Wolf Pine @ Fox Park #6: 3/10/17, Theoretical Owls and Real Tree Bark

I hit the trails at 5 am sharp Friday 3/10/17. Nice morning, some cloud cover but a reasonable temperature for prospective chipmunks for jaunt out of the subnivean environment.
The photograph that was here has since disappeared from the web.

This is where I started- within the vicinity of my theoretical big owl. The big murder of crows was there; that is a good start. Being around dawn-ish time however, the raucous birds dispersed within half an hour, perhaps implying my nocturnal friend either fell asleep in a huff or flew away for a less noisy and more welcoming environment (if there even is an environment that welcomes oversized, silent, essentially unrivalled killing machines…?).

I now can see a distinct, GHO-likely trend. The crows are noisy at the time I know owls like to come back to a nice spot to go to bed, thus a time they are most easily bothered; the crow activity is extremely centralized around this stand of large, sheltering pine trees- the crows all seem to circle the trunks of the pines that are growing most close together. GHO’s love pine tree trunks, and rarely will nap far from the center. I have noted the crows are never “bothering” a deciduous tree, where barred owls could be more likely found (than GHO). I heard a few possible “whoos”the first day owling in response to screech owl calls, which is common with the GHOs. I played barred too around then, so I wasn’t sure (the sounds I heard were very muted and did not complete any full call, but were unique owl-ish sounds nonetheless).

Image no longer available — a reminder that digital things are impermanent too. This image didn’t survive the migration from WordPress. Such is the web.

Here we have two common sights: red, “spear-like” Beech buds and the lingering brittle beech leaves. These are everywhere on my way into my sit spot.

The original image, once hosted on WordPress, has been lost to the digital ether. This visual has drifted away with the old WordPress site.

Here we have some white pines. These are the only species of pine I could find around my sit spot…

Image unavailable — it lived on a WordPress server that no longer exists.Paper Birches? -Yes, but they are too easy. Here we have a grey birch (the grey colored one) and a yellow birch (the yellow-tinted one)- both of which are sort of near my wolf pine tree.

What was once an image here is now just a memory of a URL.

The bits that made up this image have scattered to the wind. Gone with the WordPress — this image no longer exists online.

Hemlocks! Look at the “crunchy” bark. These are everywhere…

This image was a casualty of the WordPress migration. Another image lost in the great WordPress decommission.

Red oaks. Look at the deep cracks exhibiting an almost reddish color…

The server that hosted this image has long since gone dark. Digital entropy claimed this image when the WordPress site was retired.

…And some red oak leaves. Pointy, “fire-flame tipped” leaves. They are also reddish, which helps a bit.

This image existed once on WordPress, but the web moves on.**An image was here before the migration. It didn’t make the journey. Lost to the void between WordPress and here.

What could these be? White oaks! These have this random pattern to the nubby bark, and have a “whitish green” lichen or fungus on it more often than not. The tree to the right is the best non-greenish bark I could find.

The original image has not survived the passage of time online.

The obligatory white oak leaf, in with some beech leaves. these do not seem to be nearly as prevalent as the red oak leaves in terms of what is currently still on the ground. This is the only leaf I could find.

This space once held an image. The WordPress CDN has since gone quiet. Image from the original post is no longer available — nothing on the internet is forever.

To conclude, here we have a striped maple and a red maple. I assure you: both maples are well into adulthood! Despite one being green and thin and the other looking old and broken, this is in fact “how they do”. Distinct barks, but also easy with the “opposite” branching pattern (not shown). In addition, the red maples are not only opposite branches but branch in a neon crimson color. This helps I.D. quite a bit.

-Jess

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