Observation 5

Mixed Zone
5/19/08
3:51-4:46
74 °F
Weather: sunny with clouds
Wind: breezy from the southand vairable
Soil: dry

Notes: Leaves are on all of the aspens and the bushes. On the holly grapes the grape/flower part is turning yellow instead of the green it has been for 2 weeks. The white flowering plant has fully flowered but it is not in my identification book and I believe it is a weed because I have seen many of them in the the fields where all the weeds seem to accumulate. A bee is visiting the flower and it is not one of the giant bees, it is more like the traditional bumble bee. The tulip plant still has no flower and not even a bud. I am beginning to doubt that it is actually a flower and is not a grass type. Blue bells are blooming all over the place and they are that purple flower that I could not identify. I have been seeing their leaves for some time now but dismissed them as a non-flowering plant. Birds chatter in the trees but there seems to be less of them. The blue bell's official name is lance leaf chiming bells but I like the name bluebells better, have called them that since I was 7, and don't think there is really any difference between them in mountain county. The ground cover is booming and its name is alpine phlox. It comes in white and blue so far. Hummingbirds fly by regularly zipping on whatever business they have. One crow called and another responded. The first crow took of and flew to the second crow. Magpies also fly by regularly. The bugs have replaced the birds for the most noisy in the forests. There is an unknown white flower with 4 pedals and is only 3 inches tall. Lots of pretty glass is all over the ground. A small pine cone about an inch long is sitting in the sagebrush and the closest tree is 200ft away. The many buttercups are beginning to die. Fresh elk scat is on the animal trail and a patch of unknown plants has grown. They have oval leaves, are up to 6 inches and look like they will bloom soon. There are many bird calls in the trees and all they do is remind me that I need to learn bird calls as much as I need to learn flower names. A spider line catches the sunlight in the trees and where there are webs there must be spiders. I have arachnophobia so I would rather not go over to find out. There is also fresh deer scat at the tree edge. Something that looks like skunk weed is growing and there is a plant that I believe is false Solomon's Seal. Another plant is 6 inches tall, has all its leaves on the top 2 inches, is soon to bloom , and I am not sure what it is. I found another younger example of that still unknown purple brown stalked plant on the edge of the forest. This is only the second one so could it be rare or is it that it needs nutrients not available here? Humming birds fight in the air for ownership rights to the humming bird feeders. Small bulb plants are sprouting everywhere and I can barely walk without stepping on one.

Questions: How did the small pine cone get that far from any tree? Could the wind have blown it? It is possible because taking into consideration its size and weigh it is not impossible that if the wind blew hard enough it could be taken that far.

Answer: The unknown pine is possibly a limber pine. Dog lichen in the unknown lichen/moss.