We had a sunny dry day last Saturday to take a walk about at the Samish Island heron rookery. The rookery is where great blue heron nest in trees on the island. The rookery is within a fairly mature second growth mixed species forest. The Skagit Land Trust was conducting a yearly nest count with volunteers.
Proud property owner of conservation easement
great blue heron nests
Tagged tree with nests
Egg fragment on forest floor
Fire scarred mature Douglas fir with heron nests
Besides the heron nests I spotted a few other forest features
Douglas fir stump with bark having grown over the stump post cutting
Pacific yew
Glacial erratic
The forest is underlain by glacial drift
I was so delighted to see that photo of the D. fir stump with bark healing over the cut. Years ago I saw a fir stump just like that (but larger in diameter) in the woods near Lake Wenatchee. I just stared at that thing, completely puzzled as to how that could happen. I took photos of it (black and white...remember that?) to show others that I did make this up. It was quite strange to see. Even people in the FS I mentioned this to had never seen a stump like that. So I showed them the photos, and they were still confounded.
ReplyDeleteOooops! "...that I did NOT make this up..." (Sheesh.)
ReplyDeleteI have seen multiple stumps with this growth pattern. However, whenever I see it I am impressed.
ReplyDelete