January 9th, 2015. Many
years ago, W dug a pool as a breeding pool for Southeastern (Upland) Chorus
frogs (Pseudacris feriarum). The frogs have used it every year since; we can
hear them calling from the house. W has been expanding the area of the pool in
the last couple of years; it’s now about two to three times its original size
although it’s still a work I progress. I was curious as to how much water was
in it since the recent rains.
The path to the creek
drops fairly steeply from behind the house to the floodplain above Shoal Creek which
runs through the back of our place.
The floodplain on this side of the creek
is wide.
The path to the pool runs
parallel to the creek.
A glimpse of the creek. The
bank is vertical and about six to seven feet above the water. The creek
originates just west of GA-11 and flows in a generally south-easterly direction
to the Apalachee River.
The pool. The area on the
near side looks a little bare at the moment because the tractor has been taking
soil out of the pool recently. In April, digger bees will be active on the path
leading to the pool and, the Summer and Fall, a variety of wildflowers will
bloom.
Water extruded from the
ground in recent cold nights had formed ice crystals that were beginning to
melt in the late morning sun.
Looking back up the hill
towards the house.
Ice crystals had formed in
a chainsaw cut on a fallen tree trunk along the trail.
If the walk down was easy,
it was a climb back up the hill.
Rather than take the
tractor path back up the hill, I tried to follow a foot path I had scouted last
year. Of course, I hadn’t cleared the leaves from it in the Fall so I had to
guess my way.
The foot path traverses
this relatively open area.
Looking back down towards
the ledge above the creek. Chinese privet (Ligustrum sinense) is the scourge of the woods. We’ve cleared
some areas but, obviously, this evergreen continues to dominate large areas. In
the early days, most of these plants would bloom but very few do now because
the trees shade them; the only privets that bloom now are those exposed to the
sun at the edge of the woods.
The woods continue to the
top of the rise. These woods are ‘relatively’ young. The area was planted to
cotton until after WWII; the planting extended down this hill to the edge of
the drop down to the creek ledge. There is discernible evidence of countouring
along the hill to minimize erosion.
We don’t have exotic wildflowers
in these woods but they provide homes for deer, squirrels, chipmunks, raccoons,
possums, titmice, mockingbirds, owls and red-shouldered hawks and black rat
and water snakes. Oh, and Southeastern Chorus frogs.
