Just got back from her regular and my sometimes early morning walk around the “middle road” above Nameless Creek.
As usual, I took my pocket camera (Powershot G7X) but never took it out of that storage location. My “phone” OTOH was used to take audio and typed field notes, collect a number of still and video images (of a flock of passing grackles) and record 30 seconds of audio ambient nature sounds.
I have to confess, this little wafer of silicon and glass is a handy assistant in the relative wild of Goose Creek.
You can hate technology for its obvious ills and evils, but you should also be very very thankful as a naturalist that you can pack so much utility into such a small package.
Grackles coming tomorrow or early next week.
Meanwhile, some of you will recognize this plant as Chinquapin. I collected two dozen healthy fruits from these two plants growing just behind the house. This is the first year to collect seeds.
And that’s important to me. These small trees are 14 years old. They were planted from seeds given to me by Lynn Baum the year she died. We only discovered a few years back that these two seeds had survived to maturity.
This is the first year to hope that we can pass along Lynn’s legacy to a few friends for their meadows and woodland margins. And that feels very fitting and comfortable to me.
Wonderful Fred. I would provide a good home place to a chinquapin if you have enough
Dear Forensic, you were at the top of my list. Will be waiting for you when you’re ready.
I had a similar good discovery today. We were at 8000 ft on I-70 in southern Utah at a rest stop filled with pinyon pines. I have never before seen its comes open, exposing the yummy seeds. When open, they look like flowers. (Too bad I don’t have a smart phone.) My husband remembered eating them as a child in east L A, so he cracked a few for me (need strong teeth!) and I ate a few. Delicious!