The full moon was setting over Half Moon Pond in Hancock early one morning so I took a photo of it with my cell phone. The muted pastel colors were beautiful I thought, but the cell phone’s camera overexposed the moon. Its gray cratered surface was much more visible than is seen here. A lone ice fisherman’s hut stood on the ice, even though thin ice warnings have been repeated time and again this winter.
This is the time of year that I start wondering about bud growth and what the trees are doing. I saw some red elderberry buds (Sambucus racemosa) recently that were quite a beautiful sight on a winter day. Though they didn’t have as much purple on the scales as I’ve seen in the past they reminded me of spring.
One reason I’m interested in what buds are doing so early is due to my seeing a photo captioned “The Weird Season” in the local newspaper. It showed two tree tappers tapping trees in a sugar bush, and they said that the sap is running because December was so warm. Though the photo was recent last week we didn’t see 32 degrees or above for a single day, so I doubt the sap ran for long. I suppose though when you have 6000 trees to tap you’re anxious to get started. The above photo shows how tapping is done these days; with a plastic tube running from tree to tree and then to a collection tank or the sugar shack. A vacuum pump helps gravity make sure the sap flows as it should. It’s quicker and easier for the syrup makers and is also more sanitary but I prefer seeing the old steel buckets hanging on the trees.
There are insects that can make a perfectly round hole in a tree but the above photo shows a tap hole in a maple, drilled last year. It’s about a half inch in diameter and the tree is most likely working to heal it.
The hips of the Alberta wild rose (Rosa acicularis) and the soft downy-rose (Rosa mollis) are the only ones I’ve heard of that have prickles. I’ve never seen them on rugosa rose hips. I’m not sure which these are but the birds haven’t touched a single one of them.
I took a walk along Beaver Brook in Keene to see if there were any ice formations. There were and they had grown quickly. From the water to the top of the ice was about 3 feet, I’d guess, so this would not be a good hole to fall into.
It’s amazing to think that a river or stream can stop itself with ice. Beaver Brook wasn’t dammed up but I could see how it might easily happen. Last year the brook had so much ice on it that hardly a trickle of water could be heard in places where it is usually quite noticeable. It was if it had frozen solid, right down to its gravel bed.
For the third time this winter I’ve found very long, sharply pointed ice crystals. Temperature and humidity are said to determine the forms that crystals take but I don’t know why the temperature and humidity this winter would be telling the ice to grow so long and pointed. Humidity seems low but the temperature is 4 degrees above average for the month. This makes 3 months in a row with temperatures above average, and maybe it’s having an effect on the ice. Lake, pond and river ice all seem normal.
While I was at the brook I saw a yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis) with a healed frost crack. Frost cracks happen when the sun warms the tree during the day and the temperature drops quickly at night. If you’re in or near the woods at night in winter you can often hear the trees splitting and cracking, and sometimes it’s as loud as a rifle shot. Frost cracks can heal in the summer when the tree produces a new layer of inner bark to heal the wound but then can crack again in winter. When this repeated healing and cracking happens over the course of a few years the buildup of new tissue can create a frost rib like that seen in the photo.
When it gets cold dark purple, almost black spots appear on the bark of some trees. They are really there all the time but are kind of a reddish color and not quite so noticeable at other times of year when there are so many other things to see. Those who think they’ve never seen a liverwort might want to stop and take a closer look at these dark blotches because they are Frullania liverworts, one of the few liverworts that can thrive in dry places.
There are about 800 species of Frullania liverworts and many grow as epiphytes on the bark of trees and shrubs where the humidity is high. Epiphytic plants take nothing from the host plants they grow on, so this liverwort does no harm to trees. It can look very lacy and fern like at times. Sometimes it reminds me of the beautiful fan corals found on distant coral reefs, as the above example does.
The very small leaves of the Frullania liverwort were strung together like beads. Some Frullania liverworts are said to be very fragrant so I’ll have to smell some and see.
This crabapple tree was encrusted with fringed candle flame lichen (Candelaria fibrosa.) This lichen seems to be trying to tell me that certain lichens prefer certain trees. So far I’ve seen it only on crabapple trees.
Fringed candle flame lichen is extremely small and looks like a tiny pile of scrambled eggs as you get closer. From a distance it can look like a yellow powder on the tree’s bark.
It seems that script lichen is another lichen that produces spores in winter; at least that’s when I see their squiggly spore bearing bodies (Apothecia) appear.
A close look shows that the apothecia sit on the grayish body (Thallus) of this lichen, making them look as if they were beautifully painted on rather than etched into the surface. I think this example is the common script lichen (Graphis scripta.) There is another script lichen called the asterisk lichen (Arthonia radiata) that I’ve always wanted to see. It has apothecia that look just like asterisks.
