Buck brush in understory

Here is a photo showing preponderance of Buck Brush in the understory. They are the last plant to lose its leaves this fall.

Here is the Osage Orange tree with the bumper crop of Hedge apples.

Fall Colors Penguin Park

Pawpaws and Bitternut hickory in the rain

I hiked in the rain Saturday. I did not make it to the glade. That will have to be another day. The trail along a power line and will be good for more exploration especially on a bicycle. What was neat about the hike I thought there would be a creek with a lot of water flowing by the sound. But it was just the rain hitting the leaves.

The trail wound around a draw and followed the power line for a while. I took a photo of some Pawpaw which are a beautiful understory tree in the fall. The orange tree behind the Pawpaw was a Bitternut hickory.

On the way back I forgot the trail looped around the draw and became disoriented. But Molly my dog knew the way.

Hiking in the rain brings a different element to the hike. Instead of hearing you footsteps you hear rain pattering against the leaves.

Glades

A natural piece of land in the middle of a forest that has few or no trees. This would happen mainly due to rocks with little soil for tree growth. Hence a glade instead of a forest. Because of the lack of soil the glade holds little water for plant growth. Hence the desert types of plants that grow there.

Eastern Red cedars will grow in this area. The tree cover will allow water to be caught and this changes plant adaptation to the area.

To restore a glade the cedars need to be cut and allowed to dry for at least 1 year. Then a prescribed burn is done to rid the ground of invading plants that are not adaptive to a glade environment. The fire also prepares the ground for glade type plants to grow.

I know of a glade type area in Hodge park. Looking through the photos to find a picture of it I was not successful. So I thought I would go back out there and find it and take a photo. It is not large enough to be classified as a glade.

Some of this information was found from this article.
Glade

Sandbar Willow

Hiking in La Benite park I came across some Sandbar willow (Salix exigua). It is
characterized by long extremely narrow leaves.

Willow has a soft look to it because of the narrow leaves.

This reminds me of the gentleness of the Lord. It leads us to repentance.

Ephesians 4:2
with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love,

Tuesday October 3rd Watkins Mill MO State Park

I go to the lake shore near sunset. 3 ducks flew over. A Great blue heron landed in a dead tree to the west. A turkey vulture landed behind me and is rustling his feathers.

Clouds are orange. Air plane exhaust streaks can be seen going in 4 different directions. A train whistle can be heard in the distance.

The lake is still in the cove where I'm sitting. Out in the main body of water I can tell there is a little breeze. The tops of the trees are moving a little but now they are still.(Yes there was close to a full moon.)

A fish splashes about 30' to my right. The bat I saw last week is out catching bugs as it flies 20' in the air just off the lake shore.

Now the orange is off the sky and its blue gray. Clouds are in the western ½ of the sky.

A couple of fish splash in the water 3 or 4 birds chip, chip can be heard. A cow moos twice.

10 geese honk as they come in and splash land 100 yards in front of me.

The Great blue heron continues to watch from his perch on the dead tree. The turkey vulture continues to ruffle his feathers behind me.

A lot of fish are hitting the water now. It is getting hard to see to write.

The bat is still working the sky at about 20'.

The heron stretches his neck out and makes 4 deep guttural calls.

The night bugs are sounding in force. I can't see the lines on my paper. So I head back to my camp.

Wednesday morning 4 October Watkins Mill MO state park

7 small ducks on water. I can't see any ID marks. The gull I have been seeing has black wing tips. So it puts it to the ring billed gull or the herring gull.

I saw another Turkey vulture convention. They gather in the early morning and fly around in a mob for a short time then disperse to their areas.

I think of Colossians 1 in the Bible. It talks about all power if that wasn't enough it is according to God's glorious might. Which is unlimited. God has promised us so much. We need to acquire it by the prayer of faith. Just as there is so much to learn of nature and enjoy. God has so much for us. Go to Him, He wishes to lavish on us abundant life.

