Bushes, Trees, and Birds

 I was out on Thursday determined to find some birds or something exciting to look at.

Most of what I found was a bit dull and boring.

I was looking for any sign of birds at first. But then I noticed some things about the bushes and the trees.

I did find birds.

I mean, who cannot find crows? They are all over the place!

I heard the Redwinged Black Birds, I did! I crept around a large field edge to see if I could get a glimpse of one. 

And there he/she was. In a thicket of Prickly Ash. There was no predator that could bust through that thorny bush.

I knew from hiking here over the years, that I always heard them in the brush but never paid particular attention. Now I see why they would love this area as a nesting spot.

I decided to sit quietly in the field and see if one would eventually come out. That paid off.

There were several sparrows flitting around inside that area too. I couldn't get any decent shots of them to ID them. But they were all very talkative.

I ended up on the road where I'd seen the Bluebirds a few weeks ago and started walking along my neighbor's land. His big old birch trees grabbed my attention, their branches looked like they were pussy willows.

The photo is of lower feeder branches coming out from the tree itself.

Further down the road I saw these above me. More Birch trees, but I don't know exactly what kind.

I know that there are several types of birch, so this shouldn't have surprised me. Of course, I first thought that all birch trees should show their catkins in the same manner. But different varieties, just like different varieties of flowers will appear different.

Each year, I learn a little bit more about trees.

So this Hophornbeam gave me a bit of a brain tease.
My neighbor ID'd it as a Hophornbeam.

He ID'd this tree below as a Hophornbeam also. But they present differently.

So this confused me. But since I am not a botany person, I am going to leave these two trees as Hophornbeams of different varieties?

This tree keeps its leaves but doesn't have the 'chicken foot' winter catkins.

The leaves stick around and only fall off when the buds push them off.

See the tiny bud?

Tiny bud.....  ----->

So the more I 'investigate' these trees, the more questions I come up with.

These trees are grouped under the name of Ironwood Trees and there is apparently several kinds of them.

Hop Hornbeam, Hornbeam, Ironwood, and Musclewood are names given to these trees because of their hard wood. 

Let's not forget that these trees in the summer look like elm trees.

How confusing can that be????

Then there was evidence that the Gooseberry bushes were coming alive in the forest. I have a love hate relationship with these thorny guys. However, their flowers are cute and their berries can be picked and eaten when ripe. 
I've never tried it.

Even the invasive and horrible Multiflora Rose is trying to wake up.

In the shot below there are leaves that had budded out a few weeks ago during an intense warm spell. Those leaves dried up and now I can see new bright red ones peeking out.

The flowers to these bushes are pretty, but man those thorns are tough to get around. 

I may tie a ribbon or something around those two different Hop-Hornbeam trees and see what happens through the year. 

Seems that I enjoy watching some of the least popular trees and bushes there are.

A Word Choice

Just for fun I decided to try that Word Generator for the Word of the Year.

Immerse was the first word that popped up. Epic was the second. Hmm.

I still like....

Explore

But that was my word last year. And I am still Exploring. However, the Nudge word is fun to think about. Did I explore last year? Yes I did, I found so many new wonderful places to see close to home. I explored and found the old abandoned trails at KVR. I explored more in macro photography and of course in toy--story--imaginative photography.

Immerse
or
Epic

Hmmm. I have Epic things happening in my life. Rory, for example! I have new directions happening and interesting discussions for my future life too. [Not going to share any of that at the moment.]

I Immerse myself in play and creating stories. Not novels, just playful imagination. It is a wonderful way to distract from the mundane life of being the Caregiver.

The last word that came up was Devotion. That works too. I am Devoted to taking care of what happens in my little world and those around me.

But all of those words are kind of meh. They don't move me much or even excite me. I decided to look up a list of motivational/inspirational words and read it to see if anything popped out at me.

This word salad works better:

I'll take it.

Surely it is better than:

But there is that word: Mundane
I can sure do Mundane too!

But I think I will stick with the word salad and just be me, creative and mundane at the same time ~~ a sort of exploration in the opposites of what life offers.

I leave you with a mundane but inspirational and beautiful find in the woods:

Life

Is like an old leaf

It has a story to tell

So many aspects

Fall is....

Monday 

Fall seems to always make me feel in a bit of a rush. It makes me breathless and anxious as if I am going to 'miss' out on something. The days grow shorter and I watch the forest carefully. When the leaves begin to fall in earnest I feel more anxious.

So what is up with that? Maybe I wish Fall/Autumn with the leaves and color changes would last much longer. I want it to draw out like Spring draws itself out. Spring teases us bit by bit with little glimpses of things to come.

Fall rushes at us like a freight train.

Some days I want to run about willy nilly to try and capture everything going on. And between meals, regular duties, and daylight, there never seems as though there is enough time.

