Found the head waters!
Today, we went back to find the head waters of this unnamed creek we had been exploring for the last few weeks. You know, the same one in “up a creek” post, but ran out of time to continue that day. Success today!
Barely got going and came across several of these beautiful Lecanora species of lichen. Some lichens are called crustose because the lichen looks like a crust or sometimes looks like paint on a substrate.
At the time we came across this dry hole in a ditch, we thought we were on the main branch of the creek. We were not, as we would later find out.
This was the first pool of water we came up on and it was not in the main creek bed.
Looking up a 30 foot embankment!
Geometric spider web
Wood pattern in dead wood created by a fungus.
This is underside where the bark had peeled off.
Titmouse feather found along the trail. We had Carolina Chickadees scolding, heard flickers calling, saw a Red-tailed Hawk, a Red-shouldered Hawk, an American Kestrel, a Turkey Vultures, and I saw a Pileated Woodpecker fly across 730 on the way to the grasslands.
We always found trash, but this was an interesting wooden stirrup. I found that they still sell them. It is called an overshoe roper stirrup. A similar one can be had on Amazon if you need one, but they only come in pairs. LOL
Graffiti being swallowed up by a crustose lichen. It looked like it was a 1990’s graffiti. It was hard to say what the last digit was.
Raccoon track in creek bed.
Ebony Spleenwort (Asplanium platyneuron).
We saw four different kinds of ferns today; the Ebony Spleenwort, Purple Cliff Brake, Southern Shield Fern and the Maidenhair Fern.
Cool shaped rock. I thought is looked like a mitten or maybe a shark.
Crawdad claw in the water. Wonder what the story was?
This was the last pool of water in the creek bed so I guess this was technically the head waters of the creek.
More cool crustose lichens on the rock.
Closeup
Someone’s acorn meal may have been interrupted?.
Daddy-long-legs (Leiobunum vittatum) with a stripe on its abdomen! A new one for me.
Anticlimactic to the creek bed. There was no water in the creek bed at this point. But we had reached my goal of finding the beginning of the creek.
The lichen is blue?? Or just growing on something blue? Great day it looks like
The lichen is pretty close to that color. Kinda of blue mint green I would describe it. That particular one had more blue hue to it.