owenclarkin's Favorites

The first observation I posted to iNaturalist was this Sycamore (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/20476571). Four years later, it's still here (and this is my observation # 4184).

This is supposedly the last wild Sycamore in Prince Edward County (although I hope there are a few more away from a road somewhere). When I was first shown this tree, it wasn't alone - there were trunks accounting for five trees in this grove, and while some had died, at least one other was still alive at that time.

So when I visited the tree in 2018, and every time I've seen it since, it didn't have any seeds that I could see. I've been worried that this tree might join its former compatriots without any replacements - which would mean local extinction. This time, happily, it had a few - at least 5 seed balls. That's not much, but that's not zero either. Keep on keepin' on, Buttonwood.

This may seem like a lot of photos, but this is an impressive old-growth tree, and I wanted to try and convey how huge and impressive it is. (In a Strong Bad voice: the majesty. Points if you understand the reference.)

Also - you may notice some of the pictures are a smashed log with a pile of butternuts. Yes, that is related. In some of the wide shots of the tree's form, look for a thick, low lateral branch that has been torn off. There are a lot of (relatively) healthy Butternuts here and also a lot of Red Squirrels. The working theory is one of those squirrels made a very ambitious and delicious cache, the weight of which became too great for the hollow branch.

Remarquez les bourgeons foliaires sont allongés et pointus. Les écailles des bourgeons sont pubescentes, mais avec une bordure glabre, comme ici : https://www.pierrebedard.uqam.ca/bourgeons/Ulmus%20Thomasii/Ulmus%20Thomasii.html . J’ai déjà photographié cet orme liège, le 2 mars 2023 : https://inaturalist.ca/observations/150096353 et le 5 mai 2023 : https://inaturalist.ca/observations/160075969

Spécimens qui seront utilisés lors de la Nuit des chercheuses et des chercheurs, le 10 novembre à la Biosphère de Montréal. Nous ferons des tests avec l’outil d’aide à l’identification d’iNaturalist.

Je ferai équipe avec @apdp, au kiosque des sciences participatives (iNaturalist), à la salle 2, de 21h30 à 23h30.

Programmation complète : https://calendrier.espacepourlavie.ca/la-nuit-des-chercheuses-et-des-chercheurs-943033

Not far from a known location. A small tree (or cluster of trees?) That looks really good for rock elm [to me]. Painfully sharp huge buds, fairly symmetric leaf bases, branches that come out right at 90 degrees, and the start of corky wings at the junction of the truck and branches. Tree was in the shade so the lack of corky branches is not unusual. Leaf texture felt a little on the thick and rough side of what I have seen but seemed reasonable.

After a lot of hem and hawing I made a "what else could it be" ID on this.

I annotated the Evidence of Presence for this as "Gall", although it's not really what we're looking at. If others have another view of what is appropriate, please weigh in.

Six (6).
Elm Zigzag Sawfly (Aproceros leucopoda) on Ulmus americana.

Out of a "thousand" of the upper canopy leaves photographed,
damage in one leaf can be attributed to Aproceros leucopoda.

c.f. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/180157836
.
Two additional photos from the same tree added on 27 Aug.

On an Ash tree. The flying squirrels have an amazing ability to glide from tree to tree, sometimes distances more than a 100 feet at a time and speeds upwards to 20 mph. They are able to glide thanks to a skin flap, called the patagium, that connects their wrists to their ankles. The squirrel pushes off a tree and spreads its limbs, forming a square shape with the patagium, effectively turning itself into a sort of a parachute! A cartilaginous “wing tip” on each wrist allows the squirrel to achieve great stability and to reduce drag. Many airplanes have the ability to bend their wing tips upwards for the same reason. There are many species of the flying squirrel around the world, but only three are native to North America - the Northern flying squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus), the Southern flying squirrel (Glaucomys volans) and Humboldt’s flying squirrel (G. oregonensis). I believe the species that I saw is the Southern flying squirrel, which lives in the eastern part of the United States, inhabiting deciduous and mixed woods. The Northern flying squirrel tends to live in coniferous and mixed coniferous forests, in parts of the northern United States and in most of Canada. Its range overlaps a bit with the Southern flying squirrel, and both can be found in New York State. However, the place where I saw this squirrel in Queens doesn’t have many conifers, so I’m assuming it’s the Southern species not the Northern. The Northern species is also darker in color than the one I saw. The Southern flying squirrel is an omnivore and will eat such things as seeds, buds, flowers, nuts, insects, mycorrhizal fungi, eggs, nesting birds and carrion. All three of the North American species are known to fluoresce a pink color under UV light!