Jennifer and Steve at Glennwood 2/2:  We walked back into the preserve via an easement/old lane.  To our right was a cutbank where we noticed groundhog excavations and red, sandy soil mounded around them.  This red, sandy, well drained soil provides a much drier home to burrowing critters than the other soils here.  We also noticed scat with large bone fragments and concluded that it must have been coyote scat.  A couple of trails head off to the west and toward the bog and the lane ends with a short loop trail amongst upland hardwood forest of oak and hickory.  It's great that this upland forest is protected as it provides a nice contrast to the wooded wetland and bog communities.  We headed down toward the bog via the wooded wetland.  The next trail headed downhill and toward the bog and took us by lycopodium spp. moss and cinquefoil spp.  We took a moment to appreciate the "floating" nature of the bog and then followed the trail around the east side of the bog and through the swampy forest. 

It's apparent from the many toppled trees that shallow-rooted trees are about as tipsy as SUV's!!  Toppled trees, also know as windthrows, create "knolls" and "cradles" where conditions are a little bit dryer and a little bit wetter, respectively, than the surrounding flat wetland surface.   These areas are worth paying attention to as they provide extra habitat diversity and may be home to interesting species of plants, insects, etc.  Jennifer, myself, and Debby Meade visited Glennwood in the springtime once and noticed that wood frogs were breeding and laying eggs in the cradles - which were full of water.  So a tree falls, but a frog benefits.  Here's another shot of a windthrow.  Notice how far, laterally, the roots travel out from the base of the tree and how shallow they are.  Trees generally don't like to send roots down into a saturated soil and, thus, are usually shallowly rooted and relatively more subject to windthrow when growing on wetter sites.  But we can use such things to our advantage to make additional observations of natural things.  At Glennwood, it is easy to observe organic soil materials in these "cradles" where trees were once rooted.  Most organic soils form from slowly decaying grasses and/or trees in a waterlogged environment. Here, in this windthrow cradle, you can see the waterlogged nature of a typical site where organic soils form.  A closer look reveals roots and other, finer organic materials - probably a mixture of downed trees, leaves, grasses, sedges, shrubs, etc.  Indiana's organic soils are much more weathered (due to longer growing season, warmer summer soil temps, etc.) than those further north, therefore, it's not easy to identify the actual plants from which they formed.  Palynologists, though, can take cores of organic soils and reconstruct vegetative history of a site using pollen analysis.  What a fun way to make a living!!

The trail winds around the SE corner of the bog and then make a loop before heading back out the main easement trail.  Along this loop we found one of the most striking examples of fluting of Musclewood bark that we've ever seen.  Our final observation was an unknown fungus.  If anyone knows this one, please share with the rest of us, please.  Another afternoon on the nature trail yielded more observations and sightings than we could have ever anticipated.  We are grateful for special places like Glennwood Preserve.

 

Steve at Fawn River 1/31:  As I readied my gear for a hike at Fawn River Preserve I was surprised to find another hiker pulling into the parking lot.  This preserve is pretty remote and so I was delighted to make the acquaintance of Dick Loney of Ft. Wayne and hike part of the trail w/him.  We walked across the open old-field then into the woods.  In the woods, the main trail traverses a pitted outwash plain.  Formed by sand and gravel deposits deposited by glacial meltwalter stream activity, a pitted outwash plain is pretty flat and has small depressions here and there.  The depressions, I've learned, are voids left by large blocks of ice that were entrained in the meltwater/sediment and then melted - leaving a depressional void.  I tried to get a picture to show one of these depressions. The down and dead trees near the center of the photo are about 10-12 feet lower than the surrounding outwash plain flat summit.  Anyone who visits here will notice these depressions as they are obvious as well as similar to depressional areas on the clayey till plain nearer Ft. Wayne and south.  The main difference - and it is a significant one - is that the depressions on the clayey till plain are often ponded with water in wet time whereas the depressions on an outwash plain are well drained.  Why?  Remember - outwash plains are underlain by excessively drained sand and gravels while till plains are underlain by compact clayey materials.  The former lets water through the latter does not.  So we would expect to find very different vegetation on in these differently depressions.  Keep your eyes out for these differences this coming spring when the herbaceous plants start popping up!

Nearing the west edge of the preserve, we kicked up about 6 dear and a red tailed hawk.  The hawk was feeding on a opossum carcass.  I had seen this carcass intact a few weeks ago but now it had become a meal and part of the cycle of nature.  When I took Ornithology about 15 years ago I was taught that"raptors won't eat carrion".  Well, as Bob Dylan would say, " Times, they are a-changin' "  !!

