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Category: Nature Observations (Page 3 of 3)

Wolf Pine @ Fox Park #4: 3/5/17, Noon-ish time

This is the kind of day it is today.  Not a cloud in the light blue sky, the sun casting sharp shadows from the bare branches.  A bit blustery, and cold- I’d guess 25 degrees, not including wind chill.  The snow is very hard, and has a icy surface.  I wandered into Fox park at around noon- all I could hear was a few high peeps from chickadees and the occasional crow yelling at something.  Notably, the woodpeckers seemed absent on my way into the woods toward my pine tree- could the extra-frozen trees deter all but the most robust woodpeckers?  Usually at least a downy will be somewhere, tapping away.

 

 

 

 

These two trees on the right exhibit this intersting “crinkly”, wafer-like, “scaly” bark.  Around these parts, I would wager a guess these are black cherry trees.  Magnificent!

 

One interesting feature:  they are always alone!  I have yet to see two of these “scaly” trees within eyesight of each other.  Compare this to the gaggles of hemlocks, clubs of white pines, and stands of beeches… I really haven’t the foggiest why such an impressive and dense tree would manage to populate itself so sparsely.

 

 

Someone has been doing house cleaning!  This cavity in the tree is getting excavated, and upon further inspection, the space inside is enormous.  The wood chips at the base look relatively fresh, and the wind hasn’t blown the sawdust off the bark yet.

These green conk mushrooms I found are gnarly.  Beginning and end of story.

As I left my sit spot, I found myself staring into the top of each pine tree I walked under.  I am getting a gut feeling the owls are going to be getting restless for spring soon.  So many more mammals will become breakfast, lunch, and dinner (for our GHO and barred owls especially) in a few weeks when they emerge.  I think I will aim to do my few sit spots before sunrise, armed with the saw-whet call, and see if I can pick out who is living up there in the multitudes of pines.

Bonus:  I found these well-preserved, flash-frozen crow footsteps literally wandering out of the parking lot and into the park, following the “human trail”.  

-Jess

Wolf Pine @ Fox Park #3: 3/3/17, Noon-ish time

I walked into Fox Park on 3/3/17.  Note how I could walk right in; the snow has settled and melted into a single layer that had been frozen the night before.   The sun was shining, but an impressively chilled wind was blustering around.  That morning at 6am, the temperature hit somewhere around 40 degrees, which was followed by a hour-and-a-half blizzard starting at around 9am, followed by blue skies similar to what I experienced at 6am but about 15 degrees colder.  ???

I tried to document the interesting tree formations, issues, and patterns today, as I realized after more natural history class time I was taking these trees for granted and focusing on the more “immediately exciting stuff”.

First off, I was noticing these Beech leaves everywhere.  They seem to be the only leave around that is so stubborn about staying glued to the tree almost indefinitely- until of course the lext version pops out to replace it.

It was noted in class these leaves stay attached to the tree all year, the idea being maybe these trees can get a quicker head start on photosynthesis come spring.

Coppicing? General bizarreness?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, I was finding all sorts of tree species with this tightly knit organization, which implied they are  possibly sharing a mega-root system.

 

The following tree photos all exhibit this super weird “window” into each tree’s heartwood.  Fox park is riddled with this phenomenon…  …And I have absolutely no idea why.

By the time I got to actual spot to do some serious sitting, I already had these questions percolating.  it seems like most trees I encountered dealt with a sort of trauma at the base, and are trying to recover.

 Take a moment to observe the “Bull” pine, or “Wolf” pine.  That is my spot- isn’t in gnarly?   First off, it is HUGE.  Those birch trees in the foreground aren’t exactly little.   I met a few dog walkers soon after I arrived under its crazy branches, one of whom said there is a chance this was a shade tree for farm animals eons ago.  We wondered if the branches grew into this oddly un-shady shape when the farming situation came to a halt, and other shade and competition for the sun forced the needles farther into the sky.

Below are some close ups of the uber-gnarlies this tree has.  Note the little holes about 3-4mm across.  these look like bug activity.  (no shredded bark from even the most careful woodpecker, and seem totally unorganized.   That said, the quarter-sized cone shaped holes look like red-bellied activity, but was quickly abandoned.  It seems this tree has  some tough bark, and the bugs are just too hard to get at.

Looking out from my spot, I see the fungus/Scale beetle issue on the nearest Beech tree.  I also found this basketball-sized hive, high up in a tree.  Obviously, it is the epitome of fine construction techniques, because it is basketball sized, after a whole slew of crazy weather events.

These two conifer trees had me confused for a while.  The one on the right is a more spares when it comes to needles, and the bark/stem pattern  is more “expansive” and “flat”.   I dub this a hemlock, because my first gut instinct is to forage underneath for the highly flammable branches, which often have those thin, bendy fingers that ignite immediately and violently.   The tree on the right however, did not evoke this gut response.   That said, I think it is also a hemlock, just much younger – I think.

 

Bird activity:

 On the right, we have my favorite, all time greatest “big woodpecker” hole example tunk.  Top left: Probably a Hairy woodpecker.  Note the lack of a bezel around the hole.  Also, I doubt the local Piliated would be able to fit its beak that far into a tree, this hole is just too small.  Note also the Hairy does have a rather long beak.  I have heard and seen a hairy woodpecker in this area.  Top right:  Ehh, this one may be a collaborative effort.  I see the inner circle STARTS at the size the hairy woodpecker left off.  I say red bellied at that point.  I have heard the bubbly-squawk-like sound of this woodpecker here on occasion.  Also- note what happened!  The tell-tale funnel shape that starts about 3/4 inch seems to have given someone else some ideas…. Bottom:  Crazy Piliated woodie, who, as far as I can tell, has literally killed at least 1 tree nearby, by obsessively boring huge channels through the trunk (and almost out the other side in some cases!!!   The upper right hole looks like the pileated could have given that one a go, just to give it a test drive, before going back to work on the bottom hole.

