Jul 26 Caraway Creek

Very fresh Chicken of the Woods

There must be a decaying log or stump below. Laetiporus cincinnatus is the whiter version of this fungus. It often is seen as if it is growing out of the soil although there should be some rotting wood beneath that supports it. 

We know it as Rose pink. It's Latin name Sabatia angulais is named for Liberato Sabbati. an 18th century surgeon turned botanist. He was the curator of Rome's botanical garden. He traveled to collect plants for the garden and later produced a catalog of those plants, published in 1745. 

We have had some rain recently. This photo taken on Pine Path of a wet spot is in an area that was recently burned. I think the burn removed the leaf litter and now the rain doesn't get sopped up by the leaves. It just runs freely until the leaf litter is replaced in the fall. We'll see if my assessment stands up.

Right by the parking area is a stand of pines which PLC is actively managing. I am told by a local historian who grew up roaming this area that the pine area was known as the red spot. Ed Rich told me about the red spot. During the 1950’s when Ed was exploring the area as a youngster, he described an area where nothing grew. He says that it had always been like that as far as he knew. The area is described as the area of pines near the Lanier entrance gate, going back to the “berm”. In the 1950s, motorcycle races were held on the Red Spot. I had initially thought the spot was the triangular field between the two Lanier entrance roads that looks red from aerial photos. Ed says that is where Don Lanier dug a huge hole and buried stumps that were removed from the road he built to the upper field.  

Why would I picture this scrawny plant? It is so easy to overlook. In the fall a leaf appears. The leaf is green on top and vibrant purple on the bottom. I like to point that out while hiking. You'd never know that this is the same plant as the green/purple leaf plant. The leaf disappears in the spring to make way for the blooms, tiny orchids that are often overlooked. 

Caraway Creek Preserve has quite a few. See if you can spot one next time you are in the woods. 

The creek just got hit with a slug of rain. These downed trees collected the foam from the creek.

The historic check dam is still functioning as it was supposed to. Who built this thing and when did they build it? Well, that is still a bit of a puzzle. 

Lets start with a Randolph County land deed dated March 3 1819 which included an indenture involving a land deed and water rights for a dam. 

When the city of Asheboro needed additional water sources, Caraway Creek was considered. An acheological survey conducted by Peter Cooper II in 1976 states the dam was built by the grandfather of Moody Dugan about 140 years ago. That would be about 1836. I suspect that Peter Cooper asked around when he was surveying the area and got this information form a local, maybe Moody Dugan. We don't know where the information came from or if it was accurate.

Local historian Ed Rich says Marsh Miller and Jesse Henley built dams in the Caraway area. They were born about 10 years apart in the 1830's and 1840's. So, if they built the dam, it would have been 1860's or later.

Vikki Paris, a former land owner of the dam, says she and her husband Joey located an 1892 inscription scratched into the dam.

Finally a 1912 Randolph County deed gives permission from the Walker family members (the owners) to the Kearns access to the property for purposes of building a dam. 

I'm betting that a dam was built at the site at some time in the 1800's. At some point it was damaged and rebuilt, maybe more than once. 

 

Jun 19 St Johns Botanical Garden

 

Purple Pitcher plant

Solomons seal

Canada bunchberry

Swamp laurel

Jun 16 More Puffins

 

Before embarking onto the puffin and whale watching boat, we listened to a seabird presentation . The Atlantic puffins come here every year for 3-4 months to lay their eggs. They arrive about the same time the capelins do. Capelins are here by the billions. They are the puffins main diet at this time of year. The whales are here for them too. Cod as well. There are about 1 million pairs of puffins in the preserve just out of Witless Bay. It is the second largest puffin rookery in the world. 

The females lay one egg and it is tended by both parents. Lots of perils here. As we approached the island of puffins, at times there would a great number of them suddenly in the air. That seemed to happen everythime an Eagle soared near. Another predator, Great black backed gulls were lurking too. I watched one eat a puffin.

The rookeries can be spotted at a distance since they often appear white from all the bird poop. 

Out on the boat we saw the puffins and also a Humpback whale. It was playing around the boat, maybe curious as to who we were. It made a number of surfaces. We could hear the sound of the whale rising out of the water. This whale had a notch on its dorsal fin so it was easy to identify as the other whale surfacing in the area. Once they had submerged, they was a round area of water that seemed that looked distinct from nearby water. 

