun gap where elm canopies were recently killed by Ophiostoma elm disease. There were a score of nymphalids there basking on the wet soil.. hackberry emperors, Polygonia question marks or commas,lycaenids, red admirals and others. I should have regular observations on the butterfly fauna in the Woods: species, timing, numbers host association etc. Many are associated with hackberry. I observed repeatedly today the lower branches of hackberry are defoliated.. and it begs the question how did this great population come to be.. a mass migration or a home grown population?
Tops of elms killed last summer are snapping in storm winds and coming down. The winds also brought down another small crop of bright green ash seeds. Now no sign of seedlings surviving from early summer massive ash seed production.
Great fungi all through the Woods with the rain, Auricularia ear fungus, Sarcoscypha coccinea scarlet elf cup, orange chantrelle-like, groups of Mycena-like small brown-tan agarics. Should start a dried collection from the Woods.
Lots of isopods everywhere.. some clustered on tops of broken stumps where they climbed to escape the floodwaters two nights previous.
Along Hackberry Alley two large active Carabids: bright green Calosoma scrutator the fiery searcher, and black Calosoma sayi???.. plus some mosquitoes there.
East pond down to 1.8 ft. Green horntail sphinx moth caterpillar was loaded with ~50 white parasitoid wasp eggs all over it.. and one large nymphal pentatomid with its beak extended, feeding on one of the parasitoid eggs or maybe feeding from the caterpillar. Watching from a 5-10 cm distance was a very small black (hyper?)parasitoid, size of a pteromalid(?).
Along the east grassy side of the tree loop I heard a sudden rustling and saw 20 feet away a pack of 4 young armadillos.. pink tails, pink brown noses, funny small elliptical rabbit ears up. They came nosing and foraging along the moist ground toward me. Three actually came to my feet and sniffed and explored my wet muddy shoes. Then one jumped and they all ran away - about 4-5 feet and started foraging again. How do these animals survive against larger predators?
By tree #85 on tree loop in a sunny grassy patch, there were hundreds of early instar hoppers feasting. Some of the trees I declared dead for having no leaves at end of April #22 pecan, #37 coffee tree.. now have stump sprouts or bunches of stem leaves from roots.. last gasp desperation crop ? or new life ? we'll see.
By Elm Bridge, water is flowing slowly. I found a group of 40-50 culicid larve.. and three large diving beetles.
At Barney's Jct. a large sharpshin (or Cooper's) flew east through the understory. Overhead a 100 feet west a red shouldered hawk was calling/ crying.
I should note the succession or phenology of weed species in the Woods.
West pond had a single night heron sitting on the depth post. I passed by and did not disturb. The trail southwest towards the Main SW trail was wet underfoot and grassy through the sedge. I am sure it was loaded with ticks. I removed > 50 later at home.
Tony and I returned Saturday to clear several larger blowdowns blocking the trail in 4-5 places and found a box turtle along the Tree Loop. No deer seen for the last 2-3 visits to the Woods.
At 200 m I came to an open sun gap where elm canopies were recently killed by Ophiostoma elm disease. There were a score of nymphalids there basking on the wet soil.. hackberry emperors, Polygonia question marks or commas,lycaenids, red admirals and others. I should have regular observations on the butterfly fauna in the Woods: species, timing, numbers host association etc. Many are associated with hackberry. I observed repeatedly today the lower branches of hackberry are defoliated.. and it begs the question how did this great population come to be.. a mass migration or a home grown population?
Tops of elms killed last summer are snapping in storm winds and coming down. The winds also brought down another small crop of bright green ash seeds. Now no sign of seedlings surviving from early summer massive ash seed production.
Great fungi all through the Woods with the rain, Auricularia ear fungus, Sarcoscypha coccinea scarlet elf cup, orange chantrelle-like, groups of Mycena-like small brown-tan agarics. Should start a dried collection from the Woods.
Lots of isopods everywhere.. some clustered on tops of broken stumps where they climbed to escape the floodwaters two nights previous.
Along Hackberry Alley two large active Carabids: bright green Calosoma scrutator the fiery searcher, and black Calosoma sayi???.. plus some mosquitoes there.
East pond down to 1.8 ft. Green horntail sphinx moth caterpillar was loaded with ~50 white parasitoid wasp eggs all over it.. and one large nymphal pentatomid with its beak extended, feeding on one of the parasitoid eggs or maybe feeding from the caterpillar. Watching from a 5-10 cm distance was a very small black (hyper?)parasitoid, size of a pteromalid(?).
