Fauna, Flora, Fungi, and Insects- Spring In A Deciduous Temperate Rain Forest

Mistwalker

Mistwalker

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Dec 22, 2007
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With spring our little deciduous temperate rain forest comes back to life. Lots of green, lots of animals, and lots of insect life. I thought I'd post a few pics from recent trips out.

Thunder showers come and go... usually passing quickly.










Critters in the fields, and on the edges

















Fire ants,








Some of the nightshades from last growing season still linger











The last milkweed pod I've seen






Lots of the Tennessee state flower...poison ivy. It's about ready to bloom now.


















Not everything is toxic though. The onions are well into the scaping phase now.








The garlic is just beginning to










If you happen to be allergic to poison oak and poison ivy, just watch for the toxic plants as you gather..






Digging sticks are handy, and bamboo makes a pretty good digging stick.







.
 
Along the mountain streams under the canopy more life abounds.
























The millipedes are one of our miniaturized fertilizer delivery systems...
















Arisaema triphyllum, also known as: jack in the pulpit, bog onion, or wild onions to name a few, is common here. Much like polk salad it is a plant which is toxic on one hand, and edible on the other. The oxalic acid in all parts of it are poisonous, but as I understand it, if the roots are properly dried or cooked they can be eaten. I suggest you read up on it some before experimening with it though.












As I was digging up a couple to experiment with I found a few more millipedes










Then off to the wash basin to clean everything up for the trip home.












The knives for the day are two that have become constant companions lately. A Runt made by Ed Martin, and a small neck knife by Chris Liv that he calls his Parker model. Both are CPM S35VN.




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I have been out stomping for wild flowers during the last month. Great time of the year. I like the Squaw root. I see your shot shows it coming into bloom. Jack in the Pulpit is an interesting plant. It definitely photographs better with a little moisture on the leaves. Thanks for sharing your woods explorations since I never post pictures of my adventures/exploration.

I notice the trunks tilting inward on your woods shot. What wide angle are you using to get that effect? Mine goes to 18mm, but I usually don't get that effect wuite as pronounced.

Is the white flower closeup Foam Flower?

Is photo #4 Crimson Clover?
 
gorgeous pictures as always. I really like that little Liv.
Small knives are awesome.
 
tknife said:
Excellent pics, and knives!
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Thanks T! Glad you liked the pics man, and yeah the knives are most excellent :)


22-rimfire said:
I have been out stomping for wild flowers during the last month. Great time of the year. I like the Squaw root. I see your shot shows it coming into bloom. Jack in the Pulpit is an interesting plant. It definitely photographs better with a little moisture on the leaves. Thanks for sharing your woods explorations since I never post pictures of my adventures/exploration.

I notice the trunks tilting inward on your woods shot. What wide angle are you using to get that effect? Mine goes to 18mm, but I usually don't get that effect wuite as pronounced.

Is the white flower closeup Foam Flower?

Is photo #4 Crimson Clover?
Click to expand...

Most of these were shot with an 18-55 that came stock with my old D3000, and as far as I know you are right on both of the flowers, there are fields of crimson clover on one of the WMAs here.


daizee said:
gorgeous pictures as always. I really like that little Liv.
Small knives are awesome.
Click to expand...

Thanks Daizee. I really like the little Liv too. Handy size, so light I forget it's there until I need it, and through rain and sweat for weeks, absolutely no corrosion.

On one too-bright, and sunny afternoon I was playing around with another knife :)



 
Fantastic pictures. Except the ones of the spiders. (well, they are actually good pictures, but..)

It's still not that green here. And chance of frost tonight, and there is apparently reports of snow not too far north of me. Nice to finally see some greenery. Still favor winter, but I do love all of the green that comes with Spring.
 
TheGame said:
Fantastic pictures. Except the ones of the spiders. (well, they are actually good pictures, but..)

It's still not that green here. And chance of frost tonight, and there is apparently reports of snow not too far north of me. Nice to finally see some greenery. Still favor winter, but I do love all of the green that comes with Spring.
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Thanks man. Yeah, I know you don't care for them...but damn we have a lot of them around these parts. I could probably kill an entire summer day photographing spiders...

