Green Bumelia and Winter Snow Beginning

At 3:30 with a stiff NNW wind bringing the first dry flakes of light snow, I went to the Woods. The SW gate and southern boundary trail I thought would let me find shelter from the wind. Just into the Woods past the three big bur oaks, I was struck by the green leaves of the Sideroxylon chittamwood standing there. They sometimes keep their green well past the other species. Tomorrow this will have a bole and branches with all its green bedecked with white. All along the southern edge of the woods the wind was coursing through the open stand.
I walked out to the large excavation on the southern edge of the woods where two giant excavators had dug a crater 20 feet deep, exposing the large municipal pipe line buried there. The crews had spread gravel more or less along the route of the old grassy road bed from the east and shoved up a new small mountain of dirt at the SE corner of the delta. Smashed a few large willows at the edge of the delta.
I walked north from there into the heart and shelter of the center of the Woods. Cold! 18 F and windy and growing colder each quarter of an hour as the front moves in.
The sensible northern species are ready.. the walnut, elm, oak, hickory, persimmon, locust, sugarberry, cottonwoods, box elder, the red bud, ash, mulberry, even the big pecan, have shed their leaves, protected their growing buds with thick scales and filled the vital meristems with sugary cryo-protectant chemicals. Ready to take the cold, and it is coming. But still green (although not looking happy) are the Ligustrum privet, Elaeagnus autumn olive, and Euonymus vine. The succulent green mistletoe seems perky and unperturbed. Its leaves were not drooping or darkening. The animals in the Woods were preparing too. Two larger herds of deer were foraging on the last bit of green before it turns white. The yearlings may not have seen snow before and I wondered if it was a sight that made them skittish, a little worried, or wanting to stay close with the others. I sang to them and the older larger does stopped and looked at me curiously for a moment before moving off. The chickadees, cardinals and other small passerines were actively flitting about.. also trying to stock up on their last good meal and find the best shelter before the cold night coming.
Snow starting to blow in a little more thickly and I recalled the lines of Robert Frost 

"Whose woods these are I think I know.   

His house is in the village though;   

He will not see me stopping here   

To watch his woods fill up with snow."

North Rim Trail, Early and Late Trees and Leaves

Returned to the Woods' North Rim Trail on this Thanksgiving morning for the first time this year. Cool morning 45F. Saw two groups of three large deer each running away south.  The trail segments are in reasonable shape, if somewhat overgrown from lack of use.. No massive blockage or saw required. The north portion of the Woods is the wilder part, less visited and more homes for animals of the woods. Many burrows in active use. I used my cedar walking stick as a scythe to cut old asters and a short clippers to clear greenbrier.
Most (97%) of canopy leaves are down now. But a curious thing, some individual trees and some branches still hold their leaves. Why? Is there an advantage to holding leaves a bit later? What are the species, apart from Sideroxylon Chittamwood,  that are likely to do this? What are the trees that put out their leaves before everyone else? It continues to be very dry..