Honey locust leaves are 80% down. Last week it was just a few vines and sumac that had changed colors. Now there is a lot of color. What a difference a week makes. The Paw paws are bright yellow. They are a great tree for color. Honey locust leaves are raining down as I write.

Photo of Osage orange striking yellow green combination with an orange tree in the background. The background tree is a Pignut hickory. End buds less than 1/2” tight bark 5-7 leaflets. It is the best fall color tree I have seen today.

Vines Growing up Vines of Honey Locust

Honey Locust Gleditsia triacanthos alway seems to have vines growing up the trunk.

Honey locust thorns

Flowers

Hop hornbeam bark

Here is the bark of Hop hornbeam (Ostrya virginiana)



Sometimes its shredy and sometimes its not. Small understory tree.

Muscle wood (Carpinus caroliniania) is also called Ironwood.

Proper Bird Watching Technique

Just joking. From here I saw 3 Brown Creepers (Certhia americana) I liked this spot a dominate Pignut hickory surrounded by Eastern Red ceader.

I measured the Pignut hickory (Carya glabra).
Circumference 6' 3" or 75 inches
Height 75'
Crown 51.5 feet
Total points 178 (Ht in feet + circuference in inches + crown diameter/4)

Here is what I saw looking up.



Later I was hiking along the lake edge and I came across this Bur oak also called overcup oak(Quercus lyrata).
Circumference 13' 3" 159"
53' high
76 feet crown diameter
Total points 231

Bumper Crop in Hedge Apples

Here is a photo of a bumper crop in Hedge Apples

Below is a close up. They seem to be yellower than normal.

The tree is in ano open field. There are many stems coming out of a stump. I want to take a picture of this tree in the winter.

Rusty blackbirds flock to our neghborhood

Rusty black birds flock to our house and the surrounding area for a couple of blocks. As I walked my dog to a park they did not flock by the park. Although I did hear one rusty gate call of a Starling. It is interesting that birds pick one area over another.



I saw my first purple finch of the Fall on our bird bath this afternoon. He got some water. After he left I refilled the birdbath with fresh water. I need to get the bird seed out for migrants coming through.

Shagbark hickory; Carya ovata

Shagbark hickory

Carya ovata

Shagbark hickory is one of my favorite trees. The bark is distinctive and the tree grows up to 100 feet tall.



Here are 3 Shagbark hickory trees with their distinctive bark. I saw these on the horse trail at Watkins Mill State park. Shagbark hickory is prevalent in the woods around here.

Bats use the loose bark as shelter.

Ironwood; Hop hornbeam

Photo taken 27-Sep-06 Watkins Mill State Park
Ironwood; Hop hornbeam
Ostrya virginiana

Here is another link the bark that I see is more shredy than is shown here.

An elm like leaf with fruit pods grouped together.
The bark is usually shredy and the wood is harder than Oak, Hickory, Osage orange. The only wood harder is Flowering dogwood.
The tree grows up to 24 feet tall.

In the woods I walk in I see this understory tree often.

Muscle wood Carpinus caroliniana is a similar tree.

Osprey on the Blue river

Driving east along Colamine Rd I saw a large bird with a white head. I pulled over thinking it might be a Bald eagle. It hovered in the air then dropped to the river. I noticed the white breast along with the white head.

I got out of my truck and went down to the river but I saw no more sign of it.

A red tailed hawk was watching this whole process. When he saw me cross the road he
had enough and flew off from his perch from a power pole.

Virginia creeper

Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia ) is another plant turning early. This is a good vine for coverage.

Osage Orange Bark

Here is a photo showing the bark of
Osage Orange
with other trees in the background.

The tree is resiliant the wood being very hard. It has the greates natural durability of all woods.

Psalm 24:8
Who is the King of glory?The LORD strong and mighty,The LORD mighty in battle.

First fall color

Photos taken 20-Sep-06 at Watkins Mill State Park on the hourse trail.



Poison ivy growing in a Honey locust tree. One of the first to turn color in the fall.











Here is a close up of poison ivy. Notice the white fruit cluster in the background center of the picture