“I’ve never seen this before!” exclaimed my sister Beverly, the geologist. It didn’t look like much to me but she was clearly excited by this apparently remarkable formation (above) she noticed here on her first walk in North Carolina with me. She explained to us that it is a pallid zone with a saprolite layer underneath it.
It was the day after Christmas, which had been “hot” with record temperatures in the 70s. But on this day it was back down in the 50s and very gray, raw and chilly. I took Beverly and her husband John down to walk at length up Bolin Creek.
I rarely find a bird to photograph on this walk because they are singing way far up in the tall trees. So I was very surprised to come across a feral muscovy duck sitting on a log in the creek, watching the world go by. He kept an eye on me, but didn’t move, as I photographed him from three different spots along the creek bank.
I haven’t seen too many squirrels this fall and winter and have been wondering why that is. This one was the only one I saw sitting still, although just a couple of others were later seen racing up the trees.
We went on to discover fungi, lichens, and unusual burls. (There are no loblolly pines in New England.)
(a cup-shaped or saucer-like fungal fruiting body)
It was good getting out for some fresh air and a good long walk, and having the chance to show my nature-loving sister and brother-in-law a little bit of the different world down south here.
exquisite shots,Barbara -lovely squirrel :)I love your posts,so alive and present
Thank you, Leelah. 🙂 I hope you are doing well over there in our beloved Norway. ♡
What a great place to walk and take beautiful photos.
Thank you, Julie. You’ll have to come visit me some day!
You found some treasures to photograph, Barbara, esp. love the beard lichen!
50s sounds pretty good to me. 😉 It has been cold in the singles to twenties… brrr! Now wintery mix coming tonight… ick!
The beard lichen seemed to be attached to a lot of fallen branches from the latest storm, but we also found some floating free on top of the leaf litter. 50s is the average afternoon high here in January. I do remember how icky those wintery mixes are!
Lovely photos! I wonder if the duck is somebody’s backyard pet or layer that got out.
Thank you, Susan! That’s very possible – my mother kept one with her chickens, one of them hatched and raised it as her own. His name was Lonesome George.
That is one chunky duck, Barbara! I’ve never heard of a muscovy duck — perhaps it’s native to your area? And even though my late dad was a geologist, I don’t ever recall him mentioning “a pallid zone with a saprolite layer underneath it.” Did you get your sister’s translation??
According to AI the Muscovy duck is native to the tropical climates of Mexico, Central America, and South America … but feral populations are now widespread globally as they are popular domesticated birds.
Maybe your dad had never come across ‘a pallid zone with a saprolite layer underneath it’ either! Nope, I didn’t understand one word of Beverly’s explanation, and when I look up those words online the definitions also don’t make much sense to me – lol.
Years ago, there was a fellow blogger in Northern Michigan who raised Muscovy Ducks. I had never seen one, not even a photo of one and I was amazed at how different they looked. She had them for pets and they followed her around while she created the repurposed wood items she sold on her site. I can imagine Beverly and John were eager to see the North Carolina woods and all it had to offer at a time when they’d usually be seeing snow. I like the expression on the squirrel’s face as you took its picture.
My mother was quite fond of her Muscovy duck, who she named Lonesome George. He also followed my mother around while she was gardening and doing yard work. It did snow up in CT while Beverly & John were here and they went home to a snow-covered driveway. I’m hoping I can get them to come down during spring break because the botanical garden was closed for winter break while they were here and that’s the place I had most wanted to show to John. Love those squirrels and their expressive faces!