Things around me 1

Am home for Winter Break and today I took a long overdue walk in the neighborhood. This isn't an area I grew up in so I had no idea I lived right behind a park! I left my binoculars AND camera in Oregon so all I have is my iPhone...but I am constantly surprised at the crisp images I can take from it. Here are some from my walk:

Who made these tracks?

Of course I ran into some Canada geese and some mallards. Oh the silly squishy sounds of their bills pokin' around the mud.

I was attracted to the shininess of the beetle shell but, alas, it had no head.

These thorny branches grew through this white shelf fungus!

Some kind of little puffball mushroom, there were tons covering this fallen tree. The little holes in their heads means they have released their spores! How cool would it bee to see it like this (!):

This is from Wikipedia

I have no idea what this is. It is kind of hard to look up these tree infections online. The bark itself is not split open, the growth just makes it look like it is. You'd think there would be some "Common tree diseases of Virginia" website...however after much sleuthing I did figure out the following enigma:

So these cork-like growths are quite common for a type of tree called a hackberry. They are pretty common elm-like deciduous trees and apparently grow these when they are young but smooth them out later. I like how the conical ones look like limpets.

Anyways, looking up hackberry was pretty interesting. I had never heard of it before but it is pretty common in northern temperate areas. Super low maintenance in terms of soil type, weather, rainfall, shade, etc. It's got soft bark so its not really used commercially for furniture or building though it is sometimes used for cheap furniture. It is in the elm family (Ulmaceae) and the overall shape/size/leaf is like an elm:

I keep seeing it referred to as a good 'urban tree' though it's features (especially the warty growths!) are not that spectacular. It is a pretty easy-going tree though in terms of living conditions. What a polite, homely tree!