Ramble Report March 9, 2023
Leader for today’s Ramble: Linda Chafin
Authors of today’s report: Linda
Link to Don’s
Facebook album for this Ramble. All the photos that appear in this report,
unless otherwise credited, were taken by Don Hunter.
Number of Ramblers today: 36
Today’s emphasis: Early spring wildflowers in the
Dunson Native Flora Garden
Leader for today’s Ramble, Emily
Link to Don’s Facebook album for this Ramble. All
the photos that appear in this report, unless otherwise credited, were taken by
Don Hunter. Photos may be enlarged by clicking them with your mouse or tapping your screen.
Today’s emphasis: Winter tree ID and storm damage to Orange Trail watershed from the January 3-4 extreme rain event (4.5 – 5.0 inches total)
15 Ramblers today
New Rambler today…Lynn
Reading: Emily read from John Burroughs, at Dale’s request. The reading is one of Hugh Nourse’s favorite nature-related inspirational passages. Hugh was the initial leader of the group we know as “Nature Ramblers.”
Leader
for today’s Ramble: Dan Williams, forester/geologist
Authors
of today’s Ramble report: Dan Williams (text and captions with quotation marks are taken from Dan’s book, Tree Facts and Folklore: Identification, Ecology, Uses (traditional and modern), and Folklore of Southeastern Trees) and Linda. Comments, edits, and suggestions
for the report can be sent to Linda at Lchafin@uga.edu.
Link to Don’s Facebook album for this Ramble. All
the photos that appear in this report, unless otherwise credited, were taken by
Don Hunter. Photos may be enlarged by clicking them with a mouse or tapping on
your screen.
Number
of Ramblers today: 36
Today’s
emphasis: Trees in their wintery condition along the Purple Trail
Leader
for today’s Ramble: Linda
Author
of today’s Ramble report: Linda. Comments, edits, and suggestions
for the report can be sent to Linda at Lchafin@uga.edu.
Insect and fungi
identifications: Don
Hunter, Bill Sheehan, Heather Larkin.
Link to Don’s Facebook album for this Ramble. All
the photos that appear in this report, unless otherwise credited, were taken by
Don Hunter. Photos may be enlarged by clicking them with a mouse or tapping on
your screen.
Number
of Ramblers today: 30
Today’s
emphasis: Seeking what we find in the Middle Oconee River floodplain
Ramble Report November 3, 2022
Leader
for today’s Ramble:
Linda
Author
of today’s Ramble report: Linda. Comments, edits, and suggestions for
the report can be sent to Linda at Lchafin@uga.edu.
Insect
and fungi identifications: Don Hunter, Bill Sheehan
Link to Don’s Facebook album for this Ramble. All the photos that appear in this report, unless otherwise
credited, were taken by Don Hunter. Photos may be enlarged by clicking them
with a mouse or tapping on your screen.
Number of Ramblers today: 26
Today’s
emphasis: Changing leaf color and
other transitions from summer to fall in a Piedmont Oak-Hickory-Pine forest.
Ramble
Report October 27, 2022
Leaders
for today’s Ramble: Jean Lodge and Bill Sheehan
Authors
of today’s Ramble report: Jean Lodge and Bill Sheehan. Comments, edits, and suggestions
for the report can be sent to Linda at Lchafin@uga.edu.
Link to Don’s Facebook album for this Ramble. All
the photos that appear in this report, unless otherwise credited, were taken by
Don Hunter. Photos may be enlarged by clicking them with your mouse or tapping your screen.
Number
of Ramblers today: 27
Today’s
emphasis: Fungi
Today’s
Route: From
the Children’s Garden arbor, we headed down through the “Chestnut Tree” to the
White Trail, which we followed down the hill to the Middle Oconee River
floodplain. We returned via the same
route.
Leader
for today’s Ramble: Heather
Authors
of today’s Ramble report: Linda, Heather, Don. Comments, edits, and suggestions
for the report can be sent to Linda at Lchafin@uga.edu.
Link to Don’s Facebook album for this Ramble. All
the photos that appear in this report, unless otherwise credited, were taken by
Don Hunter. Photos may be enlarged by clicking them with your mouse or tapping your screen.
Number
of Ramblers today: 21
Today’s
emphasis: Frost flowers and other frosty things in the prairie and floodplain
Leader
for today’s Ramble:
Linda
Authors
of today’s Ramble report: Linda, Bill, and Don. Comments, edits, and suggestions for
the report can be sent to Linda at Lchafin@uga.edu.
Gall,
fungi, and animal identifications: Bill Sheehan, Don Hunter, Heather Larkin
Link to Don’s Facebook album for this Ramble. All
the photos that appear in this report, unless otherwise credited, were taken by
Don Hunter. Click on any photo to enlarge it.
Number
of Ramblers today:
10
Today’s
emphasis:
Seeking what we find on the Orange and Purple Trails
Reading: “Fall” by Mary Oliver (1935
– 2019)
the black oaks fling
their bronze fruit
into all the pockets of the earth
pock pock
they knock against the
thresholds
the roof the sidewalk
fill the eaves
the bottom line
of the old gold song
of the almost finished year
what is spring all that tender
green stuff
compared to this
falling of tiny oak trees
out of the oak trees
then the clouds
gathering thick along the west
then advancing
then closing over
breaking open
the silence
then the rain
dashing its silver seeds
against the house
Leader
for today’s Ramble: Linda
Authors
of today’s Ramble report: Linda. Comments, edits, and suggestions
for the report can be sent to Linda at Lchafin@uga.edu.
Insect
identifications: Heather
Larkin, Bill Sheehan, Don Hunter
Number
of Ramblers today: 28
Today’s
emphasis: Seeking what we find in grasslands and forests
Leader
for today’s Ramble: Gary
Crider, the Botanical Garden’s invasive plant control technician
Authors
of today’s Ramble report: Gary Crider and Linda
All
the photos
that appear in this report, unless otherwise credited, were taken by Don
Hunter. Some photos were also taken from the internet, with gratitude to the
photographers who make their work freely available to the public through
Wikimedia Commons.
Number
of Ramblers today: 10
Today’s
emphasis: The Garden’s invasive plant removal program
Reading: Gary read two quotes
that sum up the critical importance of controlling exotic species:
“…the two great destroyers of biodiversity
are first, habitat destruction and, second, invasion by exotic species.” E.O.
Wilson
“We
have allowed alien plants to replace natives all over the country. Our native
animals and plants cannot adapt to this gross and completely unnatural
manipulation of their environment in time to negate the consequences. Their
only hope for a sustainable future is for us to intervene to right the wrongs
that we have perpetrated.” Douglas W. Tallamy, Bringing Nature Home: How
Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens