Monday Random Thoughts

            We have a small oak on the property and I noticed today how it was changing colour. The two photos are 9 days apart. I was standing at a slightly different place for each photo but I don't think it was that that made the colours different. I do not have a positive ID yet but think it is a Black Oak.

            The Highbush Cranberry bushes have almost no berries on them this year compared to the last several years.

            The needles on the European Larch have gone from golden to beige in colour and many of them have dropped off.

            I found a young English Hawthorn tree that I had not seen before beside one of the trails this morning. It is already just a bit taller than I so it has been there a few years without my being aware of it.

            A large flock of Starlings was in a tree at the west side of the property. They, or another flock just like them, were on the ground under our feeder yesterday.

            I went back to the oak today, Tuesday, and found stellate hairs on the underside of the leaf in the vein axils. That appears to be one of the attributes of the Black Oak / (Quercus velutina).