A beautiful sunny day led me to the grasslands on the 13th. And I only required a couple layers of light clothing. Unlike today with wind gusts of 31 mph and the high of 44 degrees. Indeed, brrrrr!
I love to see the old snags. When I see one, I wonder about the stories it could tell. But furthermore, I wonder what lives it will support as it decays.
A large hairy shelf fungus. A lot of the larger shelf fungi seem to favor the dead wood. My wild guess for its ID would be in the genus Trametes. The more familiar Turkey-tails (Trametes versicolor) are in that genus as well.
A side view its shaggy top exterior.
A peek on the underside reveals that it was a polypore type.
Only one hull remained on a small pecan.
Buds!
A Weissia moss was producing its sporophytes! The sporophytes is part with the capsules and spore production. The leaf on the right was a Woodsia fern.
Thalloid liverworts are often in the company of mosses. They don’t have stems, leaves or roots. Rhizoids are their anchors to the substrate. Additionally, rhizoids do not take absorb water or nutrients like roots of a plant. The little green things that resembles a green cauliflower are the gemma cups. Gemma cups are the asexual form of the propagule. Rain assists in the dispersal of the gemma.
Certainly the hole at the base was sure to provide a home or shelter for someone. I looked and no one was there this time. However, once in a blue moon I do get lucky. And find bright eyes starring back at me from a hole, just not that day. 🙁
That first photo of the dead tree and the surroundings look just here. We have more dead trees than live trees so this is a common sight. Like almost every tree outside my back window.
We do have Ladderback and Golden fronted WP’s. But more often I find they make holes in living branches. We had a Ladderback raise young in a hole it made in the trunk of a peach tree once. And a hole that was probably made by a WP in one of the pecans became a nesting hole for Titmice in multiple years. We have a live mesquite down at the barn that a WP made a hole in but have not seen anything use it in the years I have watched it. Did you tell us the male would make several holes and the female would choose which one she liked?
Interesting about the live trees. What I found was the RBWO were the ones that preferred dry or dead wood. They will make several holes, but it didn’t say if female was choosing among them, only that she finished the cavity for the nursery Because they build some holes for roosting, it didn’t say if a choice was made among the holes. 🤷🏻♀️. Bericks wren males do build several nests for the female to choose from.
The last snag looks especially interesting. Bet lots of critters call it home. Cool
👍🏼😊
That first photo of the dead tree and the surroundings look just here. We have more dead trees than live trees so this is a common sight. Like almost every tree outside my back window.
Do you got woodpeckers eyeing them for future homes?
We do have Ladderback and Golden fronted WP’s. But more often I find they make holes in living branches. We had a Ladderback raise young in a hole it made in the trunk of a peach tree once. And a hole that was probably made by a WP in one of the pecans became a nesting hole for Titmice in multiple years. We have a live mesquite down at the barn that a WP made a hole in but have not seen anything use it in the years I have watched it. Did you tell us the male would make several holes and the female would choose which one she liked?
Interesting about the live trees. What I found was the RBWO were the ones that preferred dry or dead wood. They will make several holes, but it didn’t say if female was choosing among them, only that she finished the cavity for the nursery Because they build some holes for roosting, it didn’t say if a choice was made among the holes. 🤷🏻♀️. Bericks wren males do build several nests for the female to choose from.
A beautiful day!!
Love the video – the erodium they mention looks like Texas winter grass/ spearheads seeds!
Thanks for saying the grass. I couldn’t remember the name. 🤷🏻♀️