Someone found a water lily leaf in the river and put it on a stone as if it were a beautiful sculpture on a plinth. I loved it for its veins and its rich red-brown color and its missing pieces, and I left it not knowing or caring how long I’d sat beside it. Where does the time go?
Go to the winter woods: listen there; look, watch, and ‘the dead months’ will give you a subtler secret than any you have yet found in the forest. ~ Fiona Macleod
Thanks for stopping in.
When I first saw the third photograph my mind instantly wondered what the coconut was doing there. Pretty soon though my common sense got up to speed. I can still see a coconut though. 🙂
I didn’t see it until you mentioned it. It does look like a coconut half!
Once again the poet’s eye perhaps.
Thank you Ben. I’ve written some very bad poetry in the past but calling myself a poet would be stretching it a bit, I think.
An attempt at explaining why I saw the coconut. 🙂
You certainly found plenty to see. We have hardly had ice here at all this winter but it has got colder. Even so it seems like a non winter.
Winter hasn’t been very winter like here either but the warm sunshine melted what little snow we had and then it all turned to ice, so it’s treacherous in places.
I’ve seen frost ribs and never knew what they were or how they got there! Wonderful shots…the moon over Half Moon Pond is stunning!!
Thanks Martha. I see a few frost ribs in just about every forest I visit, so they aren’t rare. I think it’s another of those things that a lot of us miss.
Those liverworts are wonderful. The script liverwort looks like the script might move between visits, being in the process of arranging itself!
Thank you. Yes, the script lichen looks more insect than plant sometimes!
This is so funny, I just wrote a comment on your last post and one of the sentences was “Oh, the things that I have seen”!. I am not sure if it went trough. I am almost done reading a book about lichens and ‘suddenly’ they appeared everywhere! Yesterday I went out to hunt them on graveyards, old churches, walls, rocks and bricks. The beauties that I saw. Thanks for sharing all that beauty.
Yes, it came through just fine. Isn’t it amazing to think that we’ve walked outside for so long and haven’t seen the lichens and other beautiful things that were right there in front of us all along? I’m so glad that you’re seeing them now!
I’ve seen frost ribs on trees before, but I never knew what caused the ribs to form, thanks for that information. I should say that about your entire post, because overtime you do one of these, I learn new things. I also vow to go looking for some of the things that you see, but I’m easily distracted by the call of a bird, seeing a squirrel’s tail twitch, or finding an insect where it shouldn’t be. I need to slow down, but I’m one of those that’s always wondering what’s around the next bend or over the next hill, even if they are in places I’ve been before.
Thanks Jerry! I also wonder what is around the next bend and I’ve found a lot of interesting things by going to find out. I don’t think it matters what we find in nature because it’s sure to be beautiful and fascinating, and if we’re lucky it’ll be something we’ve never seen.
Fascinating about the frost cracks on the trees. I will have to watch for them!
Thanks Montucky! They’re usually on the sunny side of a tree. I see a few of them along trail edges.
Thanks for another wonder-filled amble. 🙂
You’re welcome, and thank you Eliza.
I enjoyed all the pictures, especially the ice ones. We have had very little ice this winter.
Thank you. You’re lucky. The sun has melted the top layer of snow each day and at night it re-freezes, so there is ice everywhere right now. It’s hard to walk on.
We’ve only had one snow storm and it was maybe 10 inches at the most.
We’ve had two or three snowstorms but each one dropped only an inch or two. Now most of it has turned to ice.
I don’t know that I’d feel safe in a fisherman’s hut if there had been thin ice warnings. The huts must weigh quite a bit and the atmosphere in the huts must get fairly warm which must affect the ice. I love all the shots of the lichens and the liverwort too.
Thank you Clare. Yes, all of that is true about ice fishing. This person really shouldn’t have been out there. There were large puddles on the ice the next day and the sun was shining brightly, so they finally towed it back to shore. We have a lot of very frustrated ice fisherman here this year. Even the big ice fishing derby had to be postponed because there was no ice on the lake.
So disappointing for people to have to cancel something they’ve been looking forward to all year. This strange weather has been causing a lot of problems.
Yes, on both sides of the Atlantic. Warmth in winter comes with a price.
Script lichen surely deserves its name. Looks like some ancient form of written language. And those buds look so plump, it’s almost as if they think it’s spring. Hmmm…..
Yes, and that’s exactly how script lichen got its name. There are many other variations, but they all resemble some form of writing.
There will be more coming up about buds soon. Some really do think it’s spring!
Those ice crystals are remarkable.
I thought so too. They were about 5 inches long.
