Magical Mystery Tour

There is a science behind leaves changing colors in the fall. Chlorophyll is the green pigment produced by plants that enables them to absorb energy from the sun in the process of photosynthesis. So in the fall when deciduous trees stop making chlorophyll, the green fades and other pigments in the leaves come on display. It’s a fascinating story to read about, and I recommend you check it out.

On the other side of the coin, is the indescribable feeling when witnessing the exposition of fall colors. It reminds me that the world is so mysteriously magical.

Turkey Tail Fungus

When this organism first caught my eye, I thought it was a moth. Realizing it wasn’t a moth, I went in for a closer look. I was so struck by the beautiful bands of brown and the velvety texture. Elegantly nestled in the moss, it was attached directly, without a stem, to a decaying log. I lightly touched it, still imagining it would fly away. I looked it up when I got home and found that it was possibly a turkey tail fungus. I went back today to look underneath to see if it had pores, which it does. I found one on the ground, that had probably been broken off, and I was able to bend it. Flexibility is one of the traits of turkey tail fungus. Turkey tails also have a velvety texture on top, which I reaffirmed today. I’m so glad that these magnificent, little creatures are apart of my awareness now.

Yellow Torches

In the warm, autumn sun, a handful of dandelion flowers can be found bursting open - a yellow ember to hold in your heart to spark all of the new ideas conceived over the winter.

Hazelnut Catkins

It is interesting to see the hazelnut’s male catkins forming at the same time the leaves are changing colors and falling from the trees. I will usually start seeing the first catkins opening up and releasing their pollen sometime in January. The female flowers are the small, red stigmas that you see protruding from a bud. The flowers are wind pollinated and need to be from a separate, compatible, pollinating variety.

You can see the delicate splash of yellow leaves from the hazelnut trees in the forest above the White Oak Pavilion.

I have a hazelnut tree in my yard. If there is a sunny, warm afternoon and the catkins are open, I will sometimes see my honeybees foraging some of the pollen.

The Creek Is Flowing

With all of the steady rain, I saw yesterday that the creek has begun to flow again. It winds through the little valley that opens up at the White Oak Pavilion. There is a small spillway just above the lower bridge that leads into the pavilion, and I saw children attracted to the sound of the gurgling, splashing water. In the spring, I remember seeing birds taking lively, fluttering baths or swooping in for a drink. Welcome back little creek, I missed you.

Color, Pattern & Texture

As I walk around at the arboretum, I am amazed at the shapes, colors, textures and patterns of all the different life forms. In the first photo, the scaly leaves of an incense-cedar branch that broke off during a storm turned a beautiful copper color. Nearby on the ground was another fallen branch laden with lichen. Just around the corner was a dead tree that still felt solid and was adorned with vertical grooves. It seemed such a contrast from the fuzzy entanglement of the lichen. Then I find myself constantly drawn to the vibrant foliage of the licorice fern sprouting throughout the forest.

I imagine that a sign of a healthy environment is one that it is full of diversity. It certainly makes it a more interesting place to live.

Common Snowberry

The Latin name for snowberry is Symphoricarpos albus. Symphori- means “bear together,” and –carpos means fruits. Albus means white. You can see in the photos these snow-white berries growing in clusters. They are very eye-catching against the muted earth tones of grays and browns.

The bush is a thicket of little branches that provides cover for birds. Lately I have seen a spotted towhee scratching around in the underbrush, and occasionally it will hop up into the snowberry bush to get a berry. It is the only animal I have observed eating them this year.

Lung Lichen or Lungwort

Walking along the pond lily trail, I came across lung lichen (Lobaria pulmonary) growing on the branches of the Pacific Ninebark shrub. Over the summer, the lung lichen was a brownish-green and felt like paper. With all of the recent moisture, some of it has turned bright green and has become soft and pliable. Some of it hasn’t changed from its summer color. I don’t know how long lung lichen lives, maybe it went through its life cycle. Or maybe it suffered from the dryness and poor air quality from the smoke of the late summer fires. It is sensitive to air pollution and won’t grow in places where the air quality is poor, such as in a city.

