We did not stay long in the creek bottom as I needed to head back to the house. Surely when time allows, we will head back to further explore the area.
Eastern Red Cedar berries looked ripe. Before long, a robin or perhaps a Cedar Waxwing will be along to have a meal. I have not seen either bird as of late.
A stand of Soapberry trees with Coralberries and the fall leaves still hanging onto the oaks!
The red Coralberry was thick with berries in the open meadow. Hopefully, the Snowberry Clearwing caterpillar had a good year as this is its host plant. The seed heads are a kind of an Asteraceae plant.
We found a few Camphor Daisies (Heterotheca) still holding on even though there has been several frosts now.
Even the dead heads have a quiet beauty!
A clump of Splitbeard Bluestem!
A few butterflies can still be found like this Checkered Skipper! In fact, several different species can be found flying all winter here.
Fall Witchgrass (Digitaria cognata) has lots of hairs. And the hairs stand out in the sunshine!
Tear drop shaped fungus was kinda weird.
Turned on its side, the photo looks almost like a script. What alphabet? A wood boring beetle’s!
Finally the last photo of the outing! A Honey Locust (Gleditsia triacanthos)! Even though they can take over, the Honey Locust supports many critters such as grazing animals, rabbits, and squirrels who eat their seeds. In addition, I have found several species of caterpillars that utilities the tree for a host plant. One such species is the Silver-spotted Skipper. Also according to the flora, Native Americans ate the young pods and used the thorns for fishing-spear tips as well.
Beetle script is cool. I can see those thorns being used on spears. Wicked. I wonder why that organism being eaten, trees, isnt all fenced in. Sad.