I did get out and walked around our area. I took Groot along just because this little ornament makes me smile each time I pull him out.

I can't help but find this expression infectious.

I did find fine little fungi. I have waited all year just to see these tiny fungi appear on a log in our forest. The log hosts a few different types of lichen and moss as well as these little guys.

And then there are the Wolf Farts. Well, not their real scientific names, but they are popping up all over. I imagine it is due to the heavy moisture that comes on fall nights.

The Blewits. I don't know, it almost sounds like a made up name for a neighbor that would move in next door and be very annoying.

As you can see, they are not an easy mushroom to spot in the woods. Yes, they are large but colored much like the leaves they are hiding in. True to their description, they are commonly found on a forest path. These were between several oaks and other hardwood trees.

Another interesting note. I tossed the one I brought home out into the pasture and my red mules ate it. 

Perhaps that is why I don't find any in their current pasture!

Here is the leaf press/flower press picture I was working on. Sorry, this is just a crappy shot of it with the glass reflection that doesn't really show how pretty it turned out. 

I took another photo of it on the wall. It really looks nice. Better yet, this was a frame and some paper I already had. So the cost was just my labor in gathering the items and figuring out how to preserve them.

I will probably change it up after I get bored at this layout.

Do you recall my search for the Hazelnut tree? Well when hiking with Aurora I found them!

I have to grab those photos off my aged computer yet.

The trees I thought were Hazelnut near my home? They have confounded me since August.

However!

I have them figured out now.

Today looks like a good day to sort my observations and photos of the few bushes and trees I've been photographing and watching since August.

Don't you just love curiosity?

I like Lichen

The winter doldrums are sometimes hard to shake and after days of being stuck inside, I've been getting out again.

Whew. Yesterday's excursion was just an amble through the woods and valley to see 'stuff'. I wanted to go explore Lichen.
The book I got said it can be found in the winter rather easily. 

I really like this book and could call it Lichen for Dummies. It is separated by where you can find certain Lichen. Trees, ground, rocks, for example.

So I headed out to the woods on snowshoes which was a good choice. 

And I stopped by one of the first trees I saw.

Next, I need to learn how to identify trees much better. I pretty much am clueless unless I have hubby with me. He can glance at a tree and tell you what it is just by looking at the bark and the shape. 

The moss book is much more difficult. I think the writer assumes that the reader already understands all of the biology and taxonomy behind plants. I don't, but I can learn.

I was pretty excited to try something new. 

Foliose Lichen. [Lichen having lobed leaf like shape]

I didn't know that Lichen is not a singular plant. It is composed of two dissimilar organisms. Lichen is a unique form of Fungus and Algae. The two organisms work together. Tree Dwelling Lichens.
There are between 14 thousand and 20 thousand species. So uffdah! I will only look for general ones!

Lichens don't hurt trees. They can grow on the ground and grow on rocks. I can't wait to get back to Black Hawk Rock in the KVR and study all the lichens I've seen there.

Do I know what I am looking at yet? Nope. Just delving into it. 

Tree trunk with a crack in it and lichens of different kinds growing on it. I recognize the 'leaf' pattern of the most common type of lichen. 

White lichen and moss below. Did the lichen 'eat' the moss? Or is this just dried up?
I don't know.

So much to learn!

Cropped for a closer look.

When I got to the creek to search for mosses and more lichen, I got sidetracked.

Guess who? The Robin crowd!

I crept up on them and they flew off. So I squatted down on my snowshoes and waited. The Robins came back and busied themselves along the edges of the creek.

I really think this bunch has wintered here in the valley. 

I realized my hands were getting cold and I'd dropped my mittens somewhere along the way. 

I found the mittens at the second tree I'd stopped to look at. What a duh moment!

But the mitten retrieval took me past an old oak tree that had been blown down about 3 years ago. It was covered in exciting 'stuff'.

I put the mittens in my pocket and pulled out the Oly Tough camera with the super macro mode [this is what I used on the other photos]. I should have taken those shots with the auto focus stack, they would have been clearer. [Live and learn right?]

Cool white black lichen. I can classify it as a Crustose Lichen:

Very odd looking. I just thought it was some sort of slime moldy thing. Did you know that slime mold falls into the fungi category? Nah, me neither, but it does.

Last but not least. I think this is some sort of fungi growing on the lichen. 

They look like creepy little turds or something. They are less than 2cm across so you can have an idea just how small they are.

And for the last of the discoveries.

Unidentified orange 'stuff'.

This was growing in small cracks in the wood. So I may assume it is dead lichen or dead fungi of some sort.

I do love mysteries like this to solve. Tiny things in the woods that we don't even notice because we are always looking for the Big Picture.

I can't wait to get out and find some more curious things.