Lung lichen is an epiphyte, which means that it’s a plant that grows above the ground, supported nonparasitically by another plant or object, and derives its nutrients and water from the rain, air and other organic matter that gathers on or around it.

Lichens are amazing organisms, and I hope you read more about them. While reading about lichens, I came across this information:
”Representatives of a species called the map lichen (Rhizocarpus geographicum) have been aged in the arctic at 8,600 years, by far the oldest living organisms on the planet.”
https://www.nps.gov/glac/learn/nature/lichens.htm

Grasshopper Camouflage

The coloration and markings of grasshoppers give them remarkable camouflage. This ability to blend in to their environment helps them from being detected by predators. I will often see them jump, land and seemingly disappear into the landscape. That said, grasshoppers are an important part of the ecology in providing a nutritious food source for other animals. Also, through their consumption of plant material, they recycle nutrients back into the environment through their excrement. The cool weather and rain have come, and I have seen only a few grasshoppers recently. I look forward to seeing them next year.

Be sure to click on the photos so that you can open them into a larger frame and take a closer look.

Poison Oak Berries

Poison oak produces small clusters of berries that you can still see drooping from the stems. Over the last couple of weeks as I have walked around bird watching, I have frequently observed chickadees zipping in and out of poison oak patches gleaning berries. They usually pluck one and fly over to a near by branch. They don’t eat it whole. They hold it down against the branch with their feet and open it up. It appears that they are eating the fleshy part of the berry, and I imagine they ingest a few of the seeds too.

Poison oak loves living in disturbed areas, especially old farms like Mt. Pisgah Arboretum. I have heard poison oak referred to as the “protector plant.” It protects areas that have been disturbed so that they can heal. So it is no surprise that poison oak is an established plant of the ecosystem there. I am really allergic to poison oak, so it certainly keeps me out of certain areas and reminds me to try to minimize my impact on the environment.

Ready and... Action!

Ruby-crowned Kinglets are one of my favorite birds. Over the past couple of weeks they have migrated back to the area.

I see them in mixed flocks with golden-crowned kinglets, chickadees, bushtits, nuthatches and brown creepers. They are very energetic, zipping from one branch to another gleaning insects. I will often see them hover in place underneath a leaf or branch of a plant as they catch an insect.

I will often hear their call note that Peterson describes in his field guide as a husky "ji-dit”. Even now I will occasionally hear them sing a line of their song. It is such a sweet, warbling whistle. Peterson describes it as, “several high notes, lower notes, and a chant, tee tee tee-tew tew tew — ti-didee, tididee, tididee.”

I managed to get a photo that wasn’t completely a blur of this high-spirited, enthusiastic creature.

Deer Signs

There are deer living out at Mt Pisgah, and I see plenty of signs they leave behind indicating their presence. You can see trails leading through the meadow, footprints left on soft ground and a variety of different scat depending on the season and food source.

Also during the mating season or rut, males will rub on trees to create a sign post that marks their territory. It is a visual marker and a scent marker.

Dragonflies Still Flying

Here we are, well into the fall season, and I still see dragonflies. When I catch the flash of their brilliant color markings, along with their swift, flying maneuvers, I always pause to watch.

A couple of days ago I was walking along, and I heard something buzzing. On the ground, there were two dragonflies joined in mating. The male grips the female just behind her head and she will curl her abdomen forward underneath the male to pick the sperm near the base of his abdomen. I will often see dragonflies flying around in this tandem. This pair flew off as I came in closer for a photo. After a little while, I saw one of the dragonflies come back and rest on this limb. This time it was more cooperative in having its picture taken.

Dragonflies will often land on the tip of a plant or a small branch overlooking their territory where you can get a good look at them. As a kid I would spend time on my grandparent’s farm. They had a pond where we often went fishing with cane poles. I remember dragonflies landing on the end of my pole as I stood there patiently waiting for a fish to bite. Those were the days when it seemed like summer lasted forever.

dragonfly_resting_web.jpg

Mullein

Mullein is a biennial plant. In the first year, the seed will germinate and grow this beautiful rosette. All going well, during the second year it will send up a flower stalk covered with densely packed yellow flowers. The leaves are soft and covered with a velvety fuzz. Mullein plants usually grow in disturbed areas that are open with plenty of sunshine. This photo was taken along the river just below the parking lot at the arboretum.

