Favoritos de ccantley

This is the famous Davie Poplar, approximately 350 years of age.

At dusk, hundreds and hundreds of Chimney Swifts swirl in vortex above, before darting into the hollow trunk to spend the night. An Eastern Gray Squirrel, however, awaits their arrival, fulfilling its classification as an omnivore. [see 3rd photo].

30 years ago, Dr. Jerome Jackson had amongst the slide set for his students of Ornithology, a photo that elicited primal gasps of horror and shock. The photo showed in gruesome detail an Eastern Gray Squirrel holding a male Northern Cardinal like an ice cream cone. The head of the cardinal had been devoured.

The memory of that photo sprang to mind when I espied the Eastern Gray Squirrel lingering around the hollow into which the Chimney Swifts would descend. And then it quietly slipped in to greet them upon their arrival.

growing along the edge of the parkway, pedicels scabrous. No. 880701003.
See also: https://michiganflora.net/record/2209
http://beta.floranorthamerica.org/File:FNA24_P185_Puccinellia_pg_474.jpeg
http://beta.floranorthamerica.org/Puccinellia_distans
and
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/161882995

growing in a diverse mixed mesophytic forest near the trail, lateral branches round, leaves equal in size and all ascending. No. 880427007.
See also: https://michiganflora.net/genus/Dendrolycopodium
and
https://michiganflora.net/record/1655

syn. Botrychium dissectum Spreng. f. dissectum, DNA sample, 1/3 of leaf, growing in a diverse mixed mesophytic forest near the trail. No. 880427014.
See also: https://michiganflora.net/record/1777
and
https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:35243-2

Diederich, Millanes, Wedin & Lawrey, 2022, Flora of Lichenicolous Fungi, pages 215-216

On Parmotrema hypotropum growing on Southern Red Oak.

Observation is for the soredia-like clusters of the reproductive structures of the lichenicolous fungus, Tremella parmohypotropi that have erupted through the thallus of the host lichen, Parmotrema hypotropum. Note: The soredia of Parmotrema hypotropum occur at the outer edge of the tips of the lobes, usually between black cilia also at the margin. In the rare instance that apothecia are produced by Parmotrema hypotropum, the rim of the apothecia is covered in soredia.

Observation for the host lichen: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/231685152

On exposed rock in oak woods; thanks to @mhodges1957 for: "Creamy thallus rimose-continuous, mature disks with black rims, immature disks lecanorine", and UV+ yellow-orange thallus. So pleased to see the creamy-tone thallus with faint but bright yellow cast to thallus, plus some young apothecia, also the golden glow shown in some photos with 365nm UV light, the same lichen on the same rock as inaturalist.org/observations/197599934 (seen in last photo on each) which @gillydilly very generously showed @sammyisafuzzydog & me – awesome rock with its native community! A highlight of my day.

growing in a mixed oak forest along a ridge trail, leaves with bristle-tipped lobes and stellate hairs on the undersides. No. 871017009b.
See also: See also: https:floranorthamerica.org/Quercus_velutina