Before and After
April 12 and 24, 2015
April 24
The Creek, with the edge of Cottonwood Pond on the left
Spring is a time when changes take place rapidly in Nature
more than any other time of year. Everything is new, plant and animals are born
or become active, and the stage is being set for the rest of the year.
This would be a time to hardly miss a day at Cottonwood Pond,
but I would be missing at least a week. I would be going on a trip to Colorado,
seeing plants and animals I don’t see here, but I would be missing a chunk of
time in the great unfolding of Spring. I resolved to visit Cottonwood Pond
shortly before leaving, then shortly after arriving back home.
April 12 - Creek, Seep and Cottonwood Pond
Before I left, there was just a mist of early green in the
woods. Tiny Jewelweed seedlings dotted the wetland floor, each with just a set
of cotyledons and one or two sets of true leaves. A number of plants were in
bloom: Prairie Trillium, Virginia Bluebells, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Yellow and
Blue Violets, Spring Beauty, Toothwort. Boxelder, Tulip Poplars, Blue Beech,
Elderberries and other woody plants were showing leaves. Waterleaf, Sweet
Cicely, nettles, Honewort, Ladies Thumb and Fragile Fern were emerging or
spreading their leaves in the sunlight that could penetrate the forest floor
practically bare trees. Pale buds hung below large umbrella-like Mayapple
leaves.
Crawdads were busy pushing fresh mud up through the ground
into glistening wet, knobby chimneys.
April 12 - Crawdad chimneys
A frog hopped into the pond, not far from raccoon prints in
the mud. Bumblebees buzzed, a few small butterflies flitted by quickly, and the
early birds were singing bold songs of territory and elaborate mate-calling
trills.
April 12
The pond water around the Root Ball, Barkless Log and Bent Blue Beech over the
Inlet, Seep and Creek. The Very Rotten Log stretches diagonally over the Creek
and ground at the corner of the pond
Cottonwood Pond and its environs were drastically changing.
Flattened plants and flow lines in the mud pointed to all the directions water
had been moving. It looked like water had been pushing in from north and south
into many swampy places, into the pond, out of the pond and into the Creek. The
Seep was full and still trickling into the Creek after flowing under a piece of
bark unearthed by previously strong water flow. The Creek flowed with brisk
music.
April 24
What a difference a week makes in the Spring! Trees in almost
full leaf. The ground almost covered in green. More plants were in bloom. Blue
Phlox held up clusters of lavender flowers with a lovely scent, in contrast to
spikes of bright, very purple Dwarf Larkspur blossoms. The ends of trailing
Cleavers bore tiny white flowers, and puffs of white clusters decorated the
ferny-looking Sweet Cicely plant. Those smooth, round buds of Mayapples had
popped open. Each plant now displayed a single, simple white flower with a
yellow center, glowing beneath the leaves.
Bare Paw-paw tree branches (there were some young leaves at
branch tips) were dotted with deep maroon bells, flared out at their tips. The
woods were becoming more exotic as more plants unfolded from the forest floor:
Solomon’s Seal, Rattlesnake Fern, Green Dragon, Poison Ivy, Adder’s Tongue
Fern. I could rub the new leaves of Spicebush and enjoy scent of Allspice.
Eastern Towhees were warbling their lovely “Drink your tea!” through the
canopy.
There had been more rain while I was gone, so everything had
remained active – ponds, Inlet, Seep, Creek.
It was still very difficult to get around without a pair of wet-boots.
April 12 - outside the Inlet
The greatest amount of action seemed to have taken place at
the Inlet, both before and after my trip. Where there once had been one small
Inlet, then a New Inlet next to it, then a little Newest Inlet, there was now
one large, complete, clear space under the Barkless Log, only interrupted by
the most rotten end of the Very Rotten Log jutting beneath. Water had been
pushing in from all sides, even pushing dead leaves over a nearby log, on the
way to the Inlet. The area before the Inlet was completely soggy and full of
pools. In fact, it seemed that the main pond had extended its southern borders
beyond its former edge, which had been the north side of the Barkless Log.
April 24
The pools were a little stagnant a week later. Water had
remained but had not been added with the force of the previous week. The relative stillness had allowed plants to
colonize all of the exposed areas of mud.
April 12 - Inlet seen from across the main pond
April 24 - Inlet seen from across the main pond
On April 12 the light of a cloudy day, able the easily reach
through a bare canopy, illuminated the still clear surface of the main pond. A
reflection of the Barkless Log, now seemingly suspended over water, accentuated
the clarity and size of the Inlet. On April 24, the water was murky with a film
on the surface, but the enlarged Inlet was still obvious.
April 12
On April 12, I could see one of the growing water plants in
the pond, near the Inlet. The surface film on April 24 prevented me from seeing
the water plants from a distance.
April 24 - the Temporary Creek
The Temporary Creek, which had developed, I assumed, from
water flowing down the slopes to the south/southeast, was appearing to become a
Permanent Creek. On it rushed, fuller and wider than ever, toward Cottonwood
Pond.
