Willamette Park on the solstice

[Don Boucher]

Hello,

I led a group of naturalists on a tour of Willamette Park on Dec. 21. We only encountered a few common species of birds so we instead looked at lichen, plants and trees. There was a Black Phoebe on a mostly inundated gravel bar.

One species that I have presumed for years was a crustose lichen is actually an algae. It's an orange or rust-colored covering on many tree trunks, often high up on cottonwoods. I narrowed it down to the genus Trentepohlia and goes by the common name of Orange Rock Hair (may grow on rocks too). Some of the closeups were from an alder in the parking lot.

Species pictured

Common Snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus)

Oak Moss (not moss, but lichen, Evernia prunastri)

Tree Lungwort (Lobaria pulmonaria)

Usnea sp.

Rock Shield (lichen - Xanthoparmelia cumberlandia)

Don Boucher

https://neighborhood-naturalist.com

Soon, we'll post field trip information for January & February on the above web page.