Crinkly Woods

Took a walk out to the Woods via the SW Gate last two days. Today late in the afternoon. The newly fallen bur oak leaves by the south gate make a loud, crunching sound.. like walking in a bowl of corn chips. Further east and north where pecan dominate, the fallen leaves are more of a silvery, high pitched sound. The leaves around the big cottonwood make a different dry paper sound.
  The big (fifth largest) cottonwood #39, diameter 122 cm or 4 feet is on its way out. The massive single stem rises 40 feet in a graceful arc to the northeast. A huge old branch, forks off there and rises more vertically to become the top. The highest branches may be 65 feet up. All around the base at ground level are big hard conks of a polypore eating away at the supporting xylem and heartwood of the stem. That huge weight held up high for the many decades of its life will come crashing down on the world below it when the fungus has eaten too much of the support. Looking at the crown, the tree looks healthy; but it is doomed by the fungus at its base.
  Today there were two deer southeast of the Delta. The buck snorted and ran with white tail flag flying. I sang to it and it stopped, partly hidden by trees between us. It watched me as if curious.Yesterday there were five (mostly younger) deer in one group.
  The Delta is a solid green carpet of 2 inch tall annuals, Stellaria chickweed, Glechoma ground ivy, Allium spring onions, Viola violets, some Galium cleavers, some Apiaceious(?) abundant delicate annual with leaves like a Geranium Erigeron but a smell like parsnip, some false dandelions, some grass (Festuca?). The little rain we've had in the past couple of months, a quarter inch a few weeks ago, has started the spring growth and the unnaturally warm days and nights have kept them growing.
  Leaving the Woods at sunset this evening, and looking west through the forest, I was struck by the view, revealing the density, placement and various forms of all the stems of the trees as they separately seek the canopy and bend to escape each other. This is not visible in the summer months. Leaves obscure this view. It is clear at sunset in the dim light when the stems are mostly in silhouette. There is a new perspective here, offering new knowledge of the spacing and the lives of the tree community.

Fall Return to the Woods

Out to the Woods twice this week. Today with Darin and Rebecca to explore leaf litter research possibilities. Lots of leaves down now, maybe 80%. Most canopy leaves still up high on old grandfather cottonwood. A few mosquitoes on tree loop as I replaced/ refreshed tree tags. Pool at Island Crossing is partly refilled. Water pooled in the wash is dark with organics. With the saw, I cleared the slowly sinking arch of the broken elm and vine tangle blocking the NW trail by the big Viburnum. Cleared the fallen elms blocking the west end of the Two Friends Trail. Quarter inch rain a few days ago, left a nice autumnal acid smell in the air, decomposition starting again. Found some salmon pink slime mold recently crawled up on elm log.  Near largest western cottonwood, big leaning pecan has broken at base, crashed down and smashed or scarred several other trees. South 30 m from big cottonwood, leaning old elm has scar bleeding flux that is attractive to two Polistes wasps, a Vespula yellowjacket and several species of flies. No predation going on, although flies are a bit skittish about quick movements of Polistes.
No deer seen but some buck soil scrapes are showing up along tree loop. Gambusia roiling the surface of the NW pond.. shallow and small but still enough to sustain. The Gambusia will have eliminated most invertebrate larvae including odonates. One more substantial tree to clear from trail leading down the hill below the south end of the Tree Loop. Spider webs mostly gone from trails. Woods are busy with abundant robins at 5 PM before the time change this weekend.

End of Summer Skink Onions and Twig Girdler

Back to the Woods for the first time in two months. A warm 85 F day with a dry SW wind. In the Woods it felt like the end of summer and not yet the start of autumn. At the NE Gate there was a rustle of dried post or bur oak leaves down on the trail, but most of the canopy leaves are still up and green (95%). Only the last flowers were still blooming, patches of white Eupatorium boneset. The Woods were dry. The NW pond shoreline was about 10 feet away from the full shore at the end of the stones. The surface of the water was alive with feeding minnows, most likely Gambusia mosquito fish. I saw no dragon or damselflies, probably consumed by the minnows. Along the Wash only the deeper pool by the old ragged steel culvert still had water. The mud around it was full of tracks of racoons.
The pool above Island Crossing had disappeared. In the soft mud that remained, several Vespula yellow jackets were gathering moisture or mud.  Not so common to see them in the Woods.
Leaning on a sugarberry I inadvertently grabbed a stinging hymenoptera of some sort. Good sharp sting to my finger. Like a honey bee, maybe a bit stronger. I did not see it. First sting from hymenoptera this year. Lasted maybe a minute or two sharply.
At the southern end of the Tree Loop there was a pile of scat, probably racoon. Full of rounded seeds of sumac? fox grape seeds? sugarberry? This is a time of plenty of food when residents of the Woods will be feeding and fattening up.
I saw just two white-tailed deer in this mid-day walk. Almost no spider webs across the trail.. and no agelenid funnel weaver spiders. First time the SW corner has not had a big population in autumn in the past few years. Few other insects flying, one Polygonia question mark butterfly, a few mosquitoes by the West Dune trail. On the West Dune trail there were red berries of Cocculus snail seed.
  By the Elm Bridge I was surprised and delighted to see lots of Allium spring onion clumps growing and looking healthy.
The Parthenocissus Virginia Creeper up the biggest NW cottonwood by Carpenter's steel stake had gone a rich wine red color but by the NE gate they were still mostly a mottled green.
I walked almost all the trails except the northern Ravine Trail and some of the SE. There were lots of smaller branches down, including two different bunches of green pecan leaves cut by twig girdlers.
Only one big pecan branch blocking the trail required a saw to clear.
  The Woods are changing seasonally and developing successionally, gradually growing older and changing character with the months and the years.

