Silver Maple Flowers

Red-bellied Woodpecker

I had been cutting wood in my back yard and stopped to rest after the gas ran out of the saw. After about 5 minutes the birds starting coming back into the area. I saw Blue Jays, Robins, many House sparrows, a few Blacked Capped Chickadees. Then I noticed this Red-bellied Woodpecker. I trained my camera to the spot and zoomed to 300 mm. This wood pecker was content to stay there for a while and I got many photos. This seems to be the best one.



Here the wood pecker has just taken off by jumping off the limb. He has not opened his wings yet.

Canon EOS REBEL T3
F-stop f/5.6
ISO-200
1/1600 sec
280mm

Coming In for a Landing

Lichens

Here is a shot of lichens growing on a branch.

Firewood 2

I decided to split the wood and move it. But as I got the wedge started into a chunk of wood the wedge just bounced out of the wood after I slammed the sledge down on the wedge.

Splitting was out of the question for now. So plan B is to cut the wood into chunks and roll them up to where I want to stack them. Then in the summer I plan to split what I can.

The problem with splitting wood in the summer is it gets hot.
The heat makes the work that much harder. Be that as it may that is what I will do.

After I moved all I wanted to pick up and roll to the pile. I got my saw and started cutting. What a difference I was making in the environment of sound. Instead of wind and a few birds chirping in the pre-spring afternoon there now was a roar. The bar was cutting through the wood and chips were flying. After a while when I cut a section I would roll it to the stack and go back and cut another one. When the saw ran out of gas I looked at the clock and decided that was enough for the day. I had moved a significant amount of firewood to where I wanted it stacked. Tomorrow will be another day and I will continue my work.




Here is the photo in mid January and the article I wrote then.

Pine Sap

Sap seeping out of recent pruning from pine tree.

Lightening Shreds Wood Fibers

Walking in a park I saw a tree scared by lightening. Looking closer I noticed the wood fibers were shreded and seperated down the path of the strike. The tempature of lightening can reach 50,000 degrees F. Yet when you look at the wood, there is no sign of being burned.

Shumard Oak Bud

 Shumard oak  tree bud above and the tree below. There is another tree that limbs low like this one I should visit to see if it is the same species.

 

Winter Bud of Eastern Red Bud

Small bud on the end of the twig. But there will be beauty in the Spring.

Sentry Crows

 Crows One easy ID of crows and other birds like crows, is a black bird that has wing tips that are seperated.

Hophornbeam Twig and Lenticles

Here is a close up of Hophornbeam twig. The white spots on the twig are lenticles, which are used for the plant to let air to escape from the tree. They are for gas exchange.

Black Cherry Bark

 Here is a photo of the bark of a young Black Cherry tree. The horrizonal lines are lenticles. These lenticles continue to show up on the bark of mature Black Cherry trees.

Crab Apples in February

Crab Apples still on the tree in February.

Maple Bud