Fuzzy staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina) berries look much different after it rains.
This is what staghorn sumac berries look like when they’re dry.
I didn’t think I’d ever see a rolling stone, but this one rolled down a small hill right in front of me. Gravity, sunlight, and ground frost at work.
I learned a long time ago that when you see wood chips all over the ground at the base of a tree it can only mean one thing-a pileated woodpecker has been at work.
Sure enough he / she had drilled these white pines (Pinus strobus) full of holes. Pileated woodpeckers usually drill into trees that are already sick and are often hollow. Their holes are always rectangular with the long axis vertical, and with rounded corners. This tree isn’t long for this world but while it stands owls, ducks, bats, and other birds will live in these holes.
This pussy willow (Salix) seemed to be a bit of an over achiever, with its furry, silvery buds showing in December.
When I was a boy my friends and I used to spend quite a lot of time throwing things at each other. Snowballs, crabapples, dirt clods, acorns-anything that wouldn’t inflict serious damage-were used as ammunition. One favorite source of ammo was wild cucumber vines (Echinocystis lobata.) The fruit has terrible looking spines that are actually soft and harmless until they dry like those in the photo. In this stage the spines are quite prickly, but since they’ve dried out and dropped their seeds they have little weight and that means they are worthless for throwing. Probably a good thing.
The pebbly texture and trumpet shape point to the mealy pixie cup lichen (Cladonia chlorophaea.) Though these lichens resemble golf tees they aren’t even one tenth the size.
Birds don’t seem to be eating the berries of the invasive burning bush (Euonymus alatus) this year and that’s a good thing, because this shrub doesn’t need any help in its mission to take over the understory. Since its introduction from Asia as an ornamental in 1860, Winged euonymus has spread as far south as the gulf coast, north into Canada, and as far west as Illinois.
A bird went to great lengths to get at the goldenrod gall fly larva (Eurosta solidaginis) that was growing inside of this goldenrod gall. Both downy woodpeckers and chickadees have been seen pecking at these galls but there are other predators after the gall fly larva as well. The galls form thick walls to discourage the parasitic Eurytoma gigantean wasp from laying her eggs in the gall chamber. If the wasp is successful when her eggs hatch the wasp larva quickly eat the gall fly larva.
The Engraver Beetle (Ips calligraphus) is called the calligrapher beetle because the damage it causes under the bark of pine trees looks like some form of ancient text. These beetles usually attack weak or dying trees but they can also kill healthy trees by girdling them. Adults bore small holes in the bark and lay eggs in a cavity. Once the larvae emerge from the eggs they make tunnels in the inner bark. Once they stop feeding they will pupate at the end of these tunnels. The pupae then become young adults and fly off to find another tree. These beetles carry spores of a bluestain fungus (Ceratocystis ips) which can grow on the outer sapwood and stop the upward flow of water to the crown.
How did it get so late so soon? It’s night before its afternoon. December is here before it’s June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon? ~ Dr. Seuss
Thanks for coming by.
I remember seeing many similar beetle boring patterns in dead trees as a lad. I later found out they were caused by the non-native elm bark beetle and the reason I saw so many was they were spreading the fungal Dutch elm disease that was killing off our elm trees by the thousand. As I got older, I saw far fewer; the elm trees were mostly all dead!
I hope your engraver beetles and the bluestain fungus are native so that your trees have some resistance at least.
I think they are native Jim. I also remember the Dutch elm disease. The town I grew up in was known as the Elm City, but now you have a hard time finding many elms here.
I always love your photos and information…Have a great new year.
Thank you Charlie. Same to you!
The fuzzy sumac looks like a warm winter coat! And the pussy willow, well, that’s just nuts!
I can’t imagine why that pussy willow was so early, but I think it’s probably going to pay for the mistake-it’s supposed to hit 5 below tonight.
I saw on the news that cold weather was heading your way. It passed just to the north of us. We’ve having freezing rain tonight. I’d rather have the cold!
I agree. There’s nothing worse than freezing rain. I hope your power stayed on.
I must go see if the Willows look like that near me I need any reassurance spring is coming 🙂 Stay safe in the storm coming and Happy New Year! Fireworks at Hampton Beach New Years Eve 🙂
It sounds like it’s going to be a little chilly on Hampton Beach this year. The weather men are starting to sound like the next storm might fizzle out. That’s what I’m hoping anyway.
you and me both! Can you imagine the ones who take a dip in the cold Atlantic man I am tough but I have limits after all 🙂
You wouldn’t catch me taking a dip in the Atlantic in January unless I lived a lot further south than this!