I enjoyed the “dead months” when hiking, because I could see through the woods, see beyond the trail to where those other secrets were hidden by the thick foliage during the other seasons…
Nice post, Allen…I didn’t know the freeze-cracked trees survived…it’s amazing how Nature heals those wounds and allows the trees to keep living.
Thank you Scott. I like being able to see a long way into the woods too. It’s amazing what you can find!
Yes, trees can bounce back from some serious damage and still survive. I’m always surprised to see them thriving even when they’re hollow.
The setting moon, the snow, the ice and the patterns nature makes so easily all delighted me in this post, thank you so much.
You’re welcome Susan, and thank you.
The lichens and liverworts are fascinating and can be beautiful, especially the Frullania liverwort. I’ve also been watching the buds on the elderberry.
I agree, lichens and liverworts are some of the most beautiful and fascinating things you can find in the forest.
I’ll have to find a common elderberry (Sambucus canadensis) and look at its buds. I wonder if they look anything like those on the red elderberry (Sambucus racemosa.)
Love the close-ups of the Frunilla liverwort. I always enjoy the randomness of your ‘Things I’ve Seen’ posts.
Thank you Judy. These posts are random because they’re made up of all the things I saw that wouldn’t fit into other posts or things that I couldn’t identify right away. I’m glad you like them because they are often the hardest of all to do. Sometimes they take a lot of researching.
I’m heading out to see if I can find some script lichen and I’ll be sniffing any liverworts I might find, too. You are turning your readers into a bunch of neighborhood eccentrics–nose down to investigate rotting logs, close-up photographs of bark, and now sniffing!
I also miss the old sap buckets. Plastic lines strung through the maple bush are downright ugly. But I love the syrup.
I hope you found some script lichens and fragrant liverworts. Chances are the script lichens were easier to find.
I also hope that readers of this blog will get out there and sniff liverworts and roll logs over and see all the beauty that nature has to offer. When I started noticing the smaller things in nature I realized how much I had been missing. There’s no need for you to miss it too!
I suppose we’ll all have to get used to the plastic tubing. I think it’s probably here to stay.
As always, a fantastic post! Really like the close-up of the script lichen, and that you enjoyed yourself sitting beside the water lily leaf. I have spent lots of time like that in the woods.
Thank you Paula. Look for whitish gray blotches on smooth tree trunks to find the script lichens. You need to get quite close to see their apothecia. A macro or hand lens helps.
Isn’t it amazing how something so seemingly insignificant can suddenly absorb you enough to make you lose all sense of time?
Yes, it is amazing, and reminds me of this quote:
Flow with whatever may happen, and let your mind be free. Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate.
~ Chuang Tzu
Thank you, that’s one I’ve never heard. I like the idea of my mind being free, but this ultimate he speaks of is very hard to put into words.
I enjoyed this interesting collection. You are a keen observer of the fine details in nature. I especially liked the script lichen. I don’t think I’ve seen one like that on my walks yet.
Thank you Jane, I like to look at the smaller things along trails as well as the big picture that everyone sees.
To find script lichens I just look for grayish or whitish blotches on the trunks of trees. As you get closer to them you begin to see the darker squiggles that are the apothecia. I see them on maples quite often.
I love your “things I’ve seen” posts. I think your rose might be a swamp rose, Rosa palustris, if it was growing in a damp area. Here is one I took that looks very similar: https://www.flickr.com/photos/120540152@N04/15722134694/in/photolist-DiSq5k-CFaz9s-AZFJ6K-BuHoZJ-z9ERNZ-yua3bL-xYrw4h-xYA7rZ-yBU62P-xESB1u-rNUSYD-rmvv6h-rsXQ3i-rsYW2w-r5DNRr-reegWm-qdtktp-pXj3TQ-qSaFnc-qqJrXv-qETCaQ-qv7t17-q88w24-q7Hg84-psas4Q-q5NW93-qkYeTz-pWrCEJ-pfUyFT-qcB57w-paJMnL-pJow96-pGPRoE-pPhouc-oTK2xP-p9aAxU-oTHkgQ-oM9ULW
By the way, now I’m going to get even more eccentric on my walks, stopping to sniff liverworts on trees and find out if they are fragrant! Guaranteed someone will walk by just as I’m doing it, too.
Thank you Sara. This rose grows high and dry but it is near a stream so you could be right. I keep telling myself that I’ll pay more attention when it’s blooming but of course I forget every year.
Don’t worry about people seeing you sniffing trees. That’ll get them interested in nature for sure!
All great finds. I like watching how the ice forms on rivers and streams. I’ve seen some really neat formations. I agree with you, I miss the old metal buckets but I also understand making use of the technology available.
Thanks Laura. There hasn’t been much ice to see in the rivers and streams this year but it’s getting real icy on the trails.
Yes, syrup production is a business after all, so I don’t blame them for wanting to make things easier.