tree – B12 Solipsism

Location of Last Season’s Acorn Woodpecker Party was uploaded to Flickr

July 6, 2016 eggplant0 comment

Castle Rock Trail, Walnut Creek, CA.

From Wikipedia:
The breeding pair excavate a nest in a large cavity in a dead tree or a dead part of a tree. A group of adults may participate in nesting activities: field studies have shown that breeding groups range from monogamous pairs to breeding collectives of seven males and three females, plus up to 10 nonbreeding helpers. Young from a single brood have been found with multiple paternity.

Male acorn woodpecker with "granary tree" full of acorns

Acorn hoarded by acorn woodpecker
Food and homes
Acorn woodpeckers, as their name implies, depend heavily on acorns for food. In some parts of their range (e.g., California), the woodpeckers create granaries or "acorn trees" by drilling holes in dead trees, dead branches, telephone poles, and wooden buildings. The woodpeckers then collect acorns and find a hole that is just the right size for the acorn. As acorns dry out, they are moved to smaller holes and granary maintenance requires a significant amount of the bird’s time. They also feed on insects, sap, and fruit.

Defense and storing
The acorns are visible, and the group defends the tree against potential cache robbers like Steller’s jays and western scrub jays. Acorns are such an important resource to the California populations that acorn woodpeckers may nest in the fall to take advantage of the fall acorn crop, a rare behavior in birds.
Acorn woodpeckers can also be seen sallying from tree limbs to catch insects, eating fruit and seeds, and drilling holes to drink sap. The acorn woodpecker will use any human-made structures to store acorns, drilling holes into fence posts, utility poles, buildings, and even automobile radiators. Occasionally the woodpecker will put acorns into places where it cannot get them out. Woodpeckers put 220 kg (490 lb) of acorns into a wooden water tank in Arizona. In parts of its range the acorn woodpecker does not construct a "granary tree", but instead stores acorns in natural holes and cracks in bark. If the stores are eaten, the woodpecker will move to another area, even going from Arizona to Mexico to spend the winter.

more:
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I took Location of Last Season’s Acorn Woodpecker Party on July 01, 2016 at 04:09AM

and processed it in my digital darkroom on July 06, 2016 at 10:11AM

In A Cold Sweat was uploaded to Flickr

April 9, 2016 eggplant0 comment

West Loop somewhere, I think

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I took In A Cold Sweat on May 03, 2014 at 07:41AM

and processed it in my digital darkroom on April 09, 2016 at 08:03PM

Climbed On The High Lonely Hill was uploaded to Flickr

May 15, 2015 eggplant0 comment

Cook County Forest Preserve somewhere. I guess I need to clean the dust off of my sensor and lens…

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I took Climbed On The High Lonely Hill on April 01, 2015 at 07:30AM

and processed it in my digital darkroom on May 15, 2015 at 04:48PM

Wipe Your Weeping Eyes was uploaded to Flickr

April 1, 2015 eggplant0 comment

Cook County Forest Preserve somewhere

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I took Wipe Your Weeping Eyes on April 01, 2015 at 08:55AM

and processed it in my digital darkroom on April 01, 2015 at 01:56PM

There’s A Place From Where I Came was uploaded to Flickr

December 4, 2014 eggplant0 comment

Frostpocket

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I took There’s A Place From Where I Came on September 04, 2013 at 02:30PM

and processed it in my digital darkroom on December 04, 2014 at 08:06AM

A Place Where Nothing Ever Happens was uploaded to Flickr

October 7, 2014 eggplant0 comment

Fungi unknown.

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I took A Place Where Nothing Ever Happens on September 12, 2014 at 05:16PM

and processed it in my digital darkroom on October 07, 2014 at 06:54PM

What I Need I Just Don’t Have was uploaded to Flickr

October 4, 2014 eggplant0 comment

Frostpocket Lane

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I took What I Need I Just Don’t Have on September 13, 2014 at 10:34AM

and processed it in my digital darkroom on October 04, 2014 at 05:44PM

Your Hands Were Clean was uploaded to Flickr

March 16, 2014 eggplant0 comment

Forest Preserve somewhere in Cook County

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I took Your Hands Were Clean on January 14, 2014 at 12:25PM

and processed it in my digital darkroom on February 05, 2014 at 07:33PM

Prelude Number 8533 was uploaded to Flickr

March 15, 2014 eggplant0 comment

North Park Village Nature Center, N Pulaski Rd.

http://ift.tt/1ijEReS…

The Nature Center is often described as a hidden gem in the city. But this site was well known to generations before us, and clues to how people used the land can be found here. The wild onion and wild leek growing in wet woods here inspired American Indians to name this area the “land of the stinking onion” which was translated to “Chicago” by European settlers. In the early 1800s, farmers drained the wet areas to plant crops. And in the late 1800s, a tree nursery was established under the ownership of Norwegian immigrant Pehr Petersen. The very successful Mr. Peterson provided all the trees and shrubs for the World’s Fair in 1893, most of the trees in Lincoln Park and up to seven-eighths of all the trees planted in Chicago’s parkways and boulevards by 1910.

In 1911, Chicago acquired the land from Peterson’s family and used 158 acres to create the Chicago Municipal Tuberculosis Sanitarium. This buffer of nature was used to prevent the disease from spreading, and to heal the patients admitted here. Portions of the land were changed into paths, gardens for growing food, fields to play and a pond for recreation. The building that would become the Nature Center was originally the Sanitarium’s dispensary, where certain patients could come to get their medications. Patients were here into the 1970s when the Sanitarium was closed.

In the 1980s, plans were to raze the land and construct strip malls and condominiums. However, community activists rallied against these plans, ushering in the preservation of North Park Village. In 1989, an easement was enacted to prohibit any development of this property and to define how it was to be maintained as a natural area for 75 years. Efforts are being made by today’s community activists to extend this protection into perpetuity.

Now, in a short stroll, visitors can experience a forest, a prairie, wetland and oak savanna. And in the 1980s, a sweet new tradition was begun: the Maple Syrup Festival, which taps into the very trees that Pehr Peterson planted more than a century ago. Eventually, programming and visits to the Nature Center grew with additional events such as the Harvest Festival, Winter Solstice, and City Wilds Fest.

On April 1, 2004 the Nature Center became part of the Chicago Park District. Whether you seek serenity, a place to spot a rare bird, or a place to volunteer your time and talent, visit this oasis of nature in the city – this hidden gem.

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I took Prelude Number 8533 on November 10, 2013 at 03:34PM

and processed it in my digital darkroom on December 26, 2013 at 11:19PM