Oh, I like spring and summer....they're just getting me that much closer to autumn again :D


daizee said:
Big knives are awesome too! :D
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Oh, I have a major fondness for larger knives, been working with several lately...hence smaller, lighter on personal knives lately :)
 
I think I just got a rash looking at that poison ivy...

Great pics! Thanks for sharing.
 
Great pics Mist. I can't wait to get out with the camera soon!

Thanks for sharing
 
SideTracked said:
Excellent photos and I enjoyed the walk thru in your neck of the woods.
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Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed the hike.


Mongo said:
I think I just got a rash looking at that poison ivy...

Great pics! Thanks for sharing.
Click to expand...

Ah, you must be severely allergic to it. Be careful if anyone ever burns it around you, if you inhale any of the smoke it could bode very bad for you.

Thank you, glad you liked the photos!


Doc13 said:
Great pics Mist. I can't wait to get out with the camera soon!

Thanks for sharing
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Thanks Doc, I'm sure it won't be long now.
 
I'm with Mongo - even my knife would have broken out after touching that, S35VN or not! Great pictures, amazing region to live in with so much to see, thank you for sharing.
 
Sturubu said:
I'm with Mongo - even my knife would have broken out after touching that, S35VN or not! Great pictures, amazing region to live in with so much to see, thank you for sharing.
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Thanks man. It is an amazing area to live in. That's what makes it possible for me to deal with the crazy politics and the nuclear plants! Yeah, not being allergic to the poison ivy, I figure that makes me as good a candidate as any to do detailed shots of it from various angle in various seasons to help those who are to be more easily able to identify it at a glance. I know for some people it can be a real problem. I grew up here, I've been surrounded by it most of my life, so I've been rubbing against it and inhaling the pollen from it for decades now...plus eating a lot of local honey so maybe that helps too.
 
Great pics! Anyone happen to know if the "poison" in poison ivy is the same in poison oak and sumac. Just curious as I don't react from poison ivy, but I'm not sure if I have ever even seen the other two in person. Thanks again for the walk in the woods.
 
great stuff... can't wait to start exploring my turf here in the PNW. Luckily in the woods we don't see poison oak like you get the ivy.. but on the edge of the forest near the city we get some pretty crazy PO climbing up 60'+ on Doug firs... My wife breaks out if she sees it.. I apparently don't react to it, phew..

keep up the photos and walks!
 
Odog27 said:
Great pics! Anyone happen to know if the "poison" in poison ivy is the same in poison oak and sumac. Just curious as I don't react from poison ivy, but I'm not sure if I have ever even seen the other two in person. Thanks again for the walk in the woods.
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Esav nailed it, they all three produce urushiol oils. Another similarity is the berries produced. The berries of the poison sumac are white-ish grey and form in clusters much like those of poison ivy and poison oak, rather than in seed tufts like the staghorn sumac. Also the leaves of the poison sumac are opposite pattern rather than the alternate pattern of other sumacs. They do turn similar shades of red in the autumn though and sumacs are among the first leaves to turn color around here in the autumn. Beautiful shades of red which make them cool ornamental plants.


sloth357 said:
great stuff... can't wait to start exploring my turf here in the PNW. Luckily in the woods we don't see poison oak like you get the ivy.. but on the edge of the forest near the city we get some pretty crazy PO climbing up 60'+ on Doug firs... My wife breaks out if she sees it.. I apparently don't react to it, phew..

keep up the photos and walks!
Click to expand...

Thank you, glad you enjoyed the post man. Yeah we get some crazy poison ivy here. I know of one huge old oak tree on the river that has such old growth poison ivy on it that it reaches to the top of the tree...about 60 feet, some of the leaves are about a foot long on the lower branches by late summer. Some of the lower branches of the vines are over 1.5 inches in diameter at the base and they extend out eight to ten feet to reach sunlight, and they get huge clusters of berries on them. Luckily my wife isn't allergic either, and so far my youngest doesn't seem to be. We have all been exposed to it and its pollen all our lives and we spend a great deal of time outside.
 
I have two questions. Are those wild turkeys above the fire ants? And would it be possible to get a shot of that Runt Knife in its sheath or on your belt?
 
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