April 12 - Swampy Spot with Mystery Plants
April 12 - Mystery Plants in Swampy Spot
April 24 - Swampy Spot
Here, the Temporary Creek can be seen running into the Swampy
Spot on April 24, with Mystery Plants on either side of a fallen limb.
Some terms that I have used for the Cottonwood Pond area have
become obsolete, or have had to evolve into something else, as things
change. A “Swampy Spot”? The whole area is becoming a “Swampy
Place.” After the so-called “Swampy
Spot”, water flows below the two limbs of the Barkless Log and the Cottonwood
Trunk and spreads out into one big morass.
April 12
April 24
It was starting to look a bit primeval, wasn’t it?
The Muck. The Big Ooze. A place to lose your boots.
April 24
Bent grass blades showed which way the water flowed.
April 12 - main pond
April 24 - main pond
April 24 - surface film on main pond
The Cove under the Root Ball has been becoming larger, more
like a tunnel – another place where water was pushng through.
April 12 - The Cove
April 24 - The Cove
April 12 - seen from the north
On the other side of the Cottonwood Pond area, as seen from
the north:
-
“little pond”, gaining in size
-
Mud Pile #1, under and to side of Root Ball
-
Root Ball Top
-
The Isthmus between the main pond and “little
pond”
-
The Two-Trunk Tree, water creeping up more
around its base
April 24 - seen from the north
Am I ready to call the whole thing, all around, Cottonwood
Pond, and dispense with distinguishing between “main pond” and “little
pond”? No, not yet. Water flows over the
Isthmus during heavy rains, but the Isthmus is still a divider most of the
time.
There has also been water seeping in from the north, via a
new Temporary Creek #2.
April 24 -
Two-Trunk Tree near “little pond”, with Isthmus to right
April 24
Raccoon tracks on Isthmus
On April 24, raccoons (most likely a family) were using the
Isthmus as a bridge while running from pond to pond.
Mud Pile #1 kept growing from dirt fallen from the Root Ball
as well as sediment pushed and piled up by water force.
April 12 - Silas on Mud Pile #1
April 24 - Mud Pile #1 seen from north
April 24 - top edge of Root Ball
The top edge of the Root Ball has also been losing soil to
pounding rains. The Root Ball Top (near the Trunk) has been serving as its own
ecosystem, with a variety of plants: Maple and Blue Beech saplings, Stinging
Nettle, Jewelweed, grasses, Cleavers, Virginia Creeper, Cut-Leaved Toothwort, Violets and
Elderberry, as well as some seedlings I did not recognize.
April 12 - Root Ball top
April 24 - Root Ball top
April 24 - seedlings on Root Ball Top
Below the Root Ball Top, “little pond” also had a surface
film on April 24, and more plants were growing from the mud on the shallow
edges.
April 24 - "little pond"
Last year, the water of “little pond” stopped just below the
edge of the Trunk. But since more water has been entering the area, and since
the Cove opened up under the Root Ball, water extended to both sides of the
Trunk.
April 24 - Boxelder sapling next to Trunk
Leaves appeared on a Boxelder sapling (which I previously
thought was a Sassafras because of the green main stem and twigs) …
…while a green saddle of young Jewelweed cascaded over the
Trunk base.
April 24 - "top side" of The Cove
On the “top side” of the Cove, water pushing through has been
carving a pool in the mud.
Meanwhile, on the “main” side of Cottonwood Pond, excess
water has been making changes to the Seep, from where it exits the west corner
of the main pond to where it runs into the Creek.
April 12 - the Seep
Reflective light on April 12 emphasized what had happened to
the Seep, which has divided into two sections. Water must have been going from
one to another, though, as it was still running to the Creek. Below, just above
the Creek, an exposed sheet of bark hung over a “delta” of soil.
April 12 - Bark Shelf where the Seep meets the Creek
Water seemed to be flowing over the top of the bark on one
side, but possibly seeping below on the other. Raccoons have left their
exploratory tracks.
April 24 - The Seep
On April 24, it was evident that water had cut a more
definite channel between the two Seep sections, so it must have flowed more
steadily. It did seem to be draining more effectively. There was much more
greenery. It will be interesting to see how full-grown plants might affect this
new arrangement.
Exposed sticks across the Seep were like “steps” along the
way, or miniature dams, stipulating flow.
April 24 - Bark Shelf where the Seep meets the Creek
On April 24, more of the bark shelf was exposed and water had
been flowing across one side, carving further into the mud. The new channel to
the Creek below was getting deeper, and the “delta” narrower.
Such drastic changes in a week’s time! What else can happen?
We were expecting much more rain. I will want to go see the physical changes
that will have happened, the carving of a new landscape by the forces of water.
With the rapid burst of Life in Spring, I will also pay more
attention to wildlife.
It is amazing how fast things change during spring.
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