Bears, Bud Break, and Bird’s Nests

April is being as changeable as March was and we’ve seen more April showers than April sun. I was driving home from work one day and saw this strange sky that was half cloudy and half blue and sunny, as if it couldn’t make up its mind. The clouds finally won out that day and it rained.

Deep in the woods where the sun doesn’t reach, you can still find ice and snow.

But the ice and snow is melting fast now in most areas and that coupled with rain has prompted the usual spring flood warnings. The flooding seems to worsen every year; this stream appeared out of nowhere and ran where I’ve never seen a stream run before.

Moles told me that the ground had thawed.

And thawed ground gets the earth growing again, as these American white ash (Fraxinus americana) buds show. They appear before the leaves and can sometimes be colorful and sometimes black as blackberries. The Wabanaki Indian tribes made their baskets from ash. Some tribes believed ash was poisonous to rattlesnakes and used ash canes to chase them away.

Some of the most beautiful things that happen in a northeastern forest are starting to happen now, and I hope everyone living in the area will have a chance to witness them. Bud break, when a plant’s bud scales open to reveal the new leaves or flowers within, can be a very beautiful thing, as we see here in the velvety buds of striped maple (Acer pensylvanicum.) The larger center bud’s scales have just opened and leaves will appear shortly. Bud break can go on for quite some time among various species; striped and sugar maples follow cherry, and birch and beech will follow them, and shagbark hickory will follow birch and beech. Oaks are usually one of the last to show leaves. That’s just a small sampling that doesn’t include shrubs like lilac and forest floor plants that also have beautiful buds breaking.

American beech (Fagus grandifolia) bud break begins when the normally straight buds start to curl, as in the above photo. The curling is caused by the cells on the sunny side of the bud growing faster than those on the shaded side. This creates a tension that curls the bud and eventually causes the bud scales to pull apart so the leaves can emerge. At the bud’s location on the tree branch an entire year’s new leaves and stems will often grow from a single bud. Beech bud break doesn’t usually start until mid-May, so I think the example in this photo is a fluke caused by early warmth. Many others haven’t curled yet but I’ll be watching this tree closely.

The buds on many trees haven’t opened but here was a young maple seedling that jumped the gun. I was very surprised to see it already wearing leaves.

Red elderberry buds (Sambucus racemosa) are also opening, but they’re at different stages in different places and that reminds me what a large part sunlight and warmth play in bud break. The little fingers on each side of the flower bud are leaves and it doesn’t take them long to unfurl. In a day or two this bud will look completely different.

Here is another red elderberry, with the purple flower buds in the center and leaves to either side. It’s hard to believe that those tiny fingers open to such big, beautiful leaves but they do. The purple buds will quickly become white flowers, and the flowers will be followed by bright red berries which birds love.

I saw the red elderberry in the previous photo leafing out on the trail in Westmoreland that I follow to see wild columbines, blue cohosh, and other plants. I was going to see if the blue cohosh shoots had come up when I saw a movement out of the corner of my eye. It was a huge black bear coming down the hillside off to the right of the trail, right toward me. Our paths would have crossed in less than a minute but it finally turned and walked back up up the hill a bit before turning again and watching me, as if sizing me up. I threw my arms in the air and yelled “Hey bear!” a couple of times. This might sound silly but they say you should “make yourself big and make noise” when you encounter a bear. In theory it’s supposed to scare them away, but this one didn’t scare at all; instead it just kept staring and probably wondered if I had lost my marbles. After taking a couple of shaky photos I turned and left the forest to the bear, walking slowly so it didn’t think I was running away. Thankfully it didn’t come after me because it could have covered the distance in seconds and since you can’t outrun, out swim, or out climb a bear the contest would have been over quickly. This is a known bear area and ironically this was the first time I had come out here without bear spray. I don’t know if this one would have even blinked at bear spray anyway, but I hope I never have to find out. A bear that has lost its fear of man can be a very dangerous animal and I didn’t sense much fear in this one. I won’t be going out there without bear spray again, that I’m sure of.

Since I live in a forest and work in a forest and spend most of my free time in forests, I see a lot of trees. But I don’t see many like these two. If two trees or parts of trees like limbs or roots of the same species grow close enough together the wind can make them rub against each other, wearing the outer bark away. Once the outer bark wears away and the cambium or inner bark touches, the trees can become naturally grafted together. The process is called inosculation and isn’t as rare as we might think. I see at least a couple of self or naturally grafted trees each year. From what I can tell these two maples had limbs that rubbed together and finally grew together.

For years I’ve noticed that a soapy foam forms at the base of certain white pine trees (Pinus strobus) when it rains. Sometimes it is in just a spot or two and at other times it nearly circles the entire tree. This happens because when there is a drought or dry spell salts, acids and other particles from the air can coat the bark. Soap is essentially made from salts and acids and when it rains, these natural salts and acids mix with the water and begin to froth. The froth (foam) is from the natural agitation of the mixture when it finds its way around bark plates as it flows toward the ground.

I saw a strange looking branch on the river bank. I can’t remember ever seeing one like it.

I don’t know if these marks are leaf scars or lenticels (breathing pores.) It reminds me of a palm, but how a palm stem would have gotten into the Ashuelot River, I don’t know. If you can identify it I’d love to hear from you. Actually I’d love to hear from you anyway, but I think you know what I mean.

I saw a tiny bird’s nest that wasn’t even as big as a tennis ball. I don’t know if it was a hummingbird’s nest or a slightly larger bird. It was built in a young oak tree. I’ve seen lots of eastern phoebes in this area but I think the nest was too small even for those small birds.

I finally saw a winter dark firefly (Ellychnia corrusca.) According to Bugguide.net, these fireflies can be a pest in sap buckets in the spring because they like maple sap, and they will also drink from wounds in maple trees. They like to sun themselves on the sunny side of trees or buildings, but this one seemed happy on a door window. Most fireflies live as larvae in rotting wood and forest litter near water and stay in the area they were born in, even as adults. They like it warm and humid, and this recent April day was both. They don’t seem to be afraid of people at all; I’ve gotten quite close to them several times.

On one snowy day I found a fallen limb which was covered by what I think was orange crust fungus (Stereum complicatum,) which is very common here. I see large fallen limbs almost completely covered by it. Its color is so bright sometimes it shines like a beacon, especially in a snowy landscape on a cloudy day. The complicatum part of its scientific name means “folded back on itself” and that is often just what it does.

They’re beautiful things but crust fungi like a lot of water so they’re at their peak on a damp day or when they’re covered by snow. They look quite different when dry.

Blue is my favorite color and someone must know that because all of the sudden I seem to be seeing blue wherever I go. Just a shot time ago I found a small block of an unknown material that looked like plastic or dry play dough and crumbled easily. It was colored the same beautiful shade of blue as this strange material was. This time this whatever it was covered a limb of a young tree. When I felt it I thought of bubblegum and when I looked at my fingers they were stained blue as if I had touched paint. I haven’t been able to answer the questions of what it was or why it was on a tree branch.

When you gaze out on a quiet, peaceful meadow, next to a still pond, under a motionless blue sky, you wonder how the noisy, busy cacophony of life could have arisen from such a silent, motionless beginning.~Anonymous

Thanks for coming by.