Status Updates From Elements of the Nature and ...

The Pileated woodpecker was in my backyard, though they typically go to wooded areas with old hardwood trees.

One website said that's one reason to get rid of invasive honeysuckle taking over wooded areas -- with that heavy shrubbery that takes over trees? The woodpeckers avoid those areas.

We have doves,

then I saw a Pileated woodpecker -

I hadn't seen one of those in forever looked it up

I'm such an old lady. I just want to be at home reading my bodice rippers and watching birds in my backyard.

I am interested though - more in common backyard bird breeds. Some of them seem to work together as allies, others are enemies

Male cardinal is checking in on the nest - but being territorial. I thought there might still be eggs, but I saw a baby chick reach out to eat a worm the Mamma cardinal brought

I know some bird breeds work together? So I'm wondering about the chickadee

This afternoon they all fought off a couple blue jays attacking the nest

Weeks later I see the cardinal jump up a crepe myrtle tree, look down - he's looking down at a nest.

The next day I see the female laying in the nest.

The red cardinal disappears for a few days. A couple days ago I see the female cardinal, male cardinal, and a chickadee (?) all fly in together

There's drama going on in my backyard.

I discovered a cardinal nest - it was after I had seen a cardinal couple a few weeks before (red cardinal feeding gray female cardinal a worm)

I've read the article, it's interesting - something to keep in mind, but I'm reminded the importance of getting an expert opinion from someone who is locally qualified to give advice on a specific region -

At the start of the growing season, a litter-free soil will warm up faster and receive more light, stimulating seed germination and advancing the start of the growing season. Easily dispersing annual species are well adapted to rapidly colonise such disturbed soils (Grime 2001; Wilson & Tilman 2002). The short life cycle of annuals enables the colonisation of regularly disturbed plots by litter raking.

However, another mechanism involves enrichment of the forest floor by nutrients from animal excrements during winter. If litter is removed in autumn, these nutrients are added directly to the soil and are readily available during the growing season. Under a regime of spring raking, however, animal excrements — mixed in with litter during the winter period — are removed from the system

Timing of litter raking has the potential to affect soil chemistry and species composition via multiple pathways. Autumn raking removes litter in an early decomposition phase and, thus, removes carbon, nitrogen and other nutrients from the system that would otherwise gradually become available. On the other hand, if not removed until spring, organic material is available for decomposition during winter.

One leaf pile from only a year ago (not fully decomposed) already has mushrooms growing

Composting leaves - having leaf piles - it's not only pretty cheap but high quality stuff

I've been doing more bakyard watching the last 2 weeks.

Leaf piles are starting to becomes one of my favorites. When I first did it I thought I was just being cheap, sure leaves are good -- but there is so much life in the leaf pile, especially compared to the wood chip pile. I've seen frogs on the leaf pile vs wood chip. Birds picking out twigs, earthworms already at the bottom of the leaf pile

Leaf litter removal is something I want to look into, it sounds like from the article it could be mutually beneficial to the forest as well as the people wanting to use the leaf mold/leaf litter themselves

Coppicing is another thing I want to look into

Farmers would use the leaf litter to cover animal waste, for mulch, etc

Here's an article on it:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...

I haven't done it yet because

1) It's summer everything is alive in the woods in summer (bugs like chiggers) and
2) I'm hesitant to take material away from an ecosystem

I just discovered leaf litter raking used to be tradition in European forests, there's a lil research on it

Adjacently related to this book:

I haven't yet collected leaf mold, rotting logs, or leaf litter from the forest floor of our property.

People like David the Good? If he's planting in pots? He'll go out to his woods, get a few rotting logs, leaves, put them in the bottom - it's good stuff

The marked increase in brain cell serotonin in response to the soil bacterium, Mycobacterium vaccae, is well documented

Poultices made from soil clays have long been effectively used in traditional medicine to heal skin conditions and fight infections. Some research even suggests that just being in close contact with healthy soils (think avid gardeners) and breathing in certain microorganisms or volatile compounds they produce may give people a sense of well-being through interactions with their brain chemistry

Soil microorganisms themselves are the source of most of our life-saving antibiotics. Drugs such as penicillin, ciprofloxacin, and neomycin originate from certain soil bacteria (e.g., Streptomyces) and fungi (e.g., Penicillium) that produce these compounds as part of their defensive strategies against competing soil microbes.

Longest textbook I’ve ever had to read page to page. Might as well make it count