Anyway, since my last entry, I spent a morning wandering through the snowdrifts on the beach at Mentor Lagoons, watched birds and admired huge trees at North Chagrin Reservation, and finally got back out to "the farm" for an overdue outing!
While exploring the lagoons, I decided that I am going to start a collection of profile shots of different tree species! This will help me (and others) become more familiar with trees, and help identify them based on bark (even though some experts wouldn't recommend going on just bark, I think it is very possible with many tree species.)
Here's an example: Fagus grandifolia (American Beech)
These trees are easy to identify with their smooth bark and their characteristic shapes and texture. Beeches have a knack for forming cavities which provide many homes and hideaways for wildlife! Beech nuts are also great mast that provide food for many woodland residents such as squirrels and some birds. The saplings are characteristic too, they hold their orange/brown leaves through Winter and often sprout off of root of a larger tree as these ones did.
Besides photographing trees, I made my way out to the beach for a few minutes and it sure was harsh weather out there. Everything was white, the snow was more than knee deep, and the wind was strong and relentless. See this photo for yourself, this isn't quite the Lake Erie that I'm used to...
Later that day, I headed out to the farm with Chia, Dana, and Sheila. "The farm" is a nice piece of property that has been in my family for many generations out in amish country. It is my special sanctuary. Except for when the Amish cause trouble. I won't get into that... Anyway, I told Chia and Dana that we would probably spot a Bald Eagle on the way there, and sure enough, we did. Just had to say. It was my 11th Eagle in under 2 weeks. We also spotted #12 on the way home.
We took a nice little walk through the woods once we got there. back at the cabin, we got a fire started, got din din started, and kicked back. I also kicked back a bottle of MD 20/20 - "Orange Jubilee" for old times sake hahahaha. It's not all that bad. On a trip outside to go get more wood, I looked up to a MONSTER moonbow! It was the biggest one I've seen! It engulfed Orion. Chia came stumbling outside, dropped to his knees and cried out " WHAT DOES IT MEAN???!" Hahaha, sorry Chia, I'm not sure exactly, but I know that the 4 stars inside the circle have something to do with it...
Marc and Brit met us out there and we went on another hike in the morning. We walked though some of the wet lowland areas back in the woods. These soggy areas are filled with Yellow Birch, Musclewood (Carpinus), and Ironwood (Ostrya). I can just see the skunk cabbage popping up as soon as the snow melts. We saw evidence of plenty of fox activity. I'm glad considering the amish try to hunt and trap every last one of them out there, even the kits : ( We also saw plenty of turkey tracks along the creek in Cerulean Gorge.
Yellow Birch
Overall it was a great weekend. I'm sick of typing, so I will let the photos do the rest of the talking to explain what we saw!!
Mentor Lagoons
Cerulean Gorge in Mesopotamia, OH
No comments:
Post a Comment