Friday, October 12, 2012
New Paint
5:30 PM Wednesday evening 10/10 I hiked in on the NW Trail to refresh paint blazes. NW trail to the N. Loop jct; then N. Loop to Isd Crossing and south back to the east end of the NW trail; then west back to Hackberry Alley; south to Tall Stump; west on the EW Trail to the SW Trail and back out along the W Trail to the NW entrance again by 7 PM. The Woods were still, as if waiting for a storm. Very little evidence of animals stirring. No deer, no turtles. One more medium large tree down across the NW Trail east of jct Hackberry Alley. The trail had lots of smallish branches down across the trail, as though lots of partial canopy die back from summer 2011 or summer 2012 was coming down in small bits. Not much of anything in flower along my route.. lots of light-brown, dried ash seeds newly down. Luxuriant growth of Polygonum knotweed along the trail where elms had recently died and opened up the canopy, by Grandfather Cottonwood and at Butterfly Corner. These patches were beginning to thin. Heather M's plant ecology and other botany classes have been using the Woods - very good news. Heather's thought about water quality in the wash and if toxic to trees is a good one.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Sudden Autumn
First frost was here this morning. After a long, seemingly interminable, series of September weeks with daytime highs in the mid 90's, the night time lows zoomed sharply downward to 31F.
After lecture today and office work this morning I decided to go to the Woods at noon with a saw. I entered via the NW trail. By the NW#3 post I encountered a large hackberry top broken out of a dead snag and tumbled into the trail with a tangle of vines. There were lots of galleries of wood borers - mainly cerambycids all across the bark. Not too sure when the beetles were there.. recent couple years or previous. Nice 'interference zones' of fungi in the saw cut cross section of the big logs.
It took a while, but I was able to clear the original path.
The good rains of late September still left the NW pond empty.
I drove around to the NE entrance and hiked in, to the east end of the N Rim trail, where another large snag had fallen into the trail. No vines. I cleared it. On the way there, a 3 toed box turtle was strolling along the trail 20 feet east of Isld. Crossing. I saw just one deer.. SW of Isld. Crossing.
The Woods are looking much more open now. Much of the lush understory herbs growing in June are greatly reduced or disappeared. No significant autumn leaf drop from the canopy yet. The common trailside Elephantopus have all produced spiky green seed heads.
After lecture today and office work this morning I decided to go to the Woods at noon with a saw. I entered via the NW trail. By the NW#3 post I encountered a large hackberry top broken out of a dead snag and tumbled into the trail with a tangle of vines. There were lots of galleries of wood borers - mainly cerambycids all across the bark. Not too sure when the beetles were there.. recent couple years or previous. Nice 'interference zones' of fungi in the saw cut cross section of the big logs.
It took a while, but I was able to clear the original path.
The good rains of late September still left the NW pond empty.
I drove around to the NE entrance and hiked in, to the east end of the N Rim trail, where another large snag had fallen into the trail. No vines. I cleared it. On the way there, a 3 toed box turtle was strolling along the trail 20 feet east of Isld. Crossing. I saw just one deer.. SW of Isld. Crossing.
The Woods are looking much more open now. Much of the lush understory herbs growing in June are greatly reduced or disappeared. No significant autumn leaf drop from the canopy yet. The common trailside Elephantopus have all produced spiky green seed heads.
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Turtle and Rains Return
After a recent record 70 consecutive days without > 0.1 inch precip, the rains returned Thursday Aug 16 with a good 0.48 inch freshet (my backyard) or 0.26 (Norman Mesonet). I went walking with Lara on the 17th at 8 AM from the NW Ponds entrance. Spotted two whitetailed deer. The Western Wash was filled with water to 18 inch depth at the post above the Elm Bridge. The ponds were both empty but life was returning.
We walked 70% of the Woods' trails. We met Cassie downloading data from Heather M.'s trees and talked about bark characters distinguishing American elm (brown and gold or cream sandwich alternation of color in cross section) from slippery elm (just brown or red brown).
I returned with a saw and cut away 2-3 largish fallen trees blocking the Northern Loop trail and the SE and SCentral trails. 'World class' chiggers afterwards >100 bites.
The large yellow acridid Melanoplus differentialis grasshoppers on the south boundary road in the 2-3 m tall ragweed were abundant.
More rain 1.50 inches (my backyard) 1.14 (Mesonet) Friday 18 August pushed the depth in the Western Wash to 34 inches, just below the bottom of the Elm Bridge log. Soil 2-3 inches down was still dry, almost powdery. It had become hydrophobic through long baking.
