Gone Fishing

Today I decided to go for a nature walk in a sticking little logging town . I brought a medium sized child with me. It was very sunny and cold outside and the smell of wood smoke hung thick in the air. Our walk was along a road but it has been so long since they paved the road that it might be fair to call it a trail for now.

The official Washington Air Quality Advisory notice said our air quality was 80 or "moderate". They claim that it is safe for children to breathe when the air quality is 100 or below. It felt like the air quality was getting worse as we walked and it might well be at 100 by now.

On our walk my daughter found some cold mud puddles and began fishing with a maple stick. She caught lots of fish, each of which I was required to identify. In this order she caught the following types of "fish": Douglas-fir, Scot’s broom, 2x6 Douglas-fir, wire, and finally a “way too big to take home fish”.

The forest looks much thinner since the ice storm, fallen branches and fallen trees that have been bucked up into fire wood can be seen everywhere. Some power lines are still hanging low. Some small snow pockets remained where they were insulated by a thick mat of recently fallen Douglas-fir twigs and needles. Other than that all the snow is gone.

I saw a lot of different mosses and some I could even identify to genus. I think I saw polytrichum, buckiella and dendrolasia. I found lots of cute little moss cushions growing on a cement wall. My daughter excitedly pointed out the ones with sporophytes. I noticed that the same moss at the top of the wall was wet and green while the moss growing on the sides of the wall was dark and dry. Additionally the moss on the top of the wall was growing in mats while the same moss on the side of the wall was growing in cushions.

All of the different mosses on the top of the wall were generally producing more sporophytes than the mosses on the side of the wall.

As we headed back home two yappy canis lupis came out and half heartedly threatend to kill us. I menaced them with a giant piece of Lobaria pulmonaria found under a nearby maple tree. I think it was working, but then the owner of the canis lupis came and called them off before I could find out if they really were afraid of Lobaria.

My daughter brought home a way too big to come in the house "stick bug". The stick bug was giant with smooth reddish bark that made it look very much like an Acer macrophyllum maple sapling.

Publicado el sábado, 28 de enero de 2012 a las 12:48 AM por mossy mossy

Observaciones

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Autor

mossy

Fecha

Enero 27, 2012

Descripción

This little moss is too cute. It is fuzzy and green when wet and brittle and black when dry. The first picture is wet and the second picture is dry, these are different clumps on the same wall.

It was growing on a cement wall and on the sidewalks. The stuff on the side of the wall was all dried up and black but the stuff on the top of the walls and the side walk was pretty and green.

The ones on the top of the wall that get more water were generally making more sporophytes than the ones one the side of the wall, but there were exceptions.

I think the sporophytes are quite young, most with calyptra still attached. The leaves had long hyline awns so I suspect this is what the Brit's call a "screw moss"

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Autor

mossy

Fecha

Enero 27, 2012

Descripción

This acrocarp was growing on a cement retaining wall. There is a clear line that shows the difference that moisture makes. The moss at the top of wall was wet and green, while the moss on the side of the wall was dry and blackish.

There were many young sporophytes on this moss. The leaves look large and they have medium long hyline awns

Fotos / Sonidos

Qué

Arce de Hoja Grande (Acer macrophyllum)

Autor

mossy

Fecha

Enero 27, 2012

Descripción

This is a wild tree that planted its self between two houses and right next to a weedy holly bush.

She said this sapling was a stick bug, but I'm pretty sure it was a stick.

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Qué

Pulmonaria de Árbol (Lobaria pulmonaria)

Autor

mossy

Fecha

Enero 27, 2012

Descripción

I found this on the ground under a Maple tree.

The air was filthy with wood smoke like it always is during a winter inversion, but we still have giant clumps of Lobaria polmonaria. Is this lichen really a good indicator for air quality? If so, what kind?

I was able to use it to scare off two yappy canis lupis.

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Autor

mossy

Fecha

Enero 27, 2012

Descripción

This seemed to be growing on the ground but I think it was on buried wood. I thought I recognized it even without my reading classes on. There was only one tiny patch of it next to the road under the Douglas-fir canopy.

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Autor

mossy

Fecha

Enero 27, 2012

Descripción

This really tall moss was growing next to the road at the base of a steep SE facing wooded slope. I did not realize that this stuff got so tall but now I have read that it can grow up to 12 inches long. Well, that's what Wiki says anyway.

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