Finally, I found an example of all 4 major league woodies in one sit spot visit!  Here is the resident diminutive downy, going berserk on a dusty branch.  Look at that head go!  My shutter way fast, but evidently not fast enough to stop a speeding downy head.

Until next time!!

 

Wolf Pine @ Fox Park #2 (2/27/17)

I wandered into my sit spot last Monday evening, before sun down- slightly overcast, well above freezing.  Upon entering the park, significantly warmer air pockets dotted the trail- why, I don’t have the foggiest idea.  This seems important, but I will leave the cause of such intense heat-bubbles of what a question to gnaw away at later.

Observations from the Wolf Pine @ Fox Park:

Firstly, the birds.  I did not wait long before I heard a few White Breasted Nuthatches tooting.  Soon after, I heard some call and response with some Cardinals, a first this year for me.   The pileated activity has not wavered, but I wonder if the bugs are more prevalent now with the hot air floating around.  I think I am seeming more medium sized woodpecker holes, particularly those from the Red Bellied Woodpecker.   Downy/Hairy activity hasn’t changed much, still the odd one of those here and there.

Most interesting is the Brown Creeper activity.  These birds went totally under the radar until now.  They do not migrate- but all of a sudden, they are singing , swooping, and creeping like mad!  I wonder if their two-tone whistle is a mating call, like the Chickadee’s (thanks for the info, Kurt!) The tell-tale, “only goes up the tree, never down” nuthatch-shaped bird is extremely well camouflaged.  I wonder if that is more helpful in the winter, when they are going incognito?  I mean, they are kind of obvious when they are burbling around the forest,

As for plant life, some kind of shrub that has reddish tendril tips is getting ready for show time.  the previously hard and dry bud tips are now moist and are easily squished.  This looks like fair game for little bugs and subsequently gleaners….  I can’t wait to see the forest unfold around me as we get deeper into spring.

 

Also:  A fellow student recently told me quite possibly the most important pine tree-related info I have ever heard.  Ready?

“White pine trees have bunches of 5 needles because the word “white” has 5 letters.  So, logically, the red pine has bunches of 3 needles, because there are ONLY 3 LETTERS IN THE WORD “RED”.”

…Crazy.  Food for thought.

 

Wolf Pine @ Fox Park #1 +Bonus Winter Birds

Today and yesterday, 2.19.17 – 2.20.17, have officially kicked off my first real visits to my “sit spot” (required for all adventure ed students at PSU) and commutes around campus armed with my bird rig, ready for the warmer-weather inclined birds.

Observations from the Wolf Pine @ Fox Park:

Snowshoed into Fox Park around 2:15 on Sunday, 2.19.17.

Weather:  After repeated heavy snow falls, Sunday was the first day solidly above freezing- thus a large amount of dripping and snow-condensing was happening.  My wolf pine was in a bit of a freezing puddle, with ~2 feet of snow accumulation surrounding its base.   High pressure day, bluish-grey skies and scattered wispy clouds.  Light breeze, and fairly quiet.

Upon quieting myself and my raucous snow-hoverboards, it became apparent how few birds and squirrels were about.    I could hear “whispers” and chips from passerines, but they sounded far away, likely to be lower on the hill, near the squishy earth and faux-pond.  Squirrels maybe rustled a branch or two during my sit- note the trees where about half evergreen and probably not a food source for these little mammals.  These trees  would, however, provide good coverage from avian predators…  I wonder if the squirrels have thought of that.

Perhaps the surrounding homes and intermittent (not on Sunday) construction sounds provided a safer space park wide.  Owls and to a lesser extent hawks are irked to no end by these sounds and regular but unpredictable human activity.  I have observed elsewhere in MA owls are not put off by circadian dog walkers at all;  in fact, I would glean most of my “big bird” info from the unperturbed 2 – 3 times a day dog walkers of my neighborhood.   Great horned families, bald eagles, and belted kingfisher pairs could care less about 2 dozen or more dogs pass under their homes a day, but the moment a motor boat, police cars, or loud parties occurred these unbelievable species would vanish.   I make this digression because this is a college town, and the park is surrounded by active dwellings of different sorts, including development sites.  THUS:  there were essentially no rodents/lagomorphs/etc.  (easily findable ones that is)

Speaking of which, the tracks were tough to figure out.  Heavy dogs?  Yes.  beyond that, the melting snow and dripping was creating a fairly non-descript blanket over any crazy prints.

I noticed remarkable BIG woodpecker activity, i.e. Pileated and Red Bellied/flicker- especially on my way out of the park.  Holy smokes are the pileated OCD around here!

Also Note the intersting spiraling growth pattern on this Wolf Pine limb.  It is long dead, but appears and felt denser than “ye average” pine tree.  ??

I plan to get back to my spot ASAP for more warm weather observations.  I believe this is the forecast all week!

BONUS WINTER BIRDS FROM MY COMMUTE THIS MORNING:

A loud house finch and a lovely Bohemian waxwing.

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