Filling In (And, The "Goblin" Gets Ready for Halloween)

Filling In

(And, the “Goblin” Gets Ready for Halloween)

October 11, 2017

(Note: some photos are of the same views taken for the previous post. Go to “The Scree”, October 4, 2017, for comparison.)

I will start right out with big questions; What is this place? Where is it going?

I've pondered the first question in the early days of Cottonwood Pond in the post called “Pond(ering) ...” of July 23, 2013 – is it a pond? A pool? A puddle? I will ponder this further sometime this winter when things slow down and I can assess what the previous year, and four years, has done.

Much has changed during my four-year study of this place, and so the factors for considering what this place really is, and what it has become, have also changed since 2013.

The shape and depth of the “main pond” - that is the major thing. Over time, water and sediment have been shoved into the pond from run-off that has traveled through the Inlet (under the Barkless Log,) which has widened and deepened from a couple of small holes to a complete rectangular opening under the log. That sediment added to the fill of the pond floor, and the water sculpted the perimeter and bottom into new shapes and dimensions.

From the north - "little pond"

Water and sediment also poured under the Trunk and into “little pond” on the other side, again sculpting and depositing, sometimes flowing on via Temporary Creek #2 to meet with the Creek downstream.

The push of water opened up a Cove at the bottom of the Root Ball. Both water and frogs could pass through between the main and “little pond.”

Most significantly, soil kept falling from the Root Ball (Top and Bottom,) thinning its profile and exposing more Cottonwood roots. Through rain, freezing, thawing and, most recently, extensive drying, soil has been loosened and dropped. Animals have also loosened dirt as they dug burrows into the Root Ball soil.

New, dry Root Ball soil added to the Mud Pile below

Falling soil first created Mud Pile #1 below the Root Ball Bottom, to the northwest end. Eventually Mud Pile #2 was created at the southeast end. These supported new populations of plants.

Jewelweed plants, beyond blooming on October 11, pushed over by soil fallen from the Root Ball

Almost suddenly, there became only one whole Mud Pile stretching across the base of the Root Ball Bottom, growing higher and blocking the Cove, though not closing it (since the Root Ball Bottom is exposed to much more weather and change than the Root Ball Top, it has experienced more erosion, with a greater pile-up of soil below.)

The Mud Pile changed the dynamics of the main pond, giving it more of a crescent moon shape (it had started out as a distinct half moon.) The main pond may also have become more shallow.

Root Ball, Mud Pile and main pond bed on October 11

Lately, a great deal more soil had dropped from the Root Ball, not only onto the Mud Pile but also pouring down to the pond bottom (i.e.: The Scree.)

What will become of this spot? Will it become ever shallower, or will excess sediment be pushed out by heavy water flow, into the Seep, and also across the Isthmus?

End of the Seep (bottom) as it enters the Creek (spanned by Very Rotten Log)

The Isthmus, connecting the main pond with "little pond"

How will the shape of the bowl of soil (main pond) change? How long will it be before the Root Ball is devoid of soil and rain has washed the last bits from a scraggly skeleton of roots?

Root Ball Bottom, Mud Pile, Scree

Whole Root Ball - tree saplings on left side

When the soil is all gone from the Root Ball, what will become of the rapidly-growing tree saplings that have taken root in the Root Ball Top and the top edge? Or, are they effectively holding the soil in with their own roots, turning one Cottonwood tree into a group of diverse tree species?

Old Cottonwood roots have been decaying, and succumbing to the work of birds and other animals, or breaking and falling to the ground

Will the main and “little pond” ever again fill with enough water to support frogs and other aquatic wildlife I have found there over the years?

We have just gone through a near drought season, when almost everything became completely dry. Rains were simply absorbed by the thirsty soil and plants, with no chance of pooling or running. It will take a series of sustained, heavy rains, and maybe even a significant snow accumulation and melt, to know how the newly reshaped soil bowl will respond.

We finally had some good, steady, heavy rains on October 11 and previous, enough to break the near-drought period. Everything at Cottonwood Pond was soaked and glistening, though still not pooled or running.

The Creek bed near Cottonwood Pond, looking upstream

The slope facing Cottonwood Pond, and the bottom land below, with Creek bed

Wet woodland floor on the slope

The soggy soil of the Swampy Spot on October 11, after days of heavy rain

The new Scree, in the middle, was soaking wet on October 11 for the first time

Water had soaked into the hard clods of silty soil of the Scree, softening them and even allowing them to crack. Soon they should disintegrate and add much more sediment to the pond floor.