Along the east grassy side of the tree loop I heard a sudden rustling and saw 20 feet away a pack of 4 young armadillos.. pink tails, pink brown noses, funny small elliptical rabbit ears up. They came nosing and foraging along the moist ground toward me. Three actually came to my feet and sniffed and explored my wet muddy shoes. Then one jumped and they all ran away - about 4-5 feet and started foraging again. How do these animals survive against larger predators?
By tree #85 on tree loop in a sunny grassy patch, there were hundreds of early instar hoppers feasting. Some of the trees I declared dead for having no leaves at end of April #22 pecan, #37 coffee tree.. now have stump sprouts or bunches of stem leaves from roots.. last gasp desperation crop ? or new life ? we'll see.
By Elm Bridge, water is flowing slowly. I found a group of 40-50 culicid larve.. and three large diving beetles.
At Barney's Jct. a large sharpshin (or Cooper's) flew east through the understory. Overhead a 100 feet west a red shouldered hawk was calling/ crying.
I should note the succession or phenology of weed species in the Woods.
West pond had a single night heron sitting on the depth post. I passed by and did not disturb. The trail southwest towards the Main SW trail was wet underfoot and grassy through the sedge. I am sure it was loaded with ticks. I removed > 50 later at home.
Tony and I returned Saturday to clear several larger blowdowns blocking the trail in 4-5 places and found a box turtle along the Tree Loop. No deer seen for the last 2-3 visits to the Woods.
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Turtles, Ticks and a Flutter of Butterflies
Out to the Woods this Saturday morning at 9, through the NE Gate. Determined to walk and check some of the trails I seldom get to (North Rim and Southeast Trails). I walked the east leg of the Tree Loop. It is quite grown up in understory grasses and shrubs. I thought I should get a mower/ trimmer, clear the path again.. but then I found a 3 toed box turtle almost hidden in the luxurious vegetation and thought.. few folks here in the summer.. I will not be in the Woods often because of ticks.. may be best to let summer be the time for natural growth to regain and restore the natural cover.. let turtles and rabbits not encounter humans on cleared paths.
If I clear down trees across the trail and cut back briars and poison ivy, it may be best to let the Woods be as they are until autumn. I picked a few dozen mid sized ticks off my legs after walking through grassy sections of the trail.
It has been quite hot (mid 90's for several days now, April/ early May is too early for that). The Woods have grown very well.. thick green canopy and little visibility through the trees. Still the same dead 7 numbered trees on the Loop. I will replace with new selections.
I hopped across Island Crossing (water at pool there, was muddy like it was being stirred) - no water flowing. Water in wash had retreated at Elm Bridge to about 10 feet upstream.. no flow.
I walked the North Rim.. very overgrown.. but trail still easy to follow.. no barriers, vines, or blockages. At the west end the West Pond was at 2.20 ft. depth.. no turtles or other big animal life visible in the pond. The new West Trail still in good shape.. although wet/ muddy and could use those stepping stones. I shifted the south 70-100 m of the West Trail to connect to the Main SW trail at 150 m post... blue flags on the stretch of route moved. I'll keep it temporary for now and see if it continues to feel like an improvement.
Along the Main SW trail by Dragonfly corner there were scores to hundreds of butterflies - Hackberry Emperors and a few Painted Ladies.. like a Disney movie, as I walked along, clouds took flight.. maybe the second greatest natural density of butterflies I've seen. It was warm, still and at 11 o'clock a good large sunny spot. On the east side of that, a couple of elms have the fading foliage of Ophiostoma elm disease. It will be interesting to see how it progresses and what other trees succumb. The persimmons have dropped their cream white flowers to the forest floor. The bright chartreuse carpets of ash seeds cover and color the forest floor - marvelous.
No deer seen last two trips and somewhat surprisingly, few cobwebs across the trail. Mosquitoes are not bad.
I walked east and crossed over the West Dune trail.. stopping to clear a few remaining Cnidoscolus bull nettle. I'd like to eliminate that one small patch of plants. I walked out of the Woods along the Service Rd. past the Ragweed Delta to the SE Trail and took it north, renewing the pink paint blazes there.
If I clear down trees across the trail and cut back briars and poison ivy, it may be best to let the Woods be as they are until autumn. I picked a few dozen mid sized ticks off my legs after walking through grassy sections of the trail.
