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| At the trailhead |
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| Among the tall pines |
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| Freshly-cut tree |
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| Upon closer inspection we see something inside |
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| These four appendages signal a new mystery to be solved |
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| Towering Aspens |
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| Up an Aspen trunk |
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| Becca staring at one of several deer she spooked |
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| The result of a lightning strike |
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| Dense stand of Aspens |
3 comments:
This was a perfect hike. I wish I could start off every day with a hike like this one.
Packrat: The bird singing in the audio/video is almost certainly a Hermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus).
The "appendages" in the lumen of the tree trunk, on the other hand, are a REAL mystery. I'm going to forward the image to one of my board members who is a retired arborist to see if he can shed any light on them. Here's my first impression (based on your image): they are heavily corroded metal spikes, like the kind that environmentalists used to drive into trees to prevent them from being cut down. (When timbering companies knew that trees in an area had been spiked, they were leery of cutting the trees for fear of severely damaging their equipment or causing harm to their employees.)
Thanks for the heads-up about the Hermit Thrush, Scott.
As for your guess about the "appendages" inside the trunk, this was in an area where logging occurred in the semi-distant past. We did find similar appendages in an area that wasn't, to my understanding, logged in the past.
My first thought was that the appendages were an interior support for external branches, but there were no branches opposite them. Also, I looked for holes in the bark, but didn't see any. Of course, through the years they might have external growth cover them over. I thought the answer might have to do with termites, but I can't say whether they bore into a tree trunk like that or not. Thanks for sending the image to your arborist colleague.
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