August Woods Walk and a Chicken

Hot. July 15-Aug 7 are the Woods' hottest three weeks over recent 30 year average. I went to see the mid-late summer Woods at 2:30 via the SW Gate. Immediate relief from the sun under the shade of the big bur oaks. The soft racket of cicadas filled the air.. not deafening; but audible. I walked north and encountered a large white-tailed doe that trotted north inside the fence line.

I  followed her along the Westside Trail. The soil, through the swampy west side near Chautauqua had no standing water. It looked damp.. but no mud and no water outside the sedge-lined swamp. Along the Main SW trail, discrete patches of Carex hystericina sedge were growing where the canopy opened for a patch of light. Southeastward, the Polygonum was growing in a more expansive stand.

By the NW Pond, I disturbed a young Great Blue Heron that flew noisily east in the main pond and then up into a tree, as I passed by. Despite the heat of the past few weeks, the pond was well-filled. Libellulid dragonfly and Coenagrionid damselfly.

On the laden Viburnum, a full crop of fruit were still green.

The East Pond was only half filled.
Despite the heat; there was enough rain in July to keep good water in the ponds; and have fresh Auricularia wood ear fungi growing at the base of trees.

Lots of spider webs all through the Woods, mostly Micrathena gracilis.. but there were other, maybe Linypheiids?

I was surprised to see the wash full and gently flowing at Elm Bridge and at Island Crossing. At Island Crossing there was a school of minnows (Gambusia?).

Not much blooming in the Woods. The Elephantopus is growing up and filling in along the trail but no flowers.

With good soil water, plenty of light and heat, and leaves still in good condition; this may be near the peak of total daily photosynthesis for the Woods. I think the life of the Woods now is going to be even more nocturnal than usual. More foraging by moonlight or starlight.

 Just east of the Big Tree #200 a very large pecan has tilted and fallen.

Walking out of the Woods along the south boundary, I hear a 'clucking' sound like a scolding squirrel.. followed by a cry like an immature crow.. confusing. I did not recognize until I saw a domestic hen running along ahead of me from the trash station heading west. Never seen that in the Woods before!

Bambi and Red-Eared Slider

Sunday morning out at 8 with Amy to review the Tree Loop. Needs some refreshing or replacement of ID tags. Trimmed a little of the Elephantopus, Elephant's foot and other vegetation growing in trail. More trimming needed. Abundant Spined Micrathena, Micrathena gracilis females on their webs across the trail. Carried saw into SE connector trail to clear largish fallen ash, blocking trail. Found a young red-eared slider sitting out on the sand below the Elm Bridge.
Then around to SW entrance. Cleared out giant ragweed, honeysuckle and clematis vines threatening to obscure entrance gate. Carried saw to clear dead elm across main SW trail. Two white-tailed does were accompanying four spotted small bambis. The fawns sprinted away east, splashing across and through the shallow water around 125 m. I sang to the does and they walked warily away but did not seem alarmed. No ticks or mosquitoes.