It has been quite hot (mid 90's for several days now, April/ early May is too early for that). The Woods have grown very well.. thick green canopy and little visibility through the trees. Still the same dead 7 numbered trees on the Loop. I will replace with new selections.
I hopped across Island Crossing (water at pool there, was muddy like it was being stirred) - no water flowing. Water in wash had retreated at Elm Bridge to about 10 feet upstream.. no flow.
I walked the North Rim.. very overgrown.. but trail still easy to follow.. no barriers, vines, or blockages. At the west end the West Pond was at 2.20 ft. depth.. no turtles or other big animal life visible in the pond. The new West Trail still in good shape.. although wet/ muddy and could use those stepping stones. I shifted the south 70-100 m of the West Trail to connect to the Main SW trail at 150 m post... blue flags on the stretch of route moved. I'll keep it temporary for now and see if it continues to feel like an improvement.
Along the Main SW trail by Dragonfly corner there were scores to hundreds of butterflies - Hackberry Emperors and a few Painted Ladies.. like a Disney movie, as I walked along, clouds took flight.. maybe the second greatest natural density of butterflies I've seen. It was warm, still and at 11 o'clock a good large sunny spot. On the east side of that, a couple of elms have the fading foliage of Ophiostoma elm disease. It will be interesting to see how it progresses and what other trees succumb. The persimmons have dropped their cream white flowers to the forest floor. The bright chartreuse carpets of ash seeds cover and color the forest floor - marvelous.
No deer seen last two trips and somewhat surprisingly, few cobwebs across the trail. Mosquitoes are not bad.
I walked east and crossed over the West Dune trail.. stopping to clear a few remaining Cnidoscolus bull nettle. I'd like to eliminate that one small patch of plants. I walked out of the Woods along the Service Rd. past the Ragweed Delta to the SE Trail and took it north, renewing the pink paint blazes there.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Twilight Woods
This evening I entered the Woods at 8 PM through the curtain of sweet honeysuckle bloom aroma and soft humid warmth at the SW Gate. The trail was dry but soft underfoot. There were no pools of standing water or muddy patches remaining. A hundred yards in, the most remarkable thing this evening were the thousands upon thousands of long rounded green ash seeds covering the ground. Beneath the most prolific trees they were a thick layer of bright chartreuse green. They looked to have all fallen in the past week. Among them were the smaller rounded green cotyledons of unknown species.
I walked the Main SW Trail to the Beaver Dam. Three turkey vultures have returned to the Buzzard's Roost there above the southside of the dam in an old elm tree. The forest is so much more green and fully leafed out than 3-4 weeks ago. It must be full leaf out now.
From the beaver dam I trekked north to Tall Stump, then SW back to the Grandfather tree and continued across the W Dune trail.. stopping to cut away the half dozen bull nettle growing there.. then west past Two Friends where there seemed to be some major changes with fall of massive trunks.. but the evening light was growing dim..then back out towards the last golden patches of western post sunset light shining through the trees.
The mosquitoes are increasing but not bad yet. I used a couple quick shots of Deet to keep them away. Returning home I found five ticks (so far).
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Moonlight Walk Dogs
Been a while since I have been in the Woods so I decided to go for a walk as night was falling.
At 8:30, with a bright gibbous moon high in the dusk sky, I came to the NE Gate. There were two large dragonflies patrolling there which I took to be a good sign - hope that mosquitoes might be in check with adult predators developed and ready to go. At the gate there was the soft sweet fragrance of the old privet blooms.. mostly gone now.. but still attracting moths. In the gathering dark the trail was familiar, if dim, and looked in good shape, although perhaps a bit overgrown. I walked along the escarpment and heard barred owls calling from the big walnut. Then I dropped to the Elm Bridge where I was surprised by the barking, close-at-hand of dogs, maybe 50 feet downstream. They sounded ferocious and charging toward me in the dark - tangentially. I ran towards them shouting and they ran away south. Not good for them to be there. Impact on rabbits, skunks, voles, mice, all manner of small game.
The Elm Bridge had water at the crossing.. not sure if it was flowing. I walked the loop out the EW Fence line trail to Hackbery Alley, put down the broken tree across the Alley and on to the East Pond, back out the Northern Loop.. by then too dark to see much; but could stay with the trail across Island Crossing up Pipeline and back out the gate. Now I want to return in the early morning light to see what I missed.
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