In mid to late summer, I see downy woodpeckers on the flower stalks opening the seed pods. I see them extracting small larvae that have taken up residence inside. If I look closely at the flower stalk during the summer, I will often see this small weevil crawling around on it. I wonder if those small larvae are from weevils.

On a US Forest Service/USDA website titled Fire Effects Information System, it mentioned that mullein seeds have germinated after 100 years or more in the soil. Seeds are amazing!
(website: https://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/forb/vertha/all.html)

Rattlesnake Plantain

Rattlesnake Plantain (Goodyera Oblongfolia) is a perennial in the orchid family. I see it growing along the Incense-cedar trail. It grows in a circular cluster of leaves called a rosette. It has deep green leaves with a beautiful white pattern. I read that it has thick fibrous roots and spreads mostly through rhizomes. This might account for seeing it growing in small groups. It is such an elegant plant that is very striking on the forest floor underneath the Incense-cedars. I found one that still had this year’s flower stalk still attached. I’ll be looking forward to seeing it bloom next year.

Bird's Nest Fungus

The fruiting body of the bird’s nest fungus forms a small cup that reminds me of the remains of an old barnacle shell. I see them perched on small twigs on the forest floor along the Incense-cedar trail. When these cups form, they contain spore sacks, known as peridioles, which resemble tiny eggs. Raindrops fall into the cups and splash the small sacks out into the surrounding area spreading the fungus. I’m uncertain as to when these formed, and I wonder if the small, light brown formations around the cups are associated with the fungus. Maybe these fruits popped out with the first rains at the end of summer. I’ll try to check in on them throughout the fall to see what happens.

This creature is pretty small. It’s about the size of the cap that goes on a bicycle tire,. They are not too tricky to spot if I take a minute to carefully scan beside the trail.

The Work of a Skunk?

I found paper comb next to this hole in the ground. When I looked into the hole I could see parts of the paper nest still attached to the lining of the hole which was about the size of a volley ball. I have seen many Yellowjacket nests in the meadows around the arboretum this year. Skunks are known to dig up their nests and eat the larvae and adults. Apparently they are able to tolerate their stings. Skunks are omnivores. They eat small mammals, birds, bird eggs, reptiles, amphibians, insects, fruit, grubs, earthworms and various plant material. I’m going to be on the look out for more signs of skunks. Wish me luck.

Carpenter Ants - Incense-cedar

I went over to take a look at this old tree lying on the ground. Nearby I noticed this fine wood dust piled all around this Incense-cedar and on the plants nearby too. I knelt down to see if I could find what was making all of those fine particles. As I was looking around, I noticed a couple of pieces of dust float away from the tree. Then I observed ants coming to the edge of this crack in the bark and releasing tiny grains of wood.

Not far from this tree there is an arboretum sign that says the soft inner wood of the incense-cedar is prone to pocket rot which opens the door for carpenter ants. The sign also says that this will eventually get the attention of a Pileated Woodpecker and it will excavate the ant nests. So, I am trying to walk by this tree when I am out there to see if the Pileated finds the nest.

One of the trunks of this Incense-cedar broke off and fell to the ground. You can see in it in the second photo below where the inner wood is exposed at the base of the tree and fine grains of wood have been deposited by the ants from building their nest. I imagine it is a cozy, delightfully fragrant home for the ants.

Chickadee Smorgasbord

Over the past couple of days, I have seen chickadees feasting on the insects on the underside of the Oregon White Oak leaves. There are beautiful speckled oak galls. They are the ones in the photo that are yellow with red dots. Also, there are these small, brown buttons that I believe to be another type of gall wasp. I carefully opened one and found a small larvae inside. I usually see the chickadees take one of the galls off the leaf and fly over to a branch to open it up and eat the larvae. Sometimes. they will peck at it while hanging on the leaf. I’ll also see these little, cottony matts under the leaves. The chickadees also investigate the inhabitants of these dwellings for food. It is amazing to watch these birds move through the foliage with such energy and zip.