Today I had the privilege of adopting about a 20 year old Red Pine tree standing across the parking lot from my apartment. It's got such unique papery bark which reminds my of paper birch trees. I found out that Red Pine was one of the more common types of wood used in the lumber industry. It seems they did not use sustainable forestry practices, so, there aren't that many of these trees. Check out these fun photos after the rain today! Here's the Red Pine from about twenty yards away. The branch have short needle bunches with dense tufts. Here's a closeup of the needle bunches. I love this upward view of the Red Pine's trunk! You can really see the papery bark. A closeup of a branch. A great picture filler of the trunk's bark.
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Lately, I've been looking for different wildflowers in my neighborhood. I've found teasels, Queen-Anne's-Lace, poppies and more! Have a look at my photographs! Here are some teasels. Teasels are one of my favorite wildflowers. I found out that teasels are the primary material used for Golden Finches. Indeed, there is a whole population of Golden Finches living among the teasels. The Gold finches also nest late summer in anticipation for the teasels to finish blooming. Here are some poppies seed heads I found in my backyard. I'm thinking someone may have planted these. Here's a beautiful Monarch butterfly I found hanging out on some cattail stalks. Over the last few weeks when I've gone hiking, I've been finding some really spectacular moss and lichen! Moss has always been one of my favorite plants. I love how it can carpet a forest floor and can be colored like emerald jewels. Below are a few favorite photographs I've taken in my recent West Virginian wilderness walks, as I call them.
Today we continued our study of Algae and learned about lichen biology. Lichens are a unique organism composed the symbiotic relationship of Lichen and Algae.
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AuthorI'm NatureGlo, teacher-naturalist since 1997! Archives
July 2012
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