Scree clods beginning to meld into the pond bottom

And, more dry grains of soil had fallen after the rains.

Hard rains also had sent more leaves and sticks from the canopy to the floor, especially as autumn was starting to become more brittle. These would also disintegrate into the pond floor.

Sycamore leaf

Sassafras leaf

Dry, skeletonized leaf on the pond floor

Section of Cottonwood root fallen from the Root Ball Bottom onto the Scree

Broken-off section of the upper Very Rotten Log, in the middle of the main pond

 Clearweed plant, possibly with chlorosis, on the upper broken, mossy section of the Very Rotten Log

Plants, including tree saplings, continued to feed from the Root Ball soil and help break it down.

New vine on the Root Ball Top

The Trunk continued to feed fungi, lichen, moss, and flowering plants, which help break down its wood.

Decayed Oyster mushrooms along the Cottonwood Trunk

Mosses and blue-green Lichens on the Trunk

The Trunk's fallen bark pieces added to the woods floor as well as “little pond,” into where they had been washed.

So, it remains to be seen. I wait for more rains and hopefully snow.

Since it is nearing Halloween, let's take a look at the “Goblin” in the Root Ball Bottom and how he has changed. Last time, he lost his nose!

Now that the Cove has been re-exposed, the Goblin is sporting a toothy grin!

And, as soil falls from the top edge, his vine-y “hair” has become more scraggly, and two pointy “ears” have been exposed.

Nice Halloween costume, Cottonwood Pond!

Some plants in seed on October 11, 2017:

White Snakeroot

Great Blue Lobelia

Wood Nettle

The Scree

The Scree

October 4, 2017

Do you see it? Something different has happened …

Dry, dry, dry, dry, dry as a bone.

There had been only one rain since my last Cottonwood Pond visit, and it was insignificant.  There had been very little rain for a long time before that, too. We were approaching near-drought conditions.

Everything was bone dry.

The woods floor on the slope facing Cottonwood Pond

Dried Turkey Tail fungi on a tree

The Creek bed upstream from Cottonwood Pond

The Creek bed near Cottonwood Pond, near the bottom end of the Barkless Log

Creek bed

Where the Seep meets the Creek (Very Rotten Log)

The bed of Temporary Creek #1, which connects with the Swampy Spot

The Swampy Spot

Trees were squeaking in the breeze, along with the loud chorus of crickets singing all around. During the dry spell, birds had been eerily quiet, probably conserving energy due to the lack of readily available water. Some Blue Jays called in the distance.

Wooded slope to the southeast, and bottom land with dry Creek bed hardly visible

Wooded slope to the northwest, and bottom land

There were other signs of life hanging on, and some that could not.

Some recent Crawdad sculptures -  as if they've just come out of the kiln

Where mammals have been clawing at decaying wood, looking for food - is it easier for them when it's very wet or very dry?

The Very Rotten Log over the Creek bed - exceedingly dry and brittle

Dehydrated mushroom on the Very Rotten Log - looking more like a porous rock

Shell of a ... Stink Bug? ... on the woods floor

I am guessing that this is part of the dried, bleached remains of a caterpillar on the Trunk

The contrast in wetness and dryness, darkness and light, between the “little pond”/Root Ball Top side and the Root Ball Bottom side was sharper than ever. But, there were still signs of the lengthy dry period on the damp side.

The "little pond" area by the topside of the Root Ball, the Trunk at the back

Mud cracks below the base of the Trunk

Where one of the saplings has been growing out of the Root Ball Top, then curving up toward the light

"Sawdust" trailing down the Root Ball Top - something has been drilling into one of the exposed roots, though I could not see the source

Three Crawdad chimneys tucked way in at the base of the Root Ball Top - still damp

Critters are still digging into the larger exposed roots on the Root Ball Top - this seemed to have been started by woodpeckers, and perhaps some other birds, exposing the inner wood to more boring and disintegration by smaller beings

Blue Beech sapling growing along the Trunk from the Root Ball Top - those upward-reaching branches are getting rapidly larger and will make for a rather interesting tree someday

Looking upwards along one of those limbs - how large it has become! (it seems like just yesterday that it was a baby ...)

