Heehaw!
Low temp was 42.3 and high was 50.9 degrees today. At 5:54 pm we have gotten .38″ of rain. Yahoo!
Here is the last of grasslands photos from Feb 23th.
We mostly were walking under a grove of cedars. Several of the fallen cedars were covered in moss.
I got all excited when I first saw this lichen. I was hoping it was Usnea species, but alas it was a Teloschistes exilis. The apothecia is normally easily seen and bright orange and the common name is Goldeye Lichen.
More of the Goldeye Lichen with a foliose lichen.
Only found two of these cardinal feathers. Maybe it got lucky and only lost a couple of feathers.
Almost white Tiny Bluet (Houstonia pusilla).
Not sure what small bird this belonged to, but possibly one of the sparrow species. It was not as dark as it seems in the photo.
Egg case of insect or spider.
Upturned edge on this gilled mushroom was interesting.
Still do not know what this is. It was along a pond edge and in the water.
I’m hope one of you tree experts can ID this tree? So I don’t have to look it up LOL. Feeling lazy 😉
It’s bark was like an alligator.
I believe this is a leaf from it.
Back side of leaf.
Another leaf sample of the front.
Back side.
Close up of the bark. Also the branches were alternate.
Iron oxidizing bacteria coming off the side of bank. I usually see it in the creek bed/water. Maybe a different species I wonder.
A big old Post Oak. Gracie is at the base of it in her orange vest.
Finally I found one near enough to the ground to photograph. Mistletoe (Phoradendron species) was used by ranchers during the severe drought in the 1950’s to help feed their cows.
Opposite branching. Of course all the berries are gone. Birds of many species enjoy them. A healthy forest will have some mistletoe I read once in study that was conducted in Colorado.
This is where the berries were attached.
Close up.
The stem is covered with tiny hairs.
Three Post Oak trees grew together.
And here we met up with one of the locals on a neighboring property. She was quick to come greet and accepted a nose rub.
Her friends was coming as fast as they could to get in on the action.
Heehaw and Gracie greeted each other and us in this video (must go to website to see if you only usually read the email). The first one didn’t like that the others came for the attention and started to nip her friends. Oh and there was a bit of kicking too.
Articles:
White-rot fungi can use carbon captured from lignin as carbon source (Fungi continues to amaze me!)
Yaupon: The rebirth of America’s forgotten tea (Thanks Jim for forwarding this to me!)
Yaupon Holly (This is the species the above article talks about and no I have never tried it.)
Keep looking!
Mistletoe is also the hostplant for the great purple hairstreak butterfly!
Wow, that mystery tree has me puzzled. Maybe we can take a look at it sometime.
Suzanne, I look forward to showing you it. Maybe wait till it puts on its leaves?
Claire, Good to know. Thanks!