🙂 I am with you and then there would be big sharks waiting for us 🙂
Lots of interesting stuff, as usual. I’ve always wished we had pileated woodpeckers, now I’m not so sure! The markings left by the engraver beetle are really wonderful.
Thanks! No, I wouldn’t want a pileated woodpecker in my yard, but I wouldn’t mind seeing more of them off in the woods. I watched one land on a large white pine in my yard one day but apparently the tree wasn’t up to snuff, because he flew away without a peck.
I really love the lichen photo. They do seem like pixie cups! It’s like something out of a fairly tale. 🙂 Have you thought of digging up the euonymous or at least chopping them down before they set seed? They’re invasive here, too.
Thanks! I think we’d need an army several thousand strong to tackle all the winged euonymus in this area. It has spread throughout the forests and, since we have 4.8 million acres of forest, I think it’s here to stay.
please correct shinning to shining..
Shame on me…
That’s okay-we all do it!
So much magic, so many gifts, so little time..
Thank you for shinning light on the joy of stewardship…
Thank you, I’m glad that I’m able to do so.
I always wondered what caused those cut in patterns. Now I know an engraver beetle. Last winter I photographed from under a Pileated Woodpecker working on the bottom side of a branch. I was amazed at how much wood chips flew as it worked. Never thought to look for the evidence on the ground. Good work as always and thanks for sharing.
Thanks Grampy! There are other bark beetles that also cut grooves in the inner bark but these grooves looked more like writing than others
I’ve seen.
I seldom see pileated woodpeckers but I see plenty of wood chips all over the forest. These are busy, hungry birds!
Your pictures of staghorn sumac are most interesting. They teach us how to look at things. I have one just next to the door and have never noticed how different the berries look in the rain.
I have seen the work of the engraver beetles while stacking firewood, but did not know which insect did it.
A very useful post.
Thank you. After I saw the rained on berries I looked everywhere for dry ones but in the end I had to use a photo from months ago to illustrate the difference.
The engraver beetle excavations are real interesting and look quite different from the long, straight grooves I usually find.
The Cladonia chlorophaea picture was my favourite. These things are not easy to capture.
I agree. You need good knees for that kind of photography.
Great post and AWESOME photos!
Thanks!
Such lovely interesting pictures, if I had a better memory I could learn a lot reading your blog.
Thank you Susan. I know what you mean. Some of it has seeped in over the years but I still spend a considerable amout of time looking things up.
And now I’ve seen them too. Thanks
Thank you.
Sorry, it’s sunny, the forecast high for today is 43 degrees, and I have a new macro lens that I want to play with, so I can only say awesome photos right now!
Thanks Jerry. It sounds like everything came together perfectly for you today. I can’t wait to see what that new macro lens does!
Those last two photos are fantastic. Hard to believe beetles made the markings, they look like cave drawings!
Thanks Martha. That’s why I keep going out there-you never know what you’re going to see!
The designs of the Engraver Beetle are amazing–they remind me of Egyptian hieroglyphics!
That’s what I thought too-like ancient script.
Cool pictures, there are a lot of cool things in the woods if you look for them.
The Pileated Woodpecker can really so some damage! We have a pair that live around our home and they had babies during the summer months. I tried forever to get pictures of them and finally got one picture back in the summer. 🙂
Thanks Michael. I know what you mean about those woodpeckers-I’ve seen them cut rotten trees right in half. I tried for close to an hour one day to get a shot of one and never did get a good one, so you’re lucky to have that one you got. They’re smart birds!
Glad you are still finding great things to blog about despite the cold and snow. The patterns left by the beetles are really neat.
it’s slow going out there but there is still plenty to see!
Beautiful photo of the mealy pixie cup lichen!
Thanks! Those you usually have to hug the ground to get shots of, as I’m sure you know.
I love the staghorn sumac. Our neighbours used to have one and it was lovely in the autumn, such a shame they cut it down but I think it was fairly invasive, putting up suckers everywhere. The new growth in spring is so velvety I want to stroke it. Our Kilmarnock willow has little furry catkin buds too, it must be the mild winter making it think it’s spring already
Yes, staghorn sumac is very invasive and it is a weak, short lived tree but I agree that it’s color can’t be matched in the fall. I’m not sure what is making willow buds show so early, but it can’t be mild winter here. We’ve had some mighty cold temperatures.