White Snakeroot was still blooming. Tiny white Aster blossoms had exploded on the scene. Other flowers were fading and giving way to fruit and seed …

White Snakeroot

The tiny white asters (I've not determined the species yet)

Tiny white asters arching over the Creek bed

Honeybee at a tiny white aster - probably one of my neighbors' bees - there were also other kinds of bees and insects among the asters

A Wood Nettle plant with minute black seeds still clinging, and one very neat, lime green midge gall 

Though there were a few fresh Orange Jewelweed blossoms, most of them were fading and withering ...

... and many of the plants had progressed to swollen green seed pods, as well.

Great Blue Lobelia blossoms were faded, also, giving way to papery seed pods - one sports a tiny hole near the base, possibly made by a short-tongued bee that could not reach the nectar through the long-throated blossom, so instead cheated by drilling into the nectary base

… and a new generation of plants was coming forth.

Young Clearweed and Honewort at the edge of the Creek

Debris caught in the crevice between bark bits and wood of the Trunk provides a lodging place for seeds, and later some spots of soil for new plants to sprout and grow ...

... and one of those seedlings, looking a bit like a dragonfly, or a tiny bird - take flight, new plant!

This White Ash seed, which advantageously floated down to a bit of new soil on the bark of the Trunk, may sprout someday into a White Ash seedling and flourish as a new young tree, feeding from the decaying Cottonwood

But, there was one huge change that happened at Cottonwood Pond while I wasn't down there, and that startled me when I saw it.

The “Goblin's” nose was gone!

How did this happen?

Approaching the main (dry) pond area, I noticed a new, light gray cascade tumbling down the middle of the Mud Pile below the Root Ball Bottom, and partly across the main pond bottom.

It was … a scree!!

And it seemed to have re-exposed more of the Cove, which had previously become blocked-up.

The definitions I found for “scree” (also called a “talus”) included the words “stones,” or “rocky debris,” and sometimes “mountain,” “hill,” or “cliff.” But, often the word “slope” was included, which the Mud Pile was, albeit a small one.

Bottom part of Scree, on main pond bottom

These were not stones. They were hard mud clods. But, being silty clay that was pulled up from the bottom of the woods by the great Cottonwood Root Ball, they had dried to a hardness close to that of some stones. So, I settled with using “scree” to describe this new development.

There was something I had not considered before. Whenever I have written about mud falling from the Root Ball, changing the look and dynamics of life at Cottonwood Pond, I mentioned rain, freezing, and thawing as factors contributing to the loosening of dirt from the roots. I had not considered drying, but things had never been so dry before at Cottonwood Pond. On October 4, I was seeing the affects of strong drying on the Root Ball. In fact, such drying caused more dirt to fall in a shorter time than any other factor had in the past.

This was producing different kinds of changes, also.

Another pile, smaller, nearby

The seemingly compacted soil of the Mud Pile top, starting to break down

Some of the clods probably fell from the Root Ball's top edge, where they toppled and broke this Clearweed plant

Bottom of Scree, on the main pond bottom - how will this additional soil change the pond after it fills with water again?

A broken exposed root - fallen piece on top of Scree, top piece jutting out of the Root Ball Bottom

In a sense, too, what I saw was almost like an extraction from a fossil bed. “Rocky” debris, broken from the mass of mud on the Root Ball, had tumbled down with evidence of animal burrows from deeper inside the Root Ball, or encasing large and small sections of old Cottonwood roots from further in. Given millions of years, if left intact within the Root Ball and buried by those years of other layering that might occur in the area, both fine-sediment mud and the root pieces could have been preserved in fossil form (possibly also with remains of small animals.) Here they were, resembling what could be.

The Broken Blue Beech (formerly known as Bent Blue Beech)

It was a day for the dry and broken.

But, despite the almost-drought, Life at Cottonwood Pond persisted, ever adaptable to whatever will come along.

A lone Monarch butterfly (migrating?) in a Sugar Maple near Cottonwood Pond

A teeny-tiny grasshopper - maybe it was responsible for some of the leaf-chewing here

Spider webs over animal burrows in the Root Ball

Spider webs stretching along the Root Ball

*********************************************************************

BOOO!!!!

Halloween is coming!!