Today Saturday the 25th I walked in the SW Gate along the South Boundary Trail and up to and along the West trail. Need to bring in stepping stones for section that will be wet.. and blue blaze trail trees on the West Trail.
Also walked in the NE entrance down to Elm Bridge and out to Fence Corner. The Western Wash was empty.. lots of deer tracks deep in the soft bottom. Along the EW Trail just west of the fallen pecan log there was a three toed box turtle. I clipped branches along the way.
We walked 70% of the Woods' trails. We met Cassie downloading data from Heather M.'s trees and talked about bark characters distinguishing American elm (brown and gold or cream sandwich alternation of color in cross section) from slippery elm (just brown or red brown).
I returned with a saw and cut away 2-3 largish fallen trees blocking the Northern Loop trail and the SE and SCentral trails. 'World class' chiggers afterwards >100 bites.
The large yellow acridid Melanoplus differentialis grasshoppers on the south boundary road in the 2-3 m tall ragweed were abundant.
More rain 1.50 inches (my backyard) 1.14 (Mesonet) Friday 18 August pushed the depth in the Western Wash to 34 inches, just below the bottom of the Elm Bridge log. Soil 2-3 inches down was still dry, almost powdery. It had become hydrophobic through long baking.
Today Saturday the 25th I walked in the SW Gate along the South Boundary Trail and up to and along the West trail. Need to bring in stepping stones for section that will be wet.. and blue blaze trail trees on the West Trail.
Also walked in the NE entrance down to Elm Bridge and out to Fence Corner. The Western Wash was empty.. lots of deer tracks deep in the soft bottom. Along the EW Trail just west of the fallen pecan log there was a three toed box turtle. I clipped branches along the way.
Saturday, August 11, 2012
At the end of things
Interesting time in the Woods right now. We are near the end of things. Change, a transition is coming. Sixty six days without rain.. Norman has the longest driest stretch of any of the 110 Mesonet stations in the 77 OK counties. Russell and I went to the Woods via the NE gate this afternoon at 6 to lash a length of elm across the Elm Bridge as a hand rail. Along the entry trail, the green Elephantopus elephantsfoot and Symphoricarpos coralberry were wilted. The Chasmanthium fish-on-a-line grass and others are dry cured bleached by the sun. Two white-tailed deer were there along the tree trail. They ran off to the NE. Everything else is waiting. Snails, pill bugs, fungi, millipedes, ants, beetles. Life has stopped growing or moving and now is waiting, enduring, waiting for rains of autumn and the end of the season of drought and heat. The great heat and drought of summer have been too much for some. Stressed by last summer, they have died this summer.
My guess is we will have significant rains in the next 1-2 weeks. Day lengths will begin to shorten noticeably now two months past the solstice. Days with temperature over 110F will end. We will not see many more days over 100F this year. I nailed a 6 foot metal ruler as a water depth guage to the 4x4 post I had placed earlier in the deepest portion of the Wash above the Elm Bridge (now dry). The Woods are ready for the rain to come again.
My guess is we will have significant rains in the next 1-2 weeks. Day lengths will begin to shorten noticeably now two months past the solstice. Days with temperature over 110F will end. We will not see many more days over 100F this year. I nailed a 6 foot metal ruler as a water depth guage to the 4x4 post I had placed earlier in the deepest portion of the Wash above the Elm Bridge (now dry). The Woods are ready for the rain to come again.
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Very Hot Days and Shelter in the Woods
Last several days Norman high temperatures have been breaking 110F or 43C.. OKC hit all time high of 113F. We've been above 100F every day since July 18 with no rain in 60 days. Wildfires scattered about state including east Norman. This Sunday morning it is cooler (80F at 8 AM) and I went to the NE Gate to see how the Woods were doing.
The west side trail of the Tree Loop smelled a bit like early fall leaves.. the rich tannin smell from some of the early leaf drop. It also smelled like mammals. I think the whitetailed deer were there minutes before my arrival.
On the tree loop there have been some more tree deaths: small American elm (#5) at the gate is dead. A young pecan at its base will take its place. Middle aged pecans are generally not doing well. Many had dead crowns from summer 2011 but had sprouted lateral buds along the trunk and produced adventitious leaves. Some of these higher sprouts are wilting, dying, graying up.. other lower stem leaves are still healthy and green. The Texas hickories Carya texana near the gate are doing noticeably well. The big walnut #171 at top of Pipeline Trail.. nearly dead last year and this spring.. has good survival of its stem leaves.
