Oh goodness, might of or should have worn my long johns on this morning walk. It was not freezing at 34, but with the wind it felt a bit cold. Now back to yesterday’s warm outing.
Maybe by now you recognize this as Bobwhite scat and not a twisted open very tiny Oreo cookie. In fact yesterday I found several places where Mr. Bobwhite left behind his cookies.
The RX burn at this unit left behind interesting remnants like this heart.
Indeed a beautiful down feather! There are three types of down feathers; natal down (baby feathers), powder down (found only in a few species) and body down fluffy feathers that lie underneath the outer feathers. This is most certainly body down.
So it was easier to push my way into this area. And I found more Bobwhite scat!
A black charcoaled log.
Here you can see some of the trees that were cut down before the burn.
Trees along the edge of the pond were charred. Not sure if some of those survived or not.
Many cedars were cut in the wooded area.
Out in the field more cedars were cut. However, you can see it is a constant battle to keep the cedars to a manageable amount. However cedars are important to the whole ecosystem for example as winter food for robins and waxwings. Also several breeding birds utilize it for nesting and roosting. And the beautiful Juniper Hairstreak butterfly uses the cedar as a host plant. And that is just some of the things I know about.
Life springs back after the RX burn with more room to grow!
I’m delighted to hear you’ve seen evidence of bobwhites.
It was pleasing to see several locations in one area!
Cedar management is a difficult balancing act for sure.
I like how you said that…thank you😊
So like the photo of all those burnt and crowded small trees – Sumac?
That’s what I thought too…Sumac.
Never heard of powder down so I looked that up. Always something new to me in your posts.
Always something to learn eh. And I had never heard of it either. But I’m sure I have seen some.
Great they are able to do burns regularly!
Tis good!