From here, Dick and I made the little loop down off the terrace to the Fawn River floodplain.  First we noticed some sign of beaver across the river.  Then we took photos a couple of photos for posterity. 

We parted ways here - Dick heading back out the main trail and myself heading along the "bluff" trail.  The view from atop the outwash plain summit is sublime. 

Having hiked all the trails I headed back the way I'd come, enjoying the nice hardwood forest, woodpeckers pecking and the knowledge that ACRES member near and far have protected all that lives here. 

Brad at Wing Haven 1/18:  They say that birds can sense incoming storm fronts based on the change in air pressure.  If so, it sure showed yesterday, as hoards of birds flocked to the Wing Haven feeders to stock up.  Among the usual chickadees, titmice, and juncos was a lone female Purple Finch and a Brown Creeper.  Two Pileated Woodpeckers continue to search the big trees behind the cabin in search of pupating insects.

 

This morning's snow created a beautiful winter wonderland landscape outside.  About two inches coated everything in sight.  The prairie struggled to hold the weight of the snow, and even human structures like the log barn look stunning! 

 

Mother Nature's clean slate of snow give evidence to early morning wanderings of some of Wing Haven's animals.  Deer made themselves known this morning while traversing the lawn, fields, and woodlands nearby.

Steve and Jennifer at Tel-Hy 1/12:  It was the first visit for both of us and we were treated to the splendor of beautiful weather and a grand preserve.  The dramatic landforms at Tel-hy are a result of deep incision of the Wabash River into the glacial till plain that dominates this area.  We left the parking lot with binoculars in hand and strolled through weedy old-field and into a fine example of hardwood forest.  In the old-field we saw a flock of about 20 tree sparrows presumably taking advantage of the mild weather to stock up on additional fuel.  Surely they know that winter is not over despite the spring-like temperatures.  Soon after entering the mature forest, the trail heads down – and I mean DOWN – toward the river.  Geologists call this steep slope an escarpment and it represents the erosion surface created by the river as it cut into the till plain.  In any event, it’s one heck of a steep trail and provides expansive views of the river valley below.  About half way down the escarpment we noticed A LOT of bird droppings (scat) over a large area.  We concluded that it was likely a flock of crows (a.k.a. – a murder of crows) roosting in the towering tree tops above.  Not many other birds of such a large size (i.e. – that can produced so much scat) are as gregarious as crows.  Once at the base of the escarpment we noticed a small gravel bar and ventured briefly onto it where we found numerous remains of small fish.  It appeared that these fish became stranded in depressional areas on this bar after a flooding event.  All of the fish were partially eaten and most had the head detached from the body.  We wondered if they were fed upon by raccoons. Mink? Raptors? Hmmmm

Also on the gravel bar, and actually hanging out over the rushing river, was a paper wasp nest.  What could be the advantage of such a precarious site?   Surely this nest would be quite inaccessible to predators such as raccoon.

 

Next we followed the trail as it wandered along the river and enjoyed the towering tulip, ash, sycamore and other common trees.  One advantage to appreciating common things is the increased likelihood of noticing uncommon things.  Such was the case as we came across the tallest, straightest and largest diameter honey locust tree that either of us has ever seen!  Honey locust is not a common canopy tree in mature forests around here.  It’s more common in fencerows and other open areas.  But nature never fails to confound our attempts to keep her rigidly classified, and thank goodness for that.  We never cease to be amazed by the beauty of lichens.  This one is a Foliose lichen.  Lichens are mutualistic which means they are the product of a symbiotic relationship of a fungus and an algae.  The fungus provides the physical structure while the algae produces food.  People who study the effects of pollutions use lichens as indicators as they are sensitive to its effects.

 

The trail then led us back up the escarpment, onto the till plain and then followed the edge of the bluff looking over the river valley.  From here the view was incredible in and of itself but we were further treated by the positive sighting of a bald eagle.  The large raptor soared and circled out over the river valley and in our direct line-of-site.  We wondered if this was the bird whose food scraps we have seen down on the gravel bar. 

 

We marveled at our luck – standing in the midst of this beautiful landscape, home to incredible forests, inhabited by soaring eagles.  And it is now protected for all time by all of us ACRES members!   What a way to end such a beautiful day!  Thanks to all who have made this experience possible.