Cottonwood Pond: Rain, Rain, Don't Go Away ...

Rain, Rain, Don’t Go Away

August 22, 2017

August in southern Indiana, especially in the latter days of the month, is normally a stifling hot experience with humidity so thick that people joke about fish swimming past them – maybe Wabash River catfish in our area.

In 2017, that time of year was not quite so heavy – it was pleasantly (relatively) cooler. We could be out and about without feeling as if we were swimming.

I went down to Cottonwood Pond on August 22 during a cloudy day, between heavy rains. The first hard rain happened just as the Solar Eclipse ended on the 21^st and dark clouds moved in, making our area darker than it had been during our peak 97% eclipse coverage. The second heavy rain came soon after I left the woods on the 22^nd. The light was interesting, making textures and colors stand out.

I could see the “old goblin man” clearly on the Cottonwood’s Root Ball Bottom, his nose and eyes carved from several years of rains, freezes and thaws that broke mud from the tangle of tree roots. The tall greenery on the Mud Pile below gave him an exaggerated, humorous mustache below his bulbous nose. Vines from the top draped over his forehead and eyes like unkempt hair, and saplings had grown to tall, jaunty “feathers” on one side of his crown.

Zooming in on the little old goblin man face ...

From this angle, above, it looks completely different – the goblin disappears. The Root Ball has thinned significantly over the years and, consequently, the Mud Pile has become deeper and broader (at one time, there was Mud Pile #1 and Mud Pile #2.) It has also become quite the foundation for plant growth. And, as mud has fallen from the Root Ball, there have been more nooks and crannies among the exposed roots, and more burrows made by animals that I had not yet seen.

It has become quite an ecosystem.

Root Ball Bottom seen from the south

Animal burrows in the Root Ball Bottom

Burrows and webs on the Root Ball Top

Exposed roots and webs, north edge of Root Ball

Tree saplings growing from the top edge of the Root Ball - getting ever taller

Tree saplings growing out of the southeast end of the Root Ball Top

Root Ball Bottom, Mud Pile covered by plants, part of main pond

Would the heavy rains have filled the pond again? I found that it was just very muddy. It had been dry for so long that the soil and lush vegetation drank up the water, leaving no extra to pool in low places.

The main pond, from the northwest, the Inlet at the far end

From the south, including the Inlet – notice the Broken (previously Bent) Blue Beech above, and the piece of broken Very Rotten Log on the mud)

Some leaves had scattered on the pond floor. The dry period had contributed to more than the usual drying and loosening from the canopy.

"little pond", with the Trunk at the far end (and Pester)

Bottom of "little pond"

Some other wet, muddy places:

Pond corner, Seep start, Isthmus (with Pester)

Seep ending at Creek with the disintegrating Bark Ledge

The Creek, looking upstream

Silas on the Creek bed

The Creek, looking downstream

The wet bottom land, especially between the Creek and main pond, was yielding diverse plant life.

Tall Blue Lettuce in bloom

Ditch Stonecrop in fruit – by late summertime, the leaves were very chewed up

Water Smartweed, still in bloom

Wood Nettle in bloom

False Nettle in fruit

Orange Jewelweed

Mystery Plant - possibly White Snakeroot

Blue Mistflower (?)

More Mystery Plants

And, what was this plant, getting ready to bloom?

Probably the same as this wonderful surprise, found blooming next to the Swampy Spot – Great Blue Lobelia! It had been a “mystery plant” during my previous visit.