Wander

Yesterday I went on a wander around the surrounding woods. It was a relatively warm day and I found many interesting things as well as seeing a deer with spots, Red Ear Slider, hawk (unsure what species), Red fox, squirrels, Great Blue Heron, rabbit, and several interesting plants including nightshade and Wild Comfrey. Here are some pictures I'd like to share from my wander.

This caught my eye the moment I saw it. It was on a slight hill on the edge of a large area of dirt in a construction site. I took the picture then decided to find out what whatever animal that made it was trying to bury. I found a strip of raw animal hide about 4 inchs wide and 6 inchs long. Almost looked to be untanned deer hide, no chew marks visible. My guess is its the work of a fox hiding its meal to allow it to break down a bit before eating it.

Squirrel tracks in mud.

I found this Red Ear Slider in a creek. He dove in from the bank where he was hiding under some grass. He wasn't too bitey which is how most of these water turtles can be.

Letting the turtle go

I'm not sure what kind of mushrooms these are but they were all over this small part of the creek. I was struck by how many there were and how much they contrasted with the leaf-litter and roofs.

Nightshade (Silverleaf?). It was all over a field behind the library. It has very distinct fruits (seen here in yellow) which look like little watermelons when they're younger.

Older beings and interesting finds

While traveling down a bike/walking trail through the woods, I stumbled upon a very old being. It's a very, very old Tulip Poplar tree. And being so old, it is also the largest Tulip Poplar I have ever seen. Its diameter is easily 10 foot, even with me and three friends we couldn't go completely around it. I'm not sure how long Tulip Poplars live, but I'd say it has been there for at least the last 50 years. There were no other trees nearby this large. Surprisingly it had no names or anything carved into the bark, or any visible serious damage, unlike some other old trees near here. The bark was actually looking rather decayed with age, but the upper branches looks alive and well, so I expect this tree to be around for many years to come.

Later on our way back home we stopped in a clearing near a creek. While exploring the creek a hawk (I'm not sure which species) flew in front of me and around to join up with its mate. I headed in their direction and found 2 feathers on the ground from them, in addition to a whitetail deer heading away from me. On the way back across the creek I found a large antler. Quite a rare find this late into summer, the squirrels usually get to them fairly early. This antler has no marks from squirrels or mice chewing on them.