Around the loop Mora mulberry leaves were beginning to turn golden for an early fall. With a soft breeze, small skiffs of leaves were falling in the woods. Ampelopsis grape vines were shedding some leaves, mulberry, some elm and hackberry.. early leaf drop only. The drought and heat was enough so that leaves of invasive Ligustrum privet, Eleagnus Russian olive and Lonicera Amur honeysuckle were all wilted. #90 Cercis redbud is dead.
Down by the Elm Bridge, the deeper Woods with taller older trees, closer to their water table - there was a sweet subtle fragrance. I did not see what was blooming. The Woods there with its greater mass and development, provided some shelter and a partial buffer against the extremes of heat and drought. Tibicen Dog day Cicadas were droning loudly by NS Fence corner. On the NS trail a talisman, a single black and white Plectrodera elytra. I found a hawk feather, a crow feather and down by the beaver dam several vulture feathers..but the vultures had moved from their customary roost, to perch on the power poles beyond the new compost facility.
Along the Main SW trail the large discrete patches of Polygonum surround dying or dead trees (mostly elms) where there is new light through the canopy.
In the SW Corner the Agelenid funnel web weaving spiders have returned in abundance. Interesting that they should be there and not as abundant elsewhere in the Woods. The life here feels like it can tap deeper sources of moisture.. either from deeper roots.. more recently, fully flooded ground (months ago) or new conk fungi growing with moisture still held in large decaying host logs.
Two white tailed deer.. one west of beaver dam and one NW of the East Pond.. looked kind of scruffy. I am sure the heat is difficult for them.
At Island Crossing one small young Scincella lateralis skink writhed and skooted across the soil to shelter. One Cornus dogwood dying on the way back.
The life in the Woods is still in better shape than unprotected trees, plants and animals living out in the open. No ticks detected so far; but about 30 chigger bites.
The west side trail of the Tree Loop smelled a bit like early fall leaves.. the rich tannin smell from some of the early leaf drop. It also smelled like mammals. I think the whitetailed deer were there minutes before my arrival.
On the tree loop there have been some more tree deaths: small American elm (#5) at the gate is dead. A young pecan at its base will take its place. Middle aged pecans are generally not doing well. Many had dead crowns from summer 2011 but had sprouted lateral buds along the trunk and produced adventitious leaves. Some of these higher sprouts are wilting, dying, graying up.. other lower stem leaves are still healthy and green. The Texas hickories Carya texana near the gate are doing noticeably well. The big walnut #171 at top of Pipeline Trail.. nearly dead last year and this spring.. has good survival of its stem leaves.
Around the loop Mora mulberry leaves were beginning to turn golden for an early fall. With a soft breeze, small skiffs of leaves were falling in the woods. Ampelopsis grape vines were shedding some leaves, mulberry, some elm and hackberry.. early leaf drop only. The drought and heat was enough so that leaves of invasive Ligustrum privet, Eleagnus Russian olive and Lonicera Amur honeysuckle were all wilted. #90 Cercis redbud is dead.
Down by the Elm Bridge, the deeper Woods with taller older trees, closer to their water table - there was a sweet subtle fragrance. I did not see what was blooming. The Woods there with its greater mass and development, provided some shelter and a partial buffer against the extremes of heat and drought. Tibicen Dog day Cicadas were droning loudly by NS Fence corner. On the NS trail a talisman, a single black and white Plectrodera elytra. I found a hawk feather, a crow feather and down by the beaver dam several vulture feathers..but the vultures had moved from their customary roost, to perch on the power poles beyond the new compost facility.
Along the Main SW trail the large discrete patches of Polygonum surround dying or dead trees (mostly elms) where there is new light through the canopy.
In the SW Corner the Agelenid funnel web weaving spiders have returned in abundance. Interesting that they should be there and not as abundant elsewhere in the Woods. The life here feels like it can tap deeper sources of moisture.. either from deeper roots.. more recently, fully flooded ground (months ago) or new conk fungi growing with moisture still held in large decaying host logs.
Two white tailed deer.. one west of beaver dam and one NW of the East Pond.. looked kind of scruffy. I am sure the heat is difficult for them.
At Island Crossing one small young Scincella lateralis skink writhed and skooted across the soil to shelter. One Cornus dogwood dying on the way back.
The life in the Woods is still in better shape than unprotected trees, plants and animals living out in the open. No ticks detected so far; but about 30 chigger bites.
Friday, July 27, 2012
Hot Dry Woods
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.
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.
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.
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