It was a chilly January 24th, but Jeanne had brought along some handwarmer packets. So it wasn’t bad at all.
Starting out in the bottomland looked promising. I had not been here before and was hoping to find good stuff. 😉
Before we had gone far, a cow skull laid in our path.
Grapevines were in a tangle!
Shark! Well, that’s what I thought when I saw the cow bone. LOL.
A dead branch. A Muppet character at the end?
This dead upright barkless tree had interesting marks.
The marks looked like some animal had made a lot of them. However, the marks were on all sides. Jeanne suggested maybe other branches had rubbed against it. The boring beetles made the holes.
We did not see or hear any woodpeckers that day. But here was evidence that they had been there in the past.
Squirrels were not seen either. However, horse apple evidence shows that they had been here recently.
The woods were filled with the Bois D’arc (Maclura pomifera).
The bark was and is pretty neat!
The white on the Hackberry is a white crustose lichen.
Love the bois d arc bark. And roots. The wood when cut is beautiful and will quickly dull a saw. Glad you saw lots.
Bois D’arc makes beautiful woodturnings. The wood actually has a glow to it when first polished.
It has a golden glow. It is indeed beautiful and makes beautiful furniture too
Just now coming across your blog, can’t believe I haven’t see it before. Love the trip through the bottomlands, one of my favorite habitats to haunt!
The bottomlands are special for sure. And welcome! Glad to have another nature nerd👏🏻😊