Sycamore bark

Sycamore bark:

Trees in the river

These trees grow on land, except in March when the rain comes and the snow melts, the river comes up and surrounds them.

This tree is between snow and water:

Spring continues to emerge

Stephen said the red maples would be coming out, so I looked on the way home from work, and they do seem to have a little bit of something opening up.  I'll try to get a closer look tomorrow.  There was also one on the other side of the street opening up, but I'm not sure what kind it is, maybe ash or Norway maple.  If I bring my notebook next time, maybe I can find out, since I have notes about what trees are on that stretch of road.

Spring comes to the silver maples

My brother Stephen alerted me to the fact that this is the time of year to check the silver maples.  This time last year, I did not know what a silver  maple was, but now I do, and I knew exactly where to go to see silver maples.

I saw the blooming when I looked Thursday, March 10, but there was too much snow to get close to them.  I took the photos Friday, March 11, when a lot of the snow had melted.

More photos from last week's trip to Peebles Island

This is my fourth and last post about last Sunday's trip to Peebles Island.  The previous posts covered my observations.  Now, these photos are mainly just for their beauty.

Near the start of the trail:

This tree near the start of the trail looks braided.

Two close-ups of the braided tree:  one of the braided part, and one of an outstretched branch:

By the river:

The sky is so blue today.

The brown leaves indicate that this tree is an oak.

Most of the trees here are young and small, but there are a few larger, older ones. I believe they are oaks too. (I have read that the brown leaves are more common on younger oaks.)

Trees adorned by nests and mushrooms

Reading A Guide to Nature in Winter has caused me to be more aware of nests and mushrooms on trees.  I saw mushrooms once, and nests several times.  It is hard to get a closer look, what with the trees being so much taller than I am.  Also, the snow was deep and I had no snowshoes, so it was hard to walk anywhere other than the path, which was packed enough that I could stay on top of the snow.  Thus I did not walk closer to trees that were not immediately adjacent to the path.  I do have binoculars, but I haven't really gotten the knack of finding the thing I'm looking for when I look through them.

Reading A Guide to Nature in Winter also enhanced my awareness of the snow.  There is a section on snow crystals, and a section on animal tracks.  I saw tracks that suggested two deer may have crossed the path.  I also saw some interesting patterns in the snow:

Wet tree trunks

A number of the trees that I saw last Sunday at Peebles Island had wet trunks.  My theory is that it is that it had to do with the warmth causing the snow to melt and slide off the trees.  I noticed this particularly in the area that was near the river.  It was more noticeable in person than it is in this photo.