The most common bird in the preserve is not a puffin, it's the Storm petril. They are noctural so we never saw one. We did see a number of Murres on the water. On July 2, 1992 Newfound declared a moratorium on cod fishing. The giant processing ships had reduced the cod to a number not deemed sustainable. In June of 2024, the moratorium was lifted with limits in cod. During the moratorium certain seabirds recovered in numbers . Prior to the ban, birds were getting caught in the gill nets at the rate of about 30,000 per year. However, gulls declined in numbers. It is thought that they were thriving on the discard from the cod boats until the boats stopped in 1992. The seabirds got another break back in 1949 when Newfoundland became park of Canada. Canada law does not allow hunting of seabirds except Murres. Prior to that Puffins were being hunted. I understand they are still hunted in Iceland and other areas.

In 2022 during the summer, hundreds of thousands of seabirds died from avian flu. And climate change is affecting them as well. Ocean warming is poor for seabirds since the coldwater fish they hunt are changing their habits due to warming. 

Jun 15 Puffins on the Bonavista Peninsula

 

The community of Elliston wanted something to attract folks to town, so they named themselves the root cellar capital of the world. I don't think folks flock there for the root cellars, it is the puffins. Atlantic puffins congregate on offshore islands here to lay their eggs. Puffins burrow down into the ground to do so. The burrow affords them some security from the everpresent predators. We saw Great black backed gulls abd Bald eagles in the area. 

There were thousands of puffins on the nearby island about 100 yards away. However, there were 3 that were getting all the attention, posing just 10 feet from a roped off trail. I am told that they felt safe this close since they could easily have dove off the cliff away from danger at any moment. 

There are some gulls out there too but mostly puffins. Lots of burrow too. And some noise. 

Heart shaped water entering and exiting through 2 seacaves. 

Jun 14 Terra Nova and Trinity

 

Canada May flowers in June

Terra Nova National Park protects the boreal forest and coastal area on the Bonavista Sea. The forest is dominated by Black spruce and Balsam fir. There is a healthy number of larch or Tuckamore as they seem to be called here. Some folks call them jumiper too. They are a deciduous conifer, Most of the trees we saw were just beginning to grow needles. They are as soft as a feather. 

American fly honeysuckle

Rhodora (Rhododendron canadense) was blooming during our visit here.

map lichen

Later in the day, we visited Trinity, a coastal community with many colorful buildings and a hug church.

Church built by ship builders

Engraved silver disk embedded in a Mahogany table describes the place where the tree was taken. 

Worm tunnels in the mahogany table

An arch!

Batismal in the church

Jun 12 Icebergs and Thrombolites

 

By ship in rough water, we did a tour of all the icebergs passing by St Anthony NL today. Two people aboard got seasick. I was waiting for my turn but it never came. Yesterday's rain has stopped and it is 7 degrees warmer, which is only 46F. However, there are winds today and that is making it a really rough ride.

This iceberg has lots of dirt on it. It could be a couple years worth. This one has not turned over which will clean the dirt off. 

There is a seacave here. In calmer water you might be able to kayak into it. Although, we heard the story of one fisherman who won't be doing that again. The story goes that a fellow in a boat entered the cave but the boat was damaged causing the poor fellow to spend 7 days in the cave stranded. A local fishman passed near the seacave opening and heard a ghostly voice inside. He mentioned this when he returned to shore. A rescue mission was launched and the shipwrecked fellow was saved. He said he survived on capelins.

Christened in the North Atlantic

The tiny community of Flowers Cove is home to these Thrombolite structures. I can't explain what these things are but maybe you can. Here is the google AI explanation: The thrombolites at Flower's Cove in Newfoundland, Canada, are ancient fossilized microbial structures estimated to be 650 million years old. They are extremely rare, making Flower's Cove one of only two places on Earth where you can see formations of this age and type (with the other location being in Western Australia).

These primitive, bun-shaped "living rocks" are fossilized remnants of bacteria and algae (cyanobacteria) that lived in shallow, ancient waters. As they grew, these organisms trapped and bound sediment together, building up